Then they were People of the Hills , and then they flitted to other places because they could n't get on with the English for one reason or another . There was only one Old Thing , I remember , who honestly worked for his living after he came down in the world . He was called Weland , and he was a smith to some Gods . I 've forgotten their names , but he used to make them swords and spears . I think he claimed kin with Thor of the Scandinavians . ' ' Heroes of Asgard Thor ? ' said Una . She had been reading the book . ` Perhaps , ' answered Puck . ` None the less , when bad times came , he did n't beg or steal . He worked ; and I was lucky enough to be able to do him a good turn . ' ` Tell us about it , ' said Dan . ' I think I like hearing of Old Things . ' They rearranged themselves comfortably , each chewing a grass stem . Puck propped himself on one strong arm and went on : ` Let 's think ! I met Weland first on a November afternoon in a sleet storm , on Pevensey Level -- ' ` Pevensey ? 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 XXXXX '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 .
Asgard Brunanburgh Hill Horsebridge Thor Una Weland afternoon days storm