How Egbert became the first king over all England; how the Danes did
great mischief to the people; how Alfred after much trouble drove
them away, and how he built ships and did many other good things.
You have not forgotten, I hope, that there were seven chief kingdoms
of the Angles and Saxons in England. Now, there were many and long
wars between these kingdoms; and also with the Britons who were left
in the land. Sometimes one king, and sometimes another, made himself
more powerful than all the rest. He was then called _Bretwalda_,
which means “Ruler over Britain”; for the English still called the
whole island _Britain_. At last, 827 years after our Saviour’s birth,
the king of _Wessex_ (that is, of the West Saxons) got himself the
power over all the other kings. He was called EGBERT. He was very
wise, and very brave, and very handsome; so the people loved him very
much, and were very sorry when he died. His son and then three of his
grandsons reigned after him, whose names you will learn another time.
While these men were kings, some very strong and cruel heathens,
called DANES, came to England, in larger and better ships than the
first Saxons came in, and they robbed the people, and burnt the
towns, and did more mischief than I can tell you.
I do not know what would have become of England, if a very wise and
good king had not begun to rule England about that time. His name was
ALFRED. He was the grandson of King Egbert, and was as handsome and
as brave as Egbert.
But I must tell you a great deal about King Alfred, which I am sure
you will like to hear.
When he was a very little boy, his mother wished him to learn to
read, and she used to show him beautiful pictures in a book of Saxon
poems, and to tell him what the pictures were about. Little Alfred
was always pleased when the time came for seeing the book; and one
day, when his mother was talking to him, she said that she would
give him the book for his own, to keep, as soon as he could read it.
Then he went to his teacher, and very soon learned to read the book,
and his mother gave him the beautiful book. When he grew bigger he
learned the old Saxon songs by heart, and sang them to his mother,
who loved to hear Alfred sing, and play the harp.
But when Alfred grew up he had other things to do than reading and
singing, for a long time. I told you that the Danes had done a great
deal of mischief before Alfred was king; and indeed at the beginning
of his reign they went on doing quite as much, and he had more than
fifty battles to fight, before he could drive them away from his
kingdom.
[Illustration: Alfred learning to read.]
For some years after he was made king he had not one town where the
people dared to obey him, for fear of the Danes; and he was obliged
to disguise himself in poor clothes, and to live with one of his own
neatherds, whose wife did not know the king.
This neatherd lived in a part of Somersetshire, called the Isle of
Athelney. While Alfred was there, some of his best friends used to go
and tell him how the country was going on, and take messages to him
from other friends; and they all begged him to stay where he was till
they could collect English soldiers enough to fight the Danes in that
neighbourhood.
While he was staying at the neatherd’s house, I have heard that the
man’s wife scolded him one day very heartily. I will tell you how it
happened.
She had just made some very nice cakes for supper, and laid them on
the hearth to toast, and seeing Alfred sitting in the house doing
something to his bow and arrows, she desired him to look after her
cakes, and to turn them when they were toasted enough on one side,
that they might not be burnt. But Alfred could think of nothing
but making ready his bow and arrows to fight against the Danes; he
forgot all about the cakes, and they became very much burnt. When the
neatherd’s wife came into the house again, she soon saw the cakes on
the hearth, quite black and burnt, and began scolding Alfred very
severely.
Just then her husband came in with some of Alfred’s friends, who told
him that they had beaten the Danes, and driven them out of that part
of the country, and the people were asking for him, and it was time
to appear as their king. You may think how surprised the neatherd’s
wife was, and how she asked the king’s pardon for scolding him.
[Illustration: people sitting around a table]
He only smiled, and said, if she forgave him for burning her cakes,
he would forgive her for the scolding. Then he thanked her and the
neatherd heartily for letting him live so quietly with them, and
went with his friends to find the Danes, with whom he had a great
deal of trouble before he could drive them away. Their king Guthorm
agreed to be a Christian; and Alfred divided England with him.
At last, when Alfred had overcome the Danes, and when England was
at peace, he thought of the great pleasure he had in reading, and
he determined to encourage all the young people in England to love
learning. So he inquired for what learned men there were in England,
and sent for more to come from other countries, and paid them for
teaching the young men; and he built several schools.
That he might encourage all his subjects to read, he took the trouble
to translate several books for them out of Latin into English; and,
besides that, he wrote several himself for their instruction.
Alfred was never idle. One part of every day was spent in praying,
reading, and writing; one part in seeing that justice was done to
his subjects, in making good laws, and in teaching the English how
to keep away the Danes from their country. He allowed himself very
little time indeed for sleeping, eating, and walking about.
One of the very best things King Alfred did for England, was to build
a great many ships. He wisely thought that the best means of keeping
away the Danes, or any other enemy that could reach England by sea,
was to have ships as good as theirs, and go and meet them on the
water, and fight them there, instead of allowing them to land and do
mischief, and carry away the goods, and sometimes even the children
of the people on the sea-coast; so he built more than a hundred
vessels, and he was the first king of England who had good ships of
his own.
[Illustration: King Alfred building his navy.]
Besides fighting the Danes, Alfred made other good uses of his ships.
He sent some to Italy and France, to get books, and many things that
the English did not then know how to make at home. And other vessels
he sent to distant countries, even as far as Russia, to see what the
people were like, and if they had anything in their country that it
would be useful to England to buy. I have read an account of one
of the voyages made by a friend of Alfred’s, which the king wrote
himself, after his friend had told him what he had seen, and when you
are old enough to read it, I dare say it will please you as much as
it pleased me.
Alfred died when he had been king twenty-nine years. He was ill for a
long time before he died, but he was very patient and bore great pain
without complaining.
Just before he died he spoke to his son Edward, and gave him good
advice about taking care of the people when he came to be king.
But besides the words he spoke, Alfred wrote many good and true
words. I will tell you some of them. Pray, remember these now; when
you are a man you will love to think of them, and to recollect that
they were the very words of the best and wisest king we have ever
had. They are about the Supreme Good. “This blessedness is then GOD.
He is the beginning and end of every good, and He is the highest
happiness.”