pallas_athena: (Default)
pallas_athena ([personal profile] pallas_athena) wrote2009-09-24 07:35 pm

Gold in them there hills

Deep in darkness    as dragon's dwelling
Hidden under hill    lay heaped the hoard, 
Battle-gear    brightly gleaming.
Sword-hilts splendid,    serpent-spiraled,
Helms and horns    and handles to hold,
Gold to grace    the graves of the great.
Silent it slumbered    as centuries passed.
Then a carl came,    keen and cunning,
The dark earth delving    with deft detector, 
Singer of spell-song,    seer into stone.


Shiny pictures here,
explanation by a British Museum bod here.

I love the way the BBC keep referring to the find as a "hoard," as if it had been found with the bones of a dragon coiled possessively over it. Attempts to interview the finder were unsuccessful as he seemed to have disappeared, along with one of the hoard's less significant items, reportedly a small inscribed gold ring...

[identity profile] mister-jack.livejournal.com 2009-09-24 07:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I heard the dragon is on holiday with his kids. All hell is going to break lose when they get back.

They're here!

[identity profile] larissa-00.livejournal.com 2009-09-25 11:56 am (UTC)(link)
Aargh, can't get the formatting right, but there is more to this tale than [livejournal.com profile] artnouveauho let on

The wyrm awakens in worry writhing,
Gold gleaming from ground grasped,
Precious pieces by peasant picked.
Anger arises and flame-breath after.
Revenge-revived, the dragon rises
Wings whip the wind: wide bringers of woe!
The firedrake flies fierce in finding,
Masked in moon-dark, of mortals mindful
Their love of light to bright London . . .