onslaught when the foemen were mostly wont to beset the hall; whereas in
the days whereof the tale tells they drew out into the fields and fought
unfenced; unless at whiles when the odds were over great, and then they
drew their wains about them and were fenced by the wain-burg. At least
it was from no niggardry that the door was made thus low, as might be
seen by the fair and manifold carving of knots and dragons that was
wrought above the lintel of the door for some three foot's space. But a
like door was there anigh the other gable-end, whereby the women entered,
and it was called the Woman's-door.

Near to the house on all sides except toward the wood were there many
bowers and cots round about the penfolds and the byres: and these were
booths for the stowage of wares, and for crafts and smithying that were
unhandy to do in the house; and withal they were the dwelling-places of
the thralls. And the lads and young men often abode there many days and
were cherished there of the thralls that loved them, since at whiles they
shunned the Great Roof that they might be the freer to come and go at
their pleasure, and deal as they would. Thus was there a clustering on
the slopes and bents betwixt the acres of the Wolfings and the wild-wood
wherein dwelt the wolves.

As to the house within, two rows of pillars went down it endlong,
fashioned of the mightiest trees that might be found, and each one fairly
wrought with base and chapiter, and wreaths and knots, and fighting men
and dragons; so that it was like a church of later days that has a nave
and aisles: windows there were above the aisles, and a passage underneath
the said windows in their roofs. In the aisles were the sleeping-places
of the Folk, and down the nave under the crown of the roof were three
hearths for the fires, and above each hearth a luffer or smoke-bearer to
draw the smoke up when the fires were lighted. Forsooth on a bright