COUNTRY LIFE AT THE END OF THE TENTH CENTURY.

A Master in a Monastery School questions his Pupil’s Companions and his Pupil.

Source.—Ælfric’s Colloquy. Thorpe’s Analecta Anglo-Saxonica. Translated by W.

The Ploughman.

Master.—Well, ploughman, how do you do your work?

Ploughman.—O sir, I work very hard. I go out in the dawning, driving the oxen to the field, and I yoke them to the plough. Be the winter never so stark, I dare not stay at home, for fear of my lord; but, every day I must plough a full acre or more, after having yoked the oxen, and fastened the share and the coulter to the plough.

Master.—Have you any mate?

Ploughman.—I have a boy, who drives the oxen with a goad, who is now however hoarse from cold and shouting.

Master.—What more do you do in the day?

Ploughman.—Truly I do more. I must fill the mangers of the oxen with hay, and water them, and carry out the dung.

Master.—Well, well, it is very hard work!

Ploughman.—Yes, indeed, it is very hard work, because I am not free.

The Shepherd.

Master.—How say you, shepherd? Have you any work to do?

Shepherd.—Yes, indeed I have. Very early in the morning I drive my sheep to the lea, and stand over them in heat and in cold with my dogs, lest the wolves eat them up. And I drive them back to their folds, and milk them twice a day. And besides this, I move their folds, and I make cheese and butter, and I am true to my lord.

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The Oxherd.

Master.—And what is your work, oxherd?

Oxherd.—O, my lord, I work hard. When the ploughman unyokes the oxen, I lead them to the lea, and all the night I stand over them watching for thieves, and again, very early in the morning, I hand them over to the ploughman, well fed and watered.

The Huntsman.

Master.—How do you set about your craft?

Huntsman.—I make me nets, and set them in a likely place, and drive on my hounds to chase the wild beasts until they come to the nets unawares, and so they are ensnared and I slay them in the nets.... Yes, I can hunt without nets. I follow the wild beasts with swift hounds.... I take hart, and boars, and does, and roes, and sometimes hares....

Master.—What do you do with the spoils of your hunting?

Huntsman.—What I take I give to the king, because I am his huntsman.

Master.—What does he give you?

Huntsman.—He clothes me well and feeds me, and sometimes gives me a horse or a bracelet, that I may the more joyfully set about my craft.

The Fisherman.

Master.—What do you get by your craft?

Fisherman.—Food, and clothing, and money.

Master.—How do you catch fish?

Fisherman.—I get into my boat, and place my nets in the river, and I cast a hook and baskets, and I take whatever they hold.

Master.—What if they are unclean fishes?

Fisherman.—The unclean I cast out, and take the clean for food.

Master.—Where do you sell your fish?

Fisherman.—In the town.... The townsmen buy them. I cannot catch as many as I can sell.

97Master.—What sorts of fish do you catch?

Fisherman.—Eels, and pike, minnows, eelpout, trout, and lamprey, and such sprats as swim in a river.

Master.—Why don’t you fish in the sea?

Fisherman.—Sometimes I do, but seldom, for it is a long row for me to the sea.

Master.—What do you catch in the sea?

Fisherman.—Herrings, and salmon, porpoises, and sturgeon, oysters and crabs, mussels, periwinkles, cockles, plaice, and soles, and lobsters, and many such things.

Master.—Do you wish to catch a whale?

Fisherman.—No.

Master.—Why?

Fisherman.—Because it is a dangerous thing to catch a whale. It is safer for me to go to the river with my boat than to go with many boats on a whale-hunt.

Master.—Why so?

Fisherman.—Because I would sooner catch a fish that I can slay than one who can sink or kill not me only but also my mates with one blow.

Master.—But, still, many catch whales, and escape the dangers, and obtain a great price therefor.

Fisherman.—That’s true, but I dare not, on account of the cowardliness of my mind.

The Fowler.

Master.—What do you say, fowler? How do you snare birds?

Fowler.—I snare them in many ways: sometimes with nets, sometimes with nooses, sometimes with lime, sometimes by whistling, sometimes with a hawk, sometimes with traps....

Master.—How do you feed your hawks?

