"The Sundering Flood" Part Two

Finished "The Sundering Flood". As expected all turned out happily.. The last section of the book was primarily dedicated to filling in what happened to Elfhild following her abduction. Having in fact been kidnapped by a scurrilous and cowardly merchant who had lustful designs upon her, Elfhild is rescued by a chivalrous knight who is in love with her. Elfhild honourably warns him that her heart is given to another but he redeems her nonetheless and maintains her as a guest in his castle until he is killed in battle and Elfhild must flee from the cruelty and displeasure of the good knight's unpleasant mother. The striking thing about Elfhild's adventures is that while she is a largely passive figure herself - a beautiful noble object to be handed from one person to another - it is in fact an old witch who is active on her behalf. This "carline" uses all manner of trickery and magic to protect and further the interests of Elfhild, despite having no family relationship to her. She is a sort of surrogate grandmother replacing the two female relatives who were first rather uncaring guardians of Elfhild and then in turn died, leaving her alone other than this old woman. It is interesting that Morris chooses to make his heroine rather helpless and (at least in this section of the narrative) characterless while allowing an elderly woman to be wise and resourceful in her stead.

"Steelhead" reappears again, like a deus ex machina, to save the life of Osberne when he was treacherously set upon by enemies in a deserted place. He scares off his assailants and then carries the badly wounded Osberne to one of those healing hermits most beloved of Arthurian legend. Steelhead, though courteous, expresses some scepticism as to the validity of the hermit's Christian faith. This confirms the impression that Steelhead belongs to some older pagan tradition. His patronage of Osberne recalls to some degree the patronage of gods to Homeric heroes but I suspect his origins could be better found in a study of Norse or Germanic lore which was a subject of particular interest to Morris.

Osberne and Elfhild live out their lives happily at Osberne's old farmstead, scorning any grander fate despite Osberne's great renown. Osberne specifically forswears any further dabbling in knightly adventures. The life of the yeoman is to be preferred to that of the knight or noble.

An engaging and mysterious tale.