Wild Tales Beenar

[Kipa Crawn]

Thereare numerous time-honored stories which have become soincorporated into the literature and thought of our race that aknowledge of them is an indispensable part of one's education. Thesestories are of several different classes. To one class belong thepopular fairy tales which have delighted untold generations ofchildren, and will continue to delight them to the end of time. Toanother class belong the limited number of fables that have come downto us through many channels from hoar antiquity. To a third belong thecharming stories of olden times that are derived from the literaturesof ancient peoples, such as the Greeks and the Hebrews. A fourth classincludes the half-legendary tales of a distinctly later origin, whichhave for their subjects certain romantic episodes in the lives ofwell-known heroes and famous men, or in the history of a people.

It is to this last class that most of the fifty stories contained inthe present volume belong. As a matter of course, some of thesestories are better known, and therefore more famous, than others.Some have a slight historical value; some are useful as giving pointto certain great moral truths; others are products solely of thefancy, and are intended only to amuse. Some are derived from veryancient sources, and are current in the literature of many lands; somehave come to us through the ballads and folk tales of the Englishpeople; a few are of quite recent origin; nearly all are the subjectsof frequent allusions in poetry and prose and in the conversation ofeducated people. Care has been taken to exclude everything that is notstrictly within the limits of probability; hence there is here notrespassing upon the domain of the fairy tale, the fable, or the myth.

That children naturally take a deep interest in such stories, noperson can deny; that the reading of them will not only give pleasure,but will help to lay the foundation for broader literary studies, canscarcely be doubted. It is believed, therefore, that the presentcollection will be found to possess an educative value which willcommend it as a supplementary reader in the middle primary grades atschool. It is also hoped that the book will prove so attractive thatit will be in demand out of school as well as in.

Many years ago there lived in Eng-land a wise and good king whose namewas Al-fred. No other man ever did so much for his country as he; and[6]people now, all over the world, speak of him as Alfred the Great.

In those days a king did not have a very easy life. There was waralmost all the time, and no one else could lead his army into battleso well as he. And so, between ruling and fighting, he had a busy timeof it indeed.

A fierce, rude people, called the Danes, had come from over the sea,and were fighting the Eng-lish. There were so many of them, and theywere so bold and strong, that for a long time they gained everybattle. If they kept on, they would soon be the masters of the wholecountry.

At last, after a great battle, the English army was broken up andscat-tered. Every man had to save himself in the best way he could.King Alfred fled alone, in great haste, through the woods and swamps.

King Alfred was very willing to watch the cakes, but he had fargreater things to think about. How was he going to get his armyto-geth-er again? And how was he going to drive the fierce Danes outof the land? He forgot his hunger; he forgot the cakes; he forgot thathe was in the woodcutter's hut. His mind was busy making plans forto-mor-row.

I do not know whether he had any-thing to eat that night, or whetherhe had to go to bed without[8] his supper. But it was not many daysuntil he had gath-ered his men to-geth-er again, and had beaten theDanes in a great battle.

One day, all who were on the is-land, except the king and queen andone servant, went out to fish. It was a very lonely place, and no onecould get to it except by a boat. About noon a ragged beggar came tothe king's door, and asked for food.

In the after-noon the men who had gone out to fish came back. They hadthree boats full of fish,[9] and they said, "We have caught more fishto-day than in all the other days that we have been on this island."

When night came, the king lay awake for a long time, and thought aboutthe things that had happened that day. At last he fancied that he sawa great light like the sun; and in the midst of the light there stoodan old man with black hair, holding an open book in his hand.

"Alfred, my son, be brave," said the man; "for I am the one to whomyou gave this day the half of all the food that you had. Be strong andjoyful of heart, and listen to what I say. Rise up early in themorning and blow your horn three times, so loudly that the Danes mayhear it. By nine o'clock, five hundred men will be around you ready tobe led into battle. Go forth bravely, and within seven days youren-e-mies shall be beaten, and you shall go back to your kingdom toreign in peace."

At nine o'clock, five hundred of his bravest soldiers stood around himready for battle. He spoke, and told them what he had seen and heardin his dream; and when he had fin-ished, they all cheered loudly, andsaid that they would follow him and fight for him so long as they hadstrength.

