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The Elene of Cynewulf/Chapter 15

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15. The Building of the Temple.

And thus she did when her friends brought many a kind greeting over the fastness of waters from the west. Then the queen bade seek far and near those1020 skilled in the arts, the best of those who could work most wondrously in the laying of stone upon stone, that they might raise a temple of God upon that place. As the Lord of spirits counseled her from the heavens, she bade deck out the rood with gold and with gems, adorn it most artfully with precious1025 stones; then to seal it with locks in a casket of silver. There hath the rood of life, best tree of victory, dwelt since then, indestructible in its nobleness. There shall it be ever ready, a solace for1030 the ill of any disease, affliction, or sorrow. Then straightway shall men find aid and divine grace through that holy form.