ound, and saw,
acted on the stage, the very wickedness that he had himself done. And
when, in the play, the wicked relation poured poison into the ear of the
sleeping man, the wicked Claudius suddenly rose, and staggered from the
room--the Queen and others following.

Then said Hamlet to his friends--

"Now I am sure the ghost spoke true. For if Claudius had not done this
murder, he could not have been so distressed to see it in a play."

Now the Queen sent for Hamlet, by the King's desire, to scold him
for his conduct during the play, and for other matters; and Claudius,
wishing to know exactly what happened, told old Polonius to hide himself
behind the hangings in the Queen's room. And as they talked, the Queen
got frightened at Hamlet's rough, strange words, and cried for help, and
Polonius behind the curtain cried out too. Hamlet, thinking it was the
King who was hidden there, thrust with his sword at the hangings, and
killed, not the King, but poor old Polonius.

So now Hamlet had offended his uncle and his mother, and by bad hap
killed his true love's father.

"Oh! what a rash and bloody deed is this," cried the Queen.

And Hamlet answered bitterly, "Almost as bad as to kill a king, and
marry his brother." Then Hamlet told the Queen plainly all his thoughts
and how he knew of the murder, and begged her, at least, to have no more
friendship or kindness of the base Claudius, who had killed the good
King. And as they spoke the King's ghost again appeared before Hamlet,
but the Queen could not see it. So when the ghost had gone, they parted.

When the Queen told Claudius what had passed, and how Polonius was dead,
he said, "This shows plainly that Hamlet is mad, and since he has killed
the Chancellor, it is for his own safety that we must carry out our
plan, and send him away to England."

So Hamlet was sent, under charge of two courtiers who served the King,
and these bore letters to the English Court, requiring that Hamlet
should be put to death. But Hamlet had the good sense to get at these
letters, and put in others instead, with the names of the two courtiers
who were so ready to betray him. Then, as the vessel went to England,
Hamlet escaped on board a pirate ship, and the two wicked courtiers left
him to his fate, and went on to meet theirs.

Hamlet hurried home, but in the meantime a dreadful thing had happened.
Poor pretty Ophelia, having lost her lover and her father, lost her wits
too, and went in