Fowler.—In winter they feed themselves and me; in Lent I let them fly away to the wood; and in autumn I catch young birds and tame them.

Master.—And why do you let those that you have tamed fly away from you?

98Fowler.—Because I do not wish to feed them in the summer, as they eat too much.

Master.—But many men do feed tame hawks through the summer, so that they may have them ready again.

Fowler.—Yes, so they do; but I do not wish to be so bothered with them, because I know how to catch many more.

The Trader.

Master.—What do you say, trader?

Trader.—I say that I am needful to the king, and ealdormen, and wealthy men, and to all the folk.

Master.—How?

Trader.—I get into my boat with my load, and I row over the waters and sell my things, and I buy things of great price which this land does not bring forth, and I bring them hither to you, with great danger, over the sea, and sometimes I suffer shipwreck, with the loss of all my things, barely escaping with my life.

Master.—What sorts of things do you bring to us?

Trader.—Cloaks, and silk, stones of great price, and gold, wonderful garments, and perfumes, wine and oil, ivory, and brass, copper and tin, sulphur and glass, and many things like them.

Master.—Will you sell your things here, for as much as you bought them there?

Trader.—I will not. For then what gain is there in my toil? But I will sell them here dearer than I bought them there, that I may get me some profit to feed me and my wife and my children.

The Shoemaker.

Master.—Shoemaker, what useful work do you do for us?...

Shoemaker.—I buy hides and fells, and by my craft I prepare them, and from them I make shoes of several kinds, slippers, and shoes, leather hose, and bottles, bridle-thongs, and trappings, and flasks, flagons, and purses, spur-leathers, and halters, bags, and sacks; and not one of you wishes to pass a winter without my craft.

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The Rest.

Master.—Whom have we here?

Pupil.—I have smiths, iron-smiths, a goldsmith, a silversmith, a coppersmith, a carpenter, and many other craftsmen.

Master.—Have you a learned counsellor?

Pupil.—Truly I have. How can our fellowship be ruled without a man of wisdom?

The Pupil.

Master.—Well, boy, what have you done to-day?

Pupil.—I have done many things. Last night, when I heard the tolling, I arose from my bed, and went to the church, and sang nocturns with the brethren, and morning lauds ... after that prime, and the seven psalms, with litanies, and chapter-mass, then terce and the mass of the day; after this we sang sext, and ate, and drank, and slept, and again we arose, and sang nones, and now here we are before you, ready to hear what you say to us.

Master.—When will you sing vespers or compline?

Pupil.—When it is time.

Master.—Were you threshed to-day?

Pupil.—Not I, for I behaved myself warily.

Master.—And how about your school-fellows?

Pupil.—Why do you ask me about that? I daren’t tell you our secrets. Each one knows whether he was threshed or not.

Master.—What do you eat every day?

Pupil.—I still eat flesh-meat, because I am a child living under the rod.

Master.—What more do you eat?

Pupil.—Vegetables, and eggs, fish, and cheese, butter, and beans, and all clean things I eat, with great thankfulness.

Master.—Surely you are gluttonous, since you eat everything that is put before you.

Pupil.—I am not so greedy as to be able to eat all kinds of food at one meal.

Master.—How then?

100Pupil.—Sometimes I eat some kinds of food, sometimes others, in moderation, as a monk should do, without greediness, because I am not a glutton.

Master.—And what do you drink?

Pupil.—Ale, if I have it, or water, if I have no ale.

Master.—Don’t you drink wine?

Pupil.—I am not rich enough to be able to buy wine for myself: and wine is no drink for children or the foolish, but for those who are older and wiser.

Master.—Where do you sleep?

Pupil.—In the dormitory with the brethren.

Master.—Who wakes you for nocturns?

Pupil.—Sometimes I hear the tolling and arise, sometimes my master awakes me sternly with the rod.

Master.—My good children and agreeable pupils, your master bids you obey the divine teaching and that you behave yourselves well in every place. Go obediently when you hear the church bells into the church, and humbly bow before the holy altars, and stand reverently, and sing in time and tune, and pray for your sins, and go out thoughtfully to the cloister or the school.