A hundred years or more after the time of Alfred the Great there was aking of England named Ca-nut. King Canute was a Dane; but the Daneswere not so fierce and cruel then as they had been when they were atwar with King Alfred.

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 thoughtthat now he would teach them a lesson, and so he bade them set hischair on the beach close by the edge of the water.

But the tide came in, just as it always did. The water rose higher andhigher. It came up around the king's chair, and wet not only his feet,but also his robe. His officers stood about him, alarmed, andwon-der-ing whether he was not mad.

"I shall never wear it again," he said. "And do you, my men, learn alesson from what you have seen. There is only one King who isall-powerful; and it is he who rules the sea, and holds the ocean inthe hollow of his hand. It is he whom you ought to praise and serveabove all others."

"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 kingdomwhich I have won for them. Indeed, I am at a loss to know which one ofthe three ought to be the king when I am gone."

"O king!" said the wise men, "if we only knew what things your sonsadmire the most, we might then be able to tell what kind of men theywill be. Perhaps, by asking each one of them a few ques-tions, we canfind out which one of them will be best fitted to rule in your place."

Lastly came the youngest brother, Henry, with quiet steps and a sober,thought-ful look. He had been taught to read and write, and for thatreason he was nick-named Beau-clerc, or the Hand-some Schol-ar.

"We find," said they, "that your eldest son, Robert, will be bold andgallant. He will do some great deeds, and make a name for himself; butin the end he will be over-come by his foes, and will die in prison.

"The youngest son, Henry, will be wise and prudent and peaceful. Hewill go to war only when he is forced to do so by his enemies. He willbe loved at home, and re-spect-ed abroad; and he will die in peaceafter having gained great pos-ses-sions."

Years passed by, and the three boys had grown up to be men. KingWilliam lay upon his death-bed, and again he thought of what wouldbecome of his sons when he was gone. Then he re-mem-bered what thewise men had told him; and so he de-clared that Robert should have thelands which he held in France, that William should be the King[17] ofEngland, and that Henry should have no land at all, but only a chestof gold.

So it hap-pened in the end very much as the wise men had fore-told.Robert, the Short Stocking, was bold and reckless, like the hawk whichhe so much admired. He lost all the lands that his father had lefthim, and was at last shut up in prison, where he was kept until hedied.

One summer Prince William went with his father across the sea to lookafter their lands in France.[18] They were wel-comed with joy by alltheir people there, and the young prince was so gallant and kind, thathe won the love of all who saw him.

But at last the time came for them to go back to England. The king,with his wise men and brave knights, set sail early in the day; butPrince William with his younger friends waited a little while. Theyhad had so joyous a time in France that they were in no great haste totear them-selves away.

The sea was smooth, the winds were fair, and no one thought of danger.On the ship, every-thing had been ar-ranged to make the trip apleasant one. There was music and dancing, and everybody was merry andglad.

The sun had gone down before the white-winged vessel was fairly out ofthe bay. But what of that? The moon was at its full, and it would givelight enough; and before the dawn of the morrow, the narrow sea wouldbe crossed. And so the prince, and the young people who were with him,gave themselves up to mer-ri-ment and feasting and joy.

The ear-li-er hours of the night passed by; and[19] then there was a cryof alarm on deck. A moment after-ward there was a great crash. Theship had struck upon a rock. The water rushed in. She was sinking. Ah,where now were those who had lately been so heart-free and glad?

Every heart was full of fear. No one knew what to do. A small boat wasquickly launched, and the prince with a few of his bravest friendsleaped into it. They pushed off just as the ship was be-gin-ning tosettle beneath the waves. Would they be saved?

The men did not dare to disobey. The boat was again brought along-sideof the sinking vessel. The prince stood up, and held out his arms forhis sister. At that moment the ship gave a great lurch forward intothe waves. One shriek of terror was heard, and then all was still savethe sound of the moaning waters.

Ship and boat, prince and prin-cess, and all the gay com-pa-ny thathad set sail from France, went down to the bottom together. One manclung to a floating plank, and was saved the next day. He was the onlyperson left alive to tell the sad story.[20]

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