I heard them pray, and I heard them sing, and whether of prayer or song the words were good to listen to.

I heard them pray for the safety of men at sea in the gale, and for men who fought with the Danes ashore.

They prayed that the hands of the Danes who slew their brethren in the churches round the coast wantonly might be stayed from these doings; but they did not pray for the destruction of these terrible foes.

They asked that they might be forgiven for the wrong they did to harmless men.

And I heard them read from a book whose leaves, as the reader turned them, I saw were bright with gold and colours, words that I cannot set down--words of uttermost peace in the midst of strife.