Over the hill , you mean ? ' Dan pointed south . ` Yes ; but it was all marsh in those days , right up to Horsebridge and Hydeneye . I was on Beacon Hill -- they called it Brunanburgh then -- when I saw the pale flame that burning thatch makes , and I went down to look . Some pirates -- I think they must have been Peofn 's men -- were burning a village on the Levels , and Weland 's image -- a big , black wooden thing with amber beads round his neck -- lay in the bows of a black thirty-two-oar galley that they had just beached . Bitter cold it was ! There were icicles hanging from her deck and the oars were glazed over with ice , and there was ice on Weland 's lips . When he saw me he began a long chant in his own tongue , telling me how he was going to rule England , and how I should smell the smoke of his altars from Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight . I did n't care ! I 'd seen too many Gods charging into Old England to be upset about it . I let him sing himself out while his men were burning the village , and then I said -LRB- I do n't know what put it into my head -RRB- , `` Smith of the Gods , '' I said , `` the time comes when I shall meet you plying your trade for hire by the wayside . '' ' ` What did Weland say ? ' said Una . ` Was he angry ? ' ` He called me names and rolled his eyes , and I went away to wake up the people inland . But the pirates conquered the country , and for centuries Weland was a most important God . He had temples everywhere -- from Lincolnshire to the Isle of Wight , as he said -- and his sacrifices were simply scandalous . 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 XXXXX the congregation were unhappy until the priests had chosen their sacrifices ; and so would you have been .
Brunanburgh England Hydeneye Lincolnshire Peofn Smith Wight days oars thatch