He dreams.
He fared to bedd & feol fast on a slume,
was sowen a seme by a fery sweven.
He awakend alsoon yn adread, for
Nonia heold a nurslyng hwo was nurnand hym.
Wakked he of his wynkyng & wyped he
his eyen & wo was he withal
that he had slept sadder & seon more.
He visits the wizard, Momancer.
To a wicca he wendid to wit hym
hwat ment thys monstreful metyng.
Mercuryous Momancer muchhwat
dwelt yn druidrie, a divynister
& wiseard hwo witied widehwere.
He asks about his dream
0 evergloomand eldfather, elkend Ofmach,
Mildheartful mayster mought thou
unriddel my uggen & unqueme
swevens, he sayed sorrowlie.
Yestimight me metted a mervel.
Canst devyne thys darksome dremel?
Couldstow wissen mene hwere he wicks?
and how he can find Rothead.
For notheless Ich cnow not hwere
to wyn thyss wanchancie wyver,
the rudesome raynwyrm namen Rothead.
The wizard's prophecy:
Charelie Momancer chymerized a chaomantic
serecandel hwich scyntillized slantlie,
& sooth sayed an estrange sigalder.
Fyrlen schall be yowr faer, 0 farend, sayed h
e.
He mutterated manysome magisteries,
sprankled & scrimpled scrawlatiouns,
nekst oraclized hys obscurous otherwisedom:
Ofmach shall defeat the worm
Cum hytherward & herken how Ich say.
Ich cun cantrips for cowardrie,
augurize the awlich alwayness
of darksome & dungwet Dame Natura.
Hount Rawflesch to hys hidels,
an ermytic erd yn the earthends.
the battle will be hard
Wrynglie yow & the wyrm schall writh
The drac wyll despite yow yn drearihead.
Fluksibel is yowr future & farcast.
Ich scry slantlyng yn my seeyngglass
afire an aghful awreakyng,
yow wyll wem & wythturn
the wanschapen witherwyn.
he shall have a son
Forther of yowr foster I foreschow
yowr baban wyll not be born but brooden,
not womben by wifman wyll he be.
Yow schall getten a gome grettest yn erth
but be defeated by death.
The hwilebeyng hwatnes of yowr hwate is
not to die onetil yaw dare dieth
Noneman up on mold wyll mort yow.
Tocum is tristie & turnisch
Ich farlie foredight onelie foehood,
witie but ne can wythtum wyrserness.
He must find a companion
Yaw must lait a leafful lodeman,
a lykeworth lickdisch, a lusk.
A man baseborn yet brotherlyke.
Take thys foolhappie fanger as fellowbrother.
sail north.
Nekst set a seacours scanicward &
to a boreall & brimstonie bordreland.
Schrift schield yow from schamesdeed.
Of Mooncow.
He wondren was of these wyrds cwaint
& besought the betiden brethel.
Thys beardgrave & bumpsie blunderkyn
causefullie clepen Mooncow was
a seacraftie steersman & slabbard,
a cockapert calumner & clatterfart
hwo drove bothen a boat behovelie
& a smick smack spear skillwiselie.
They depart
Hwen flures fall & fills falew
yn authum farforth on the seaflood
the two twaind tideways.
Northschyne nimbd the night tid
hwen flot thei thurgh fleckeren floes.
Furtherforth the fiendlich firekyng
farcast hys firen flanes
& the sea sprighted wyth spoorns.
and sail into a storm.
Norther & northermore thei nighed.
Scathelie thei schymmd seastrams,
faren als far als anie freke.
Sodenlie the soft ayr sprank.
Nekst thonder thomp & thrast,
a wyled wynd dyd up werp,
a thwarterous thirlpoll tholed
& umbraced theim wyth unfast unds.
Waves come over the side.
The breth & the brok & the bote metten,
wynds wirbelled wodelie.
Ovir wild waws thei wendid
hurlen on a heap yn the helm
& snow sniterd & snaypt,
sunderd theyr sayls & sad ropes.
They are overwhelmed.
Seafoul scrithed on the storem,
mawd & morkd & mewd thei.
Wankle waws walmd theim tyll
theyr seabeaten scif swoldird was.
Crookbacken thei beswynkd the botepolls
& the seacraftie steersman dyd squeam.
Their ship is embayed.
The storems weor still, the stremem abawt
all cawm yt be came, & comferd theim
but the hwirlpit hwowst hwencefrom
ynlecks ischd wyth ithes of weter.
Mooncow grobbd the glidder grundhold
& hove yt heavisomlie heedlong.
Yn the nighten northhalf of nohwither
naufragated by necrolatrie on a nekland
of the widsea their scip was stiked.