226 LONGFELLOW
'And now the land,' said Othere, 'Bent southward suddenly,
And I followed the curving shore,
And ever southward bore Into a nameless sea.
And there we hunted the walrus, The narwhale, and the seal;
Ha ! 'twas a noble game !
And like the lightning's flame Flew our harpoons of steel.
There were six of us all together,
Norsemen of Helgoland; In two days and no more We killed of them threescore,
And dragged them to the strand.'
Here Alfred, the Truth-Teller,
Suddenly closed his book, And lifted his blue eyes, With doubt and strange surmise Depicted in their look.
And Othere, the old sea-captain,
Stared at him wild and weird,
Then smiled till his shining teeth
Gleamed white from underneath
His tawny, quivering beard.
And to the King of the Saxons,
In witness of the tnith, Raising his noble head, He stretched his brown hand, and said,
'Behold this walrus-tooth! '
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