Uhtred Goes Hunting

Uhtred, Lord of Bebbanburg, had just finished preparations for the upcoming winter and was minded to go on one last hunt the next morning. He gathered his six, strong pointer hounds right before the sun was rising, and set forth towards his favorite hunting ground called Willow Forest. There was a myth that hunters’ who would go into Willow Forest would never come back as mountain lions would eat them. The myth never phased Uhtred and he had been going to Willow Forest ever since he could be out on his own.

Once he arrived to Willow Forest, he quickly unleashed his pointers. This hunting ground was filled with rabbits and deer since it was avoided by mostly all the hunters. His pointers chased the rabbits and deer until they separated one and would grab ahold of it until Uhtred caught up to them. As Uhtred was following the growls and barking of his hounds, he heard a howling sound from a pack of wolves in the distance. His pointers quickly retreated to him frightened and whining from the loud sound they had heard from the wolves. Uhtred was surprised and decided to see what all the fuss was about that his hounds were making. He walked towards where his hounds had been and spotted the wolves. The wolves had killed two deer and were just sitting on top of them. Uhtred picked up some stones and threw them at the wolves, eventually scaring them off. His hounds quickly pounced on the already dead deer, acting as if they had been the ones to catch them. As Uhtred was tying the deer’s legs together to drag them off, another man approached him.

“How could you to do such a thing?”, asked the mysterious man.

Distraught, Uhtred quickly drew out his sword and asked him who he was.

“I am Lord Ragnar, King of the Danes. It’d be best if you untie the deer and go back as where you came.”, replied the man.

Uhtred withdrew his sword after the Ragnar stated he was King of the Danes. The Danes were known to be terrible people with a lot of ambition to kill and take land. Uhtred wanted no part in an argument with a Dane and apologized to Ragnar knowing swords would be drawn either way.

Ragnar was a hard man to please and would not accept his apology as he felt insulted. They both came to an agreement that he would pardon Uhtred as long as he did him one favor. Ragnar had a magical potion with him that would exchange a person’s image with another person. He told Uhtred that he would not make it another winter in Dane country because of how harsh the conditions were. Uhtred agreed to exchange lives until the end of winter, and then they would meet on a certain date back in Willow Forest.

The time passed and as Uhtred was suffering the harsh and unbearable weather conditions with the Danes, Ragnar was taking advantage of the more tolerable conditions in Bebbanburg. When the date of the meeting came to exchange back to their normal lives, only Uhtred showed up as Ragnar fell in love with Uhtred’s land and wife.

(Pointer Dogs: Pinterest)

Author's Note:

The original story is called “Pwyll Goes Hunting” in the Mabinogion Unit. Pwyll takes his dogs hunting to Glyn Cuch, a part of his dominions. He lets his dogs go to start the hunt but after a while notices the sound of other hounds in the area coming in the opposite direction. He approaches his hounds standing on the edge of a glade staring at the other hounds that he had heard. The other dogs had captured a stag but Pwyll scared them off and orders his dogs onto the stag. As he orders them onto the stag, another man approaches him and asks him what he thinks he is doing. The other man is King Arawn and is angry with Pwyll but then Pwyll asks how he can redeem himself. The King then tells him about a situation he is in back in his Kingdom that involves King Havgan. Havgan is always contradicting Arawn and both of them are set to duel a year from this day. Arawn tells Pwyll to take his form with a special potion and go in his place to fight Havgan, then in a year come back to switch their forms again. Pwyll agrees as this is the only way Arawn will forgive him. For my story I tried to follow the same script but with different characters and a different twist. Uhtred is “Pwyll” and Ragnar is “Arawn” in my story. Instead of Ragnar having a dispute back home, he is just tired of the harsh living conditions that the winter will bring. He tells Uhtred he will forgive him if he takes his place just for the winter. Once the winter is over Ragnar does not come back as he has fallen in love with Uhtred’s wife and his land.

Bibliography:

"Pwyll Goes Hunting" from Mabinogion Unit by Lady Charlotte Guest. Web Source.