t beat the Danes.
In the fairy tales, you know, it is always the youngest prince who has
all the good fortune, and in this story the same thing happened. This
prince did what none of his brothers could do. He drove out the Danes
from England, and gave his people a chance of being quiet and happy and
good. His name was Alfred.

Like most great men, this King Alfred had a good mother. She used to
read to him, when he was little, out of a great book with gold and
precious stones on the cover, and inside beautiful songs and poetry. And
one day she said to the young princes, who were all very fond of being
read to out of this splendid book--

"Since you like the book so much, I will give it to the one who is first
able to read it, and to say all the poetry in it by heart."

The eldest prince tried to learn it, but I suppose he did not try hard
enough; and the other princes tried, but I fear they were too lazy. But
you may be quite sure the youngest prince did the right thing. He learnt
to read, and then he set to work to learn the poems by heart; and it was
a proud day for him and for the Queen when he was able to say all the
beautiful poetry to her. She put the book into his hands for his very
own, and they kissed each other with tears of pride and pleasure.

You must not suppose that King Alfred drove out the Danes without much
trouble, much thought, and much hard work. Trouble, thought, and hard
work are the only three spells the fairies have left us, so of course he
had to use them. He was made King just after the Danes had gained a
great victory, and for the first eight years of his reign he was
fighting them continually. At one time they had conquered almost the
whole of England, and they would have killed Alfred if they could have
found him.

[Illustration]

You know, a wise prince always disguises himself when danger becomes
very great. So Alfred disguised himself as a farm labourer, and went to
live with a farmer, who used to make him feed the beasts and help about
the farm, and had no idea that this labourer was the great King himself.

One day the farmer's wife went out--perhaps she went out to milk the
cows; at any rate it was some important business--and she had made some
cakes for supper, and she saw Alfred sitting idle in the kitchen, so she
asked him to look after the cakes, to see that they did not burn. Alfred
said he would. But he had just received some news about the Danes, and
he was thinking and