To do him justice , he preferred horses to men ; but men or horses , I knew that presently he 'd have to come down in the world -- like the other Old Things . I gave him lots of time -- I gave him about a thousand years -- and at the end of 'em I went into one of his temples near Andover to see how he prospered . There was his altar , and there was his image , and there were his priests , and there were the congregation , and everybody seemed quite happy , except Weland and the priests . In the old days the congregation were unhappy until the priests had chosen their sacrifices ; and so would you have been . When the service began a priest rushed out , dragged a man up to the altar , pretended to hit him on the head with a little gilt axe , and the man fell down and pretended to die . Then everybody shouted : `` A sacrifice to Weland ! A sacrifice to Weland ! '' ' ` And the man was n't really dead ? ' said Una . ` Not a bit . All as much pretence as a dolls ' tea-party . Then they brought out a splendid white horse , and the priest cut some hair from its mane and tail and burned it on the altar , shouting , `` A sacrifice ! '' That counted the same as if a man and a horse had been killed . I saw poor Weland 's face through the smoke , and I could n't help laughing . He looked so disgusted and so hungry , and all he had to satisfy himself was a horrid smell of burning hair . Just a dolls ' tea-party ! ' I judged it better not to say anything then -LRB- ` twould n't have been fair -RRB- , and the next time I came to Andover , a few hundred years later , Weland and his temple were gone , and there was a Christian bishop in a church there . None of the People of the Hills could tell me anything about him , and I supposed that he had left England . ' Puck turned ; lay on the other elbow , and thought for a long time . ` Let 's see , ' he said at last .
` It must have been some few years later -- a year or two before the Conquest , I think -- that I came back to Pook 's Hill here , and one evening I heard old Hobden talking about XXXXX 's Ford . '
Andover Christian England Puck Una Weland days mane tea-party years