Historical Tales, Vol. 4 | Page 9

blow was struck for home and fireside.
In the end patriotism prevailed over the baser instinct of piracy; the
Danes were defeated, and driven in tumultuous hosts to their intrenched
camp, falling in multitudes as they fled, for the incensed English laid
aside all thought of mercy in the hot fury of pursuit.
Only when within the shelter of his works was Guthrum able to make
head against his victorious foe. The camp seemed too strong to be
taken by assault, nor did Alfred care to immolate his men while a safer
and surer expedient remained. He had made himself fully familiar with
its formation, knew well its weak and strong points and its sparseness
of supplies, and without loss of time spread his forces round it,
besieging it so closely that not a Dane could escape. For fourteen days
the siege went on, Alfred's army, no doubt, daily increasing, that of his
foe wasting away before the ceaseless flight of arrows and javelins.
Guthrum was in despair. Famine threatened him. Escape was
impossible. Hardly a bird could have fled unseen through the English
lines. At the end of the fortnight he yielded, and asked for terms of
surrender. The war was at an end. England was saved.
In his moment of victory Alfred proved generous. He gave the Danes
an abiding-place upon English soil, on condition that they should dwell
there as his vassals. To this they were to bind themselves by oath and
the giving of hostages. Another condition was that Guthrum and his
leading chiefs should give up their pagan faith and embrace
Christianity.

To these terms the Danish leader acceded. A few weeks after the fight
Aubre, near Athelney, was the scene of the baptizing of Guthrum and
thirty of his chiefs. To his heathen title was added the Saxon name of
Athelstan, Alfred standing sponsor to the new convert to the Christian
faith. Eight days afterwards Guthrum laid off the white robe and
chrysmal fillet of his new faith, and in twelve days bade adieu to his
victorious foe, now, to all seeming, his dearest friend. What sum of
Christian faith the baptized heathen took with him to the new lands
assigned him it would be rash to say, but at all events he was removed
from the circle of England's foes.
The treaty of Wedmore freed southern England from the Danes. The
shores of Wessex were teased now and then by after-descents, but these
incursions were swept away like those of stinging hornets. In 894 a
fleet of three hundred ships invaded the realm, but they met a crushing
defeat. The king was given some leisure to pursue those studies to
which his mind so strongly inclined, and to carry forward measures for
the education of his people by the establishment of schools which, like
those of Charlemagne in France, vanished before he was fairly in the
grave. This noble knight died in 901, nearly a thousand years ago, after
having proved himself one of the ablest warriors and most advanced
minds that ever occupied the English throne.

THE WOOING OF ELFRIDA.
Of all the many fair maidens of the Saxon realm none bore such fame
for beauty as the charming Elfrida, daughter of the earl of Devonshire,
and the rose of southern England. She had been educated in the country
and had never been seen in London, but the report of her charms of face
and person spread so widely that all the land became filled with the
tale.
It soon reached the court and came to the ears of Edgar, the king, a
youthful monarch who had an open ear for all tales of maidenly beauty.
He was yet but little more than a boy, was unmarried, and a born lover.
The praises of this country charmer, therefore, stirred his susceptible

heart. She was nobly born, the heiress to an earldom, the very rose of
English maidens,--what better consort for the throne could be found? If
report spoke true, this was the maiden he should choose for wife, this
fairest flower of the Saxon realm. But rumor grows apace, and common
report is not to be trusted. Edgar thought it the part of discretion to
make sure of the beauty of the much-lauded Elfrida before making a
formal demand for her hand in marriage.
Devonshire was far away, roads few and poor in Saxon England, travel
slow and wearisome, and the king had no taste for the journey to the
castle of Olgar of Devon. Nor did he deem it wise to declare his
intention till he made sure that the maiden was to his liking. He,
therefore, spoke of his purpose to Earl Athelwold, his favorite, whom
he bade to pay a visit, on some pretence, to Earl Olgar of Devonshire,
to