REH Word of the Week: leal

He seated himself near her on a boulder, his broadsword across his knees. With the firelight glinting from his blue steel armor, he seemed like an image of steel--dynamic power for the moment quiescent; not resting, but motionless for the instant, awaiting the signal to plunge again into terrific action. The firelight played on his features, making them seem as if carved out of substance shadowy yet hard as steel. They were immobile, but his eyes smoldered with fierce life. He was not merely a wild man; he was part of the wild, one with the untamable elements of life; in his veins ran the blood of the wolf-pack; in his brain lurked the brooding depths of the northern night; his heart throbbed with the fire of blazing forests.

--Robert E. Howard, "Black Colossus"--

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REH Word of the Week: leal

Monday, August 3, 2009

posted by Barbara Barrett

LEO SAYS: REH fan Barbara Barrett, editor of the The Wordbook: An Index Guide to the Poetry of Robert E. Howard, is resurrecting the REH Word of the Week feature I ran regularly on the site for awhile. Her first one is below — look for future installments every Monday here at The Cimmerian.

leal

adjective
1. Loyal, true

[Origin:14th century; Middle English leel and Anglo-French leal, chiefly Scottish]

HOWARD’S USAGE:

Weird night-tunes peal as we weave and reel

Like a maiden leal

And her cavalier.

But a grisly maid

Is the flitting shade

That sways with me through the moonlit glade;

And the boldest knight

Like the poorest wight would flee the sight

With a ghastly fear.

But on we dance ‘neath an eery sky

And light we prance, old Death and I!

[from "The Adventurer's Mistress (2)" ("The fogs of night); to read the whole poem, see The Collected Poetry of Robert E. Howard, p. 261]

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