Young Folks History of England | Page 5

into the
Mediterranean Sea, and robbed the beautiful shores of Italy. So
dreadful was it to see the fleet of long ships coming up to the shore,
with a serpent for the figure-head, and a raven as the flag, and crowds
of fierce warriors with axes in their hands longing for prey and
bloodshed, that where we pray in church that God would deliver us
from lightning and tempest, and battle and murder, our forefathers used
to add, "From the fury of the Northmen, good Lord deliver us."
To England these Northmen came in great swarms, and chiefly from
Denmark, so that they were generally call "the Danes." They burnt the
houses, drove off the cows and sheep, killed the men, and took away
the women and children to be slaves; and they were always most cruel
of all where they found an Abbey with any monks or nuns, because
they hated the Christian faith. By this time those seven English
kingdoms I told you of had all fallen into the hands of one king. Egbert,
King of the West Saxons, who reigned at Winchester, is counted as the
first king of all England. His four grandsons had dreadful battles with
the Danes all their lives, and the three eldest all died quite young. The
youngest was the greatest and best king England ever had--Alfred the
Truth-teller. As a child Alfred excited the hopes and admiration of all
who saw him, and while his brothers were busy with their sports, it was
his delight to kneel at his mother's knee, and recite to her the Saxon
ballads which his tutor had read to him, inspiring him, at that early age,
with the ardent patriotism and the passionate love of literature which
rendered his character so illustrious. He was only twenty-two years old
when he came to the throne, and the kingdom was overrun everywhere
with the Danes. In the northern part some had even settled down and

made themselves at home, as the English had done four hundred years
before, and more and more kept coming in their ships: so that, though
Alfred beat them in battle again and again, there was no such thing as
driving them away. At last he had so very few faithful men left him,
that he thought it wise to send them away, and hide himself in the
Somersetshire marsh country. There is a pretty story told of him that he
was hidden in the hut of a poor herdsman, whose wife, thinking he was
a poor wandering soldier as he sat by the fire mending his bow and
arrows, desired him to turn the cakes she had set to bake upon the
hearth. Presently she found them burning, and cried out angrily, "Lazy
rogue! you can't turn the cakes, though you can eat them fast enough."
However, that same spring, the brave English gained more victories;
Alfred came out of his hiding place and gathered them all together, and
beat the Danes, so that they asked for peace. He said he would allow
those who had settled in the North of England to stay there, provided
they would become Christians; and he stood godfather to their chief,
and gave him the name of Ethelstane. After this, Alfred had stout ships
built to meet the Danes at sea before they could come and land in
England; and thus he kept them off, so that for all the rest of his reign,
and that of his son and grandsons, they could do very little mischief,
and for a time left off coming at all, but went to rob other countries that
were not so well guarded by brave kings.
But Alfred was not only a brave warrior. He was a most good and holy
man, who feared God above all things, and tried to do his very best for
his people. He made good laws for them, and took care that every one
should be justly treated, and that nobody should do his neighbor wrong
without being punished. So many Abbeys had been burnt and the
monks killed by the Danes, that there were hardly any books to be had,
or scholars to read them. He invited learned men from abroad, and
wrote and translated books himself for them; and he had a school in his
house, where he made the young nobles learn with his own sons. He
built up the churches, and gave alms to the poor; and he was always
ready to hear the troubles of any poor man. Though he was always
working so hard, he had a disease that used to cause him terrible pain
almost every day. His last years were less peaceful than the middle
ones of his reign, for the Danes tried to come again; but he beat