Fifty Famous Stories Retold | Page 3

horn three times, so loudly that the Danes may hear it.
By nine o'clock, five hundred men will be around you ready to be led
into battle. Go forth bravely, and within seven days your en-e-mies
shall be beaten, and you shall go back to your kingdom to reign in
peace."
Then the light went out, and the man was seen no more.
In the morning the king arose early, and crossed over to the mainland.
Then he blew his horn three times very loudly; and when his friends
heard it they were glad, but the Danes were filled with fear.

At nine o'clock, five hundred of his bravest soldiers stood around him
ready for battle. He spoke, and told them what he had seen and heard in
his dream; and when he had fin-ished, they all cheered loudly, and said
that they would follow him and fight for him so long as they had
strength.
So they went out bravely to battle; and they beat the Danes, and drove
them back into their own place. And King Alfred ruled wisely and well
over all his people for the rest of his days.

KING CANUTE ON THE SEASHORE.
A hundred years or more after the time of Alfred the Great there was a
king of England named Ca-nuté. King Canute was a Dane; but the
Danes were not so fierce and cruel then as they had been when they
were at war with King Alfred.
The great men and of-fi-cers who were around King Canute were
always praising him.
"You are the greatest man that ever lived," one would say.
Then an-oth-er would say, "O king! there can never be an-oth-er man
so mighty as you."
And another would say, "Great Canute, there is nothing in the world
that dares to dis-o-bey you."
The king was a man of sense, and he grew very tired of hearing such
foolish speeches.
One day he was by the sea-shore, and his of-fi-cers were with him.
They were praising him, as they were in the habit of doing. He thought
that now he would teach them a lesson, and so he bade them set his
chair on the beach close by the edge of the water.
"Am I the greatest man in the world?" he asked.

"O king!" they cried, "there is no one so mighty as you."
"Do all things obey me?" he asked.
"There is nothing that dares to dis-o-bey you, O king!" they said. "The
world bows before you, and gives you honor."
"Will the sea obey me?" he asked; and he looked down at the little
waves which were lapping the sand at his feet.
The foolish officers were puzzled, but they did not dare to say "No."
"Command it, O king! and it will obey," said one.
"Sea," cried Canute, "I command you to come no farther! Waves, stop
your rolling, and do not dare to touch my feet!"
But the tide came in, just as it always did. The water rose higher and
higher. It came up around the king's chair, and wet not only his feet, but
also his robe. His officers stood about him, alarmed, and won-der-ing
whether he was not mad.
Then Canute took off his crown, and threw it down upon the sand.
"I shall never wear it again," he said. "And do you, my men, learn a
lesson from what you have seen. There is only one King who is
all-powerful; and it is he who rules the sea, and holds the ocean in the
hollow of his hand. It is he whom you ought to praise and serve above
all others."

THE SONS OF WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR.
There was once a great king of England who was called Wil-liam the
Con-quer-or, and he had three sons.
[Illustration: "Sea, I command you to come no farther!"]

One day King Wil-liam seemed to be thinking of something that made
him feel very sad; and the wise men who were about him asked him
what was the matter.
"I am thinking," he said, "of what my sons may do after I am dead. For,
unless they are wise and strong, they cannot keep the kingdom which I
have won for them. Indeed, I am at a loss to know which one of the
three ought to be the king when I am gone."
"O king!" said the wise men, "if we only knew what things your sons
admire the most, we might then be able to tell what kind of men they
will be. Perhaps, by asking each one of them a few ques-tions, we can
find out which one of them will be best fitted to rule in your place."
"The plan is well worth trying, at least," said the king. "Have the boys