About the King who lied…

Prologue

I remember a time long ago.

When the rains clattered down on our heads here in our Middengaerd and made our beautiful river much wider than what we are accustomed to today. I remember times of abundance, times of excellent catches of fish and times of bountiful harvests. Near our wonderful river, two tribes had settled at the north-eastern riverbank.

One Western tribe and one Eastern tribe, their names regrettably forgotten in history.

But even if their names were forgotten by time, their sworn bond of frith was always remembered. Their kings and their people were intensely intertwined. Sworn to each other as friends for life, both in times of peace and in times of war. Which was a good thing, for it looked as though times of war was approaching.

For I also remember times of fear, times of war, and times of distress. The barbarians from the southern lands entered our forests and meadows. Seeking to conquer, seeking to subjugate, seeking to overrun.

They subjugated all whom they considered beneath them.

For them, this was the way to share their civilization with the world.
For us, it was conquest.

A frith-bond broken

For while the southern barbarians drew ever closer, skirmishes occurred across the river.

The sworn brother tribes were systematically attacked. But where one could not hold their ground, the other came to their brave aid—even if they were not called upon. They sensed when the other needed them, so strong was their mighty bond. You do not encounter such a brotherhood between tribes and kings nowadays.

So the southern barbarians chose a different strategy.
After a few winters without skirmishes and attacks, it was assumed that the enemy had retreated to his own land. Back to their forests of stone and to their man-made caves. Back to their unnatural world.

But alas, towards the end of the Yule season, the enemy surprised the tribe of the East.
They were back. And more powerful than ever.

Amidst the festivities, the Eastern tribe was brutally attacked by the hostile southerners. They set fields ablaze, leveled villages, and raged, murdering and raping. Crying out for help, the Eastern tribe believed that their Brothers and Sisters in Frith would assist them.

But the Western tribe did not answer this call that evening. It was silent on the other side.
I remember the utter astonishment that prevailed among the tribesmen of the East.

Why did the Western tribe not come to their aid?
Why were they left to their fate?
Why had the Gods not intervened?

Many questions were asked.
But there were no answers that evening.

Explaining at the Thing

Despite the confusion, the remaining Easterners moved westward.

Their brothers and sisters in frith had not helped them in the battle, but who would turn away a friendly guest? Especially a sworn brother and sister in arms in dire need? It would be unthinkable. No self-respecting person would ever deny a guest in need, especially not those with which frith was established. So, with that thought in mind, what remained headed toward the Western side.

They travelled over the burning fields and through the dark forest. Even though the path was familiar an uneasy sense of strangeness followed the Easteners as they made it beyond their borders. Some were even starting to worry they might not make it before sundown, until, thank the Gods, they reached the gates.

The Easterners were immediately admitted into the lands of the Western tribe. With the scars of destruction still on their faces, all the Western tribesmen could see what the southern barbarians had done to their brothers and sisters from the east. They were shocked and abhorred by what they saw – and equally worried about what they did not see.

For the question arose among them, too, as to why the King had not intervened. They, too, felt the desire to know why what should have been done was not done. The King had much to answer for. And therefore, he gathered the peoples together, both his Westerners and Easteners, in his great hall for a people’s assembly. He called for the Thing.

Easterners and Westerners came together for the answers they sought.
I do not remember seeing the hall so full of people since that trying time.

When the hearth fire had been lit and everyone had taken their places, the large crowd waited for the King’s arrival. It seemed as though he were taking his time. This was exceptional, given his usual punctuality. In the meantime, the sun had set and twilight was upon our lowly river lands. People began to smell a rainstorm coming, and were beginning to hear raindrops falling unto the wooden roof.

Then, after a bit too much wating, the Western King finally entered the hall from a back room. He seemed somewhat different than usual, not as sure of himself as most knew him. He didn’t make much eye contact with his kin, and nearly completely ignored is Eastern guests in the hall.

Nevertheless, he walked towards the crowd by the hearth fire and took his place on the high chair. His scribe stood beside the chair, ready to record the tense events of that evening.

A stern guest appears

For a moment, it was quiet.
Just the little raindrops on the wooden roof were heard, as was the wind blowing through the windows.

I remember this uncomfortable silence very well. It felt like a tension you could cut with a seax. The people wanted answers regarding the King’s deeds, or lack thereof. It is ill-luck to not come to a sworn brother’s aid and seeing what the southern barbarians had done to their Eastern brothers and sisters, what was the King planning?

Then the King began to sit up straight in his chair, cleared his throat, raised his arm, and began to proclaim.

But even before he had spoken even a single word, thunderous bangs rang out on the door of the hall. Three terrifying bangs on the doors of King’s Hall were heard that evening. I remember it feeling as if thunder had struck the doors of the Great Hall and everyone – including the King – were terrified of this.

