name that is so
famously associated with the old Norman cities we expect to
visit--Caen, Falaise, Rouen, Fecamp, St. Valery--as that of William
the Conqueror. I will tell you the story of his life, and call it

THE NEW FOREST.

"About eight hundred years ago, William, Duke of Normandy, aspired to
become King of England, and to wear the crown whose rightful claimant
was Edgar Atheling. He made Harold, another heir to the English crown,
support his claim, and take an oath to be true to him. To make Harold
feel how solemn was an oath, he obliged him to swear it over a chest
full of dead men's bones.

"But Harold disregarded the oath that he had taken over the chest of
bones in Normandy; and, when old Edward, who was called The Confessor,
died, he seized the crown and royal treasure for himself, being
counselled to do so by an assembly of nobles called the Witenagemote.

"Duke William was an ambitious and a fiery-minded man. He gathered an
army of sixty thousand men, and a fleet of a thousand vessels and
transports; and one September day he sailed from St. Valery with his
army and fleet, the trumpets sounding and a thousand banners rising to
the wind. His own ship had many-colored sails: from its mast floated
the banner of the three Norman Lions; and a golden boy, pointing to
England, glittered on the prow.

"This fleet came into the harbor of Pevensey. He led his army to
Hastings; and there, on a bright afternoon in October, he met the army
of Harold.

"Duke William reviewed his army, and caused his men to pray for
victory ere they laid down beneath the moon and stars to rest. In the
morning, they sung an ode, called the War Song of Roland: then a
battle was fought, and the three Norman Lions at night waved
triumphantly over the field.

"Harold was slain, and the monks wandered over the battle-ground to
find his body. It was discovered at last, a despoiled and discrowned
figure, by Edith Swansneck, a beautiful girl who loved Harold and whom
the dead king had loved.

"Then William returned to Normandy. Fecamp blazed in his honor, and
all the cities received him with loud acclaim.

[Illustration: FINDING THE BODY OF HAROLD.]

"A hard king was Duke William. With his great army of Normans, he
marched over England, suppressing all who opposed him. The rivers were
tinged with blood, the beautiful English towns were reduced to
ash-heaps, the land was blackened with fire: he is said to have killed
or maimed a hundr