Page:The Sundering Flood - Morris - 1898.djvu/74

 I deem not that thou shouldst give me thy mother's gift. And moreover why shouldst thou shoot away thy luck? It may be that I am not doomed to be lucky, as surely thou art; and it may well be that thou mayst give me thy luck and make thee less lucky, without eking mine, if unluck be my weird.

Now though he had set his heart on giving the gold to the fair child, yet her words seemed wise to him, and he said: What then shall we do? She said: Abide awhile till I think of it. So they were silent awhile, both of them, till the little maid looked up and said: Is it a round thing? Yea, said he. What is there upon it? she said. Quoth Osberne: On one side be two warriors, and on the other the Rood and certain letters. She thought again and said: How much were it marred if it were halved, one warrior and half across? He said: That hangs upon this, who has one half and who the other. She said: How would it be, since I can see that thou wishest that I should share thy gift, and belike thy luck also, if thou wert to do it into two halves, and keep one thyself and shoot me the other over the flood? He leapt up and fell a-dancing for joy as she spake, and cried out: O, but thou art wise! Now I can see that this is what my mother meant me to do, to share the gold and the luck.

Therewith he took the penny out of its wrapping and drew forth his whittle, and gat a big stone and set the gold on the steel and smote it, deftly enough; for he was no ill smith for his years.