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The Wood Beyond the World · Chapters

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Chapter companions for The Wood Beyond the World by William Morris.

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  1. Chapter 1

    I: Of Golden Walter and His Father

    Golden Walter, a young man of Langton on Holm, is unhappy in his marriage to a beautiful but unfaithful wife. He asks his father, the wealthy merchant Bartholomew Golden, for permission to sail away on the ship Katherine. His father agrees, and Walter prepares to depart.

  2. Chapter 2

    II: Golden Walter Takes Ship to Sail the Seas

    Walter goes down to the Katherine, where the skipper Geoffrey shows him his room and the goods his father has sent. While waiting, he sees a tall ship and three strangers board it: a hideous dwarf in yellow silk, a fair maiden in a green gown with an iron ring on her ankle, and a radiant, stately lady. Walter is entranced and later, at his father's house, he seems to see them again but finds only children and a dog. Confused, he bids farewell to his father and sails on the Katherine, his mind full of the three figures.

  3. Chapter 3

    III: Walter Heareth Tidings of the Death of His Father

    Walter, sailing with the Katherine on a trading voyage, gradually recovers from his earlier melancholy and begins to enjoy life in a distant city. After many months, Arnold Penstrong arrives with news of Bartholomew Golden's death following a violent feud with the Reddings. Walter resolves to return to Langton for vengeance, but is haunted by a vision of the three strangers—the dwarf, the maiden, and the lady—which rekindles his longing to find them. Torn between duty and desire, he ultimately departs with Arnold on the Bartholomew.

  4. Chapter 4

    IV: Storm Befalls the Bartholomew, and She Is Driven Off Her Course

    The Bartholomew sails northwest for four weeks before a storm drives it off course. Walter, initially anxious about returning home to a feud, finds solace in the prospect of continued wandering and new lands, as the shipmaster navigates the tempest.

  5. Chapter 5

    V: Now They Come to a New Land

    After three days of sailing before the wind, the crew of the Katherine sights a new land—a shore of rocks and mountains with a green plain and a river. They anchor and tow the ship upriver, where they meet an old man living alone in a small house. He tells them he is the only inhabitant between the sea and the dwellings of the 'Bears,' a nation of half-wild men who worship a woman. The old man offers hospitality, and the crew goes ashore to feast and refresh themselves.

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  1. Chapter 6VI: The Old Man Tells Walter of Himself. Walter Sees a Shard in the Cliff-Wall
  2. Chapter 7VII: Walter Comes to the Shard in the Rock-Wall
  3. Chapter 8VIII: Walter Wends the Waste
  4. Chapter 9IX: Walter Happeneth on the First of Those Three Creatures
  5. Chapter 10X: Walter Happeneth on Another Creature in the Strange Land
  6. Chapter 11XI: Walter Happeneth on the Mistress
  7. Chapter 12XII: The Wearing of Four Days in the Wood Beyond the World
  8. Chapter 13XIII: Now Is the Hunt Up
  9. Chapter 14XIV: The Hunting of the Hart
  10. Chapter 15XV: The Slaying of the Quarry
  11. Chapter 16XVI: Of the King’s Son and the Maid
  12. Chapter 17Of the House and the Pleasance in the Wood
  13. Chapter 18The Maid Gives Walter Tryst
  14. Chapter 19XIX: Walter Goes to Fetch Home the Lion’s Hide
  15. Chapter 20XX: Walter Is Bidden to Another Tryst
  16. Chapter 21Walter and the Maid Flee from the Golden House
  17. Chapter 22Of the Dwarf and the Pardon
  18. Chapter 23Of the Peaceful Ending of That Wild Day
  19. Chapter 24XXIV: The Maid Tells of What Had Befallen Her
  20. Chapter 25Of the Triumphant Summer Array of the Maid
  21. Chapter 26XXVI: They Come to the Folk of the Bears
  22. Chapter 27Morning Amongst the Bears
  23. Chapter 28XXVIII: Of the New God of the Bears
  24. Chapter 29XXIX: Walter Strays in the Pass and Is Sundered from the Maid
  25. Chapter 30XXX: Now They Meet Again
  26. Chapter 31XXXI: They Come Upon New Folk
  27. Chapter 32XXXII: Of the New King of the City and Land of Stark-Wall
  28. Chapter 33Concerning the Fashion of King-Making in Stark-Wall
  29. Chapter 34XXXIV: Now Cometh the Maid to the King
  30. Chapter 35XXXV: Of the King of Stark-Wall and His Queen
  31. Chapter 36XXXVI: Of Walter and the Maid in the Days of the Kingship