Page:The Elene of Cynewulf.djvu/31

 their hearts would they give any answer to what she sought of them, but, set in purpose, they withstood each word that she asked, and said that never in their lives had they heard, before nor since, one whit of any such thing.

Then Elene spake and answered them in anger:—‘I shall say unto you truly, and never in your life will this be false, that if ye who stand before me persist long in this falsehood with lying craft, ye shall be burned upon the hill in the hottest fury of fire, and leaping flames shall consume your flesh, so that for you this lie shall be changed into utter destruction. Nor can ye prove those words which now in your guile ye cover up under the cloak of evil. Ye cannot hide the deed, nor conceal its mystic power.’

Then were they in the fear of death, of the funeral-pyre, and the end of life; and there they thrust forth one of exceeding wisdom in the lore of old, whose name was Judas, sprung from noble lineage; and they gave him up unto the queen, and called him a man of wondrous learning: ‘He can show forth to thee the truth, unlock the secret of the fates, expound the just law from the beginning even to the end, according as thou dost ask him. He is of noble race in the world, wise in speech, the son of a prophet, outspoken in council. And it is his nature to have sage answers and wisdom of soul. He shall show forth to thee before the multitude with his great power the gift of wisdom, even as thy heart desireth.’