xc THE DISCOVERER OF THE NORTH CAPE
OTHERE, the old sea-captain,
Who dwelt in Helgoland, To King Alfred, the Lover of Truth, Brought a snow-white walrus-tooth,
Which he held in his brown right hand.
His figure was tall and stately, Like a boy's his eye appeared;
His hair was yellow as hay,
But threads of a silvery grey Gleamed in his tawny beard.
Hearty and hale was Othere,
His cheek had the colour of oak;
With a kind of laugh in his speech,
Like the sea-tide on a beach, As unto the king he spoke.
And Alfred, King of the Saxons,
Had a book upon his knees, And wrote down the wondrous tale Of him who was first to sail
Into the Arctic seas.
'So far I live to the northward,
No man lives north of me; To the east are wild mountain-chains, And beyond them meres and plains;
To the westward all is sea.
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