WHEN Ethelwulf, Alfred's father, died, each of his sons became
king in turn. During these reigns the Danes became more and more
troublesome. Nearly all the time was spent in fighting, so that
the country came to be in a very sad state indeed.
When Ethelred (who was the last of Ethelwulf's sons except Alfred)
came to the throne, Alfred had grown to be a man, and although
he was still very young, he helped his brother a great deal. And
when Ethelred died, the people chose Alfred to be their king.
For although Ethelred had two sons, they were little boys, and
no one thought of making either of them king. The people knew
that a strong and wise man was needed to rule in England, and
Alfred was both strong and wise.
No king has ever had to fight more bravely for his kingdom than
Alfred had. When he came to the throne, the Danes were growing
more and more bold. They did not now only come in their ships
to plunder and rob, and then sail away again. They came now to
live in the land, killing the people, and then taking their houses
for themselves.
So all the first years of Alfred's reign were spent in fighting
these fierce enemies. But Alfred did not only fight bravely, he
thought too.
The Danes were brave and daring sailors, just as the English
had been before they came to live in England. But somehow after
the English settled down, they seem to have forgotten about how
to build ships and how to sail upon the sea.
But Alfred was wise and saw how much better it would be to stop
the Danes before they landed at all. So he built ships and went
in them to fight the Danes on the sea.
In the year 875 A.D., King Alfred and his ships met the Danes
and their ships and fought a great battle and won a great victory.
That was the first of many, many sea-victories which the English
have won, and ever since the days of Alfred, England has had a
navy and Britannia has ruled the waves.
"Ye mariners of England
That guard our native seas,
Whose flag has braved a thousand years
The battle and the breeze;
Your glorious standard launch again
To match another foe
And sweep through the deep,
While the stormy winds do blow;
While the battle rages loud and long,
And the stormy winds do blow.
Britannia needs no bulwarks,
No towers along the steep;
Her march is on the mountain waves,
Her home is on the deep.
With thunders from her native oak
She quells the floods below,
As they roar on the shore,
When the stormy winds do blow;
When the battle rages loud and long,
And the stormy winds do blow."
But even although Alfred gained this battle at sea, the Danes
were not beaten altogether. Again and again Alfred had to fight,
but at last he forced the Danes to make peace. They swore by a
most solemn and dreadful oath that they would go away and never
make war against the English again. This vow was taken with great
ceremony. Sheep and cattle were killed and offered in sacrifice
to the heathen gods, for the Danes, you remember were heathen.
A beautiful ring of gold, called the holy bracelet, was dipped
in the blood of the animals. The bracelet was then placed upon
an altar and, laying their hands upon it, the Danish chiefs swore
to fight no more against the English.
This was not the first time that the Danes had promised to go
away and fight no more, but they had always broken their promises.
Now Alfred thought they would be sure to keep their word, because
of the very solemn vow they had taken.
But the Danes did not mean to keep this promise any more than
the others. Very soon they came back again as bold as before,
or bolder. Once more fierce battles raged, till at last, weary
of fighting, and forsaken by nearly all his followers, Alfred
was forced to hide for a time in the marshes of Somerset.
This was the saddest part of Alfred's life. He was a king, yet
he had neither crown nor royal robes, neither palace nor servants.
He was so poor that he went to live in the cottage of a cowherd
called Denewulf. His clothes were so old and worn that the cowherd's
wife thought that he was a friend of her husband, and so she treated
him as if he had been a common man and not a great king.
One day Denewulf's wife was very busy. She had been baking cakes,
and had still many things to do. Alfred meanwhile was sitting
by the fire. He had been mending his bow and arrows, but they
had dropped from his hand, for, thinking deeply about his kingdom
and his people, and of how he could free them from the Danes,
he had forgotten all else.
It seemed to Denewulf's wife that Alfred was a lazy sort of fellow.
She did not know the great matters he had to think of, and she
wondered how any one could sit for hours by the fire doing nothing,
while she and her husband had to work so hard.
Now, she said to herself, this lazy fellow can at least look
after my cakes, while I go to do something else.
"Here, good man," she said to him, "just mind
my cakes for me. And don't let them burn. When they are nice and
brown on one side, turn them over on to the other side, like this–"
and she showed him how to do it.
"All right, good wife, I will look after your cakes for
you," replied Alfred.
But when the good woman had gone, Alfred sank once more deep
in thought. As he watched the cakes, he looked into the fire.
Soon, in the red glow of the burning ashes, he saw wonderful things.
The cakes and the cowherd's cottage vanished. Once again he was
leading his army, his banner with its golden dragons fluttered
in the breeze, his spear was in his hand, his crown upon his head.
He heard the shout of his soldiers as they charged the Danes.
The ranks of the enemy broke, they fled–to their ships they
fled. Fast behind them came the English. They set fire to the
Danish ships. He smelt the smoke as it rolled upward, heard the
crackle of the flames, the shrieks of the dying, the shouts of
victory. England was saved.
Then suddenly he was awakened out of his dream by a blow to his
shoulder, and an angry voice in his ear,
"Cans't thee not mind the cakes, man?
And doesn't thee see them burn?
I's bound thee'll eat them fast enough
As soon as 'tis thy turn."
Alas! the cakes, and not the Danish ships, were burning. Alfred
was a great king, but he had proved a poor cook; and the good
wife was very angry.
She scolded him well, little thinking that she was scolding her
King. She was still rating when Denewulf came in.
"Hush thee, woman, hush thee," he said, ashamed and
frightened.
"Hush, shall I?" she cried angrily. "The lazy
loon, the idle good-for-naught, to sit by the fire, and see the
cakes burn, and never stir a finger."
"Hush thee, woman," said Denewulf again in despair.
"It is the King."
"The King!" cried the good wife, astonished, and a
little frightened too. "Well, king or no king," she
added grumblingly after a minute, "he ought to have minded
the cakes."
Alfred was not angry, as Denewulf feared he would be, and afterwards,
when he came to his kingdom again, Alfred made the cowherd a bishop,
for he had found out while hiding in his cottage that Denewulf
was a good and wise man. So his wife became a great lady, and
perhaps never baked any more cakes. Certainly she never again
had a king to watch them for her.
