Fifty Famous Stories Retold | Page 9

sent them out with mes-sa-ges of cheer to his dis-heart-ened people.
Soon there was an army of brave Scotch-men around him. Another
battle was fought, and the King of England was glad to go back into his
own country.

I have heard it said, that, after that day, no one by the name of Bruce
would ever hurt a spider. The lesson which the little crea-ture had
taught the king was never for-got-ten.

THE BLACK DOUGLAS.
In Scotland, in the time of King Robert Bruce, there lived a brave man
whose name was Doug-las. His hair and beard were black and long,
and his face was tanned and dark; and for this reason people nicknamed
him the Black Douglas. He was a good friend of the king, and one of
his strongest helpers.
In the war with the English, who were trying to drive Bruce from
Scotland, the Black Douglas did many brave deeds; and the English
people became very much afraid of him. By and by the fear of him
spread all through the land. Nothing could frighten an English lad more
than to tell him that the Black Douglas was not far away. Women
would tell their chil-dren, when they were naughty, that the Black
Douglas would get them; and this would make them very quiet and
good.
There was a large cas-tle in Scotland which the English had taken early
in the war. The Scot-tish soldiers wanted very much to take it again,
and the Black Douglas and his men went one day to see what they
could do. It happened to be a hol-i-day, and most of the English
soldiers in the cas-tle were eating and drinking and having a merry time.
But they had left watch-men on the wall to see that the Scottish soldiers
did not come upon them un-a-wares; and so they felt quite safe.
In the e-ven-ing, when it was growing dark, the wife of one of the
soldiers went up on the wall with her child in her arms. As she looked
over into the fields below the castle, she saw some dark objects moving
toward the foot of the wall. In the dusk she could not make out what
they were, and so she pointed them out to one of the watch-men.
"Pooh, pooh!" said the watchman. "Those are nothing to frighten us.

They are the farmer's cattle, trying to find their way home. The farmer
himself is en-joy-ing the hol-i-day, and he has forgotten to bring them
in. If the Douglas should happen this way before morning, he will be
sorry for his care-less-ness."
But the dark objects were not cattle. They were the Black Douglas and
his men, creeping on hands and feet toward the foot of the castle wall.
Some of them were dragging ladders behind them through the grass.
They would soon be climbing to the top of the wall. None of the
English soldiers dreamed that they were within many miles of the
place.
The woman watched them until the last one had passed around a corner
out of sight. She was not afraid, for in the dark-en-ing twi-light they
looked indeed like cattle. After a little while she began to sing to her
child:--
"Hush ye, hush ye, little pet ye, Hush ye, hush ye, do not fret ye, The
Black Douglas shall not get ye."
All at once a gruff voice was heard behind her, saying, "Don't be so
sure about that!"
She looked around, and there stood the Black Douglas himself. At the
same moment a Scottish soldier climbed off a ladder and leaped upon
the wall; and then there came another and another and another, until the
wall was covered with them. Soon there was hot fighting in every part
of the castle. But the English were so taken by surprise that they could
not do much. Many of them were killed, and in a little while the Black
Douglas and his men were the masters of the castle, which by right
be-longed to them.
[Illustration: "Don't be so sure about that!"]
As for the woman and her child, the Black Douglas would not suffer
any one to harm them. After a while they went back to England; and
whether the mother made up any more songs about the Black Douglas I
cannot tell.

THREE MEN OF GOTHAM.
There is a town in England called Go-tham, and many merry stories are
told of the queer people who used to live there.
One day two men of Go-tham met on a bridge. Hodge was coming
from the market, and Peter was going to the market.
"Where are you going?" said Hodge.
"I am going to the market to buy sheep," said Peter.
"Buy sheep?" said Hodge. "And which way will you bring them
home?"