A guest had arrived.
But what kind of guest?

The King beckoned to the guards to let this new guest in. And they did so.
As they approached the doors and opened them, the crowd saw a large figure dressed in a hood. His face was not seen, but his body was larger than any man who had ever entered that Hall. His presence was mighty, and his physique was determined.

It was clear that this was no ordinary guest.

And so this guest entered the hall and walked slowly toward the crowd and toward the hearth, into the light. As he walked towards the centre, the wooden floor trembled with every step this large guest took toward the people. Again, as if thunder was striking within the very hall itself.

I remember that everyone could feel that this was no ordinary man.
So, who could it be?

The crowd parted before him, and as he wandered through the partition in front of the hearth fire everyone could see him clearly, and the crowd looked at this uninvited stranger with great fear. What was he doing here, people wondered – why has he come people asked?

Then he drew his left arm from under his cloak and took off his hood, and his face was revealed.

The One without a right-hand

With long hair and a long beard, he looked at the crowd with an extremely devoted gaze. The crowd breathed in shock at this. I remember seeing both of his eyes glowing heavenly blue and his face looking as stern as can be and thinking this was clearly no human being. The whole Thing now stood in awe of this guests arrival.

Then he raised his right arm, and the whole hall could see that his right hand was missing!
A divine shock went through the crowd, for all could witness that He had come.

The Righteous God, The Truthful God, The Honourable One, Couragous one, and Fairest of them all.
He had come. And He was going to perform divine deeds that evening.

As He lowered his arm, he walked towards the King. The floorboards creaked with every step He took and the Hall shook as much. In his high seat, the Western King began to shiver with fear as if he were a small child awaiting punishment. That was clearly visible to everyone.

But before the wolf-feeder reached the King, he walked past the high seat to his left, toward the back room.
And then I remember the King absolutely panicking.

The King leaped with a hare’s leap from his high seat toward the door of his back room. He begged the God of Judges for mercy, but He did not grant it that evening.
He picked up the pleading King from the floor and threw him into the crowd.

Then He broke open the door of the back room, seeking something. I remember thinking that we was seeking the truth of the matter.
And He found it. And He took it back to the hall, to the crowd, to the hearth fire— into the light.

Divine judgement in the Hall

The panicking King sat trembling before the hearth fire.

And as he was sweating incessantly, the crowd was in complete shock at what was to behold that evening. His Western kin had never seen their mighty ruler break down like this before and the Eastern guests were worried about the nature of their sworn frith-brother and about their fate.

Then it got worse.
For when the Bladed God re-entered the crowd, He raised His left hand and showed a roll of paper.

The Heavenly One-Handed gave this roll of paper to the scribe present. The scribe took the roll of paper and looked the Lord of Justice dead in the eyes and knew what had to be done. And so he read aloud what was written on the paper.

He proclaimed that an agreement had been made. Made between the King of the Westerners and the southern barbarians. In exchange for half of the Eastern lands, the King would not come to the aid of his sworn Brother in Frith in times of need giving the southern barbarians free reign over the eastern side of our river lands.

With this, the Peace between him and his brother in the East was broken.
An unholy Injustice had been committed, for personal gain.

The atmosphere in the room then changed into one of contempt and violent rage. Both the Western and Eastern people’s began to throw their possessions, in some cases even their last, at the treacherous King. But the Brave God did not want justice to be administered in this unruly manner. So He raised his left hand high in the air and ordered the people to cease their wild uproar immediately. He then looked at the scribe and stared him straight in the eyes.

The scribe understood his determined gaze, and he would proclaim.

It was proclaimed that the high seat of the Western tribe was declared vacant. The treacherous King was immediately arrested and taken prisoner to be brought to trial before the Great Assembly of Tribes later that year.

He would not escape his punishment!

Epilogue

I remember when the Victorious God witnessed this arrest, his gaze turned from sternness to satisfaction – even though I sensed a slight disappointment.

He then put his hood back on and walked back through the large crowd to the open door, back to the rainy and stormy weather. As He looked back for a moment, he nodded to the crowd, and then through a flash of lightning and a strike of thunder, he suddenly vanished!

His goal was achieved that evening.
His mission accomplished.

I remember very well the stories circulating among the tribes at the time. About the treacherous King who was put to justice at the Great Assembly of Tribes. The exact punishment given has never been disclosed. The only thing I can remember is that the treacherous King was never seen again.

So who knows what happened to him?

And that uninvited Great Guest, who, with his courageous determination and faithful solemnity of service, had unmasked the treacherous King?

He has a name.
His name is Seaxneat-Tiw!

Author’s note

This post contained a self-written myth about our God Seaxneat-Tiw.
It is based on my personal view of this God, which is informed by my own personal spiritual experiences with him.
I hope that you have found it instructive, inspiring or at least entertaining!