Fifty Famous Stories Retold — James Baldwin
You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org . If you are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this eBook. Title : Fifty Famous Stories Retold Author : James Baldwin Release date : May 23, 2006 [eBook #18442] Most recently updated: June 15, 2020 Language : English Other information and formats : www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/18442 Credits : Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sankar Viswanathan, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net *** START OF CONTENTS. King Alfred and the Cakes 5 King Alfred and the Beggar 8 King Canute on the Seashore 10 The Sons of William the Conqueror 12 The White Ship 17 King John and the Abbot 21 A Story of Robin Hood 28 Bruce and the Spider 33 The Black Douglas 35 Three Men of Gotham 39 Other Wise Men of Gotham 42 The Miller of the Dee 46 Sir Philip Sidney 49 The Ungrateful Soldier 51 Sir Humphrey Gilbert 53 Sir Walter Raleigh 54 Pocahontas 58 George Washington and his Hatchet 59 Grace Darling 61 The Story of William Tell 64 Arnold Winkelried 66 The Bell of Atri 69 How Napoleon crossed the Alps 75 The Story of Cincinnatus 76 The Story of Regulus 82 Cornelia's Jewels 85 Androclus and the Lion 87 Horatius at the Bridge 91 Julius Cæsar 95 The Sword of Damocles 96 Damon and Pythias 100 A Laconic Answer 102 The Ungrateful Guest 103 Alexander and Bucephalus 106 Diogenes the Wise Man 108 The Brave Three Hundred 110 Socrates and his House 112 The King and his Hawk 113 Doctor Goldsmith 118 The Kingdoms 119 The Barmecide Feast 123 The Endless Tale 127 The Blind Men and the Elephant 130 Maximilian and the Goose Boy 132 The Inchcape Rock 137 Whittington and his Cat 140 Casabianca 153 Antonio Canova 156 Picciola 162 Mignon 167 CONCERNING THESE STORIES. There are numerous time-honored stories which have become so incorporated into the literature and thought of our race that a knowledge of them is an indispensable part of one's education. These stories are of several different classes. To one class belong the popular fairy tales which have delighted untold generations of children, and will continue to delight them to the end of time. To another class belong the limited number of fables that have come down to us through many channels from hoar antiquity. To a third belong the charming stories of olden times that are derived from the literatures of ancient peoples, such as the Greeks and the Hebrews. A fourth class includes the half-legendary tales of a distinctly later origin, which have for their subjects certain romantic episodes in the lives of well-known heroes and famous men, or in the history of a people. It is to this last class that most of the fifty stories contained in the present volume belong. As a matter of course, some of these stories are better known, and therefore more famous , than others. Some have a slight historical value; some are useful as giving point to certain great moral truths; others are products solely of the fancy, and are intended only to amuse. Some are derived from very ancient sources, and are current in the literature of many lands; some have come to us through the ballads and folk tales of the English people; a few are of quite recent origin; nearly all are the subjects of frequent allusions in poetry and prose and in the conversation of educated people. Care has been taken to exclude everything that is not strictly within the limits of probability; hence there is here no trespassing upon the domain of the fairy tale, the fable, or the myth. That children naturally take a deep interest in such stories, no person can deny; that the reading of them will not only give pleasure, but will help to lay the foundation for broader literary studies, can scarcely be doubted. It is believed, therefore, that the present collection will be found to possess an educative value which will commend it as a supplementary reader in the middle primary grades at school. It is also hoped that the book will prove so attractive that it will be in demand out of school as well as in. Acknowledgments are due to Mrs. Charles A. Lane, by whom eight or ten of the stories were suggested. FIFTY FAMOUS STORIES RETOLD. KING ALFRED AND THE CAKES. Many years ago there lived in Eng-land a wise and good king whose name was Al-fred. No other man ever did so much for his country as he; and people now, all over the world, speak of him as Alfred the Great. In those days a king did not have a very easy life. There was war almost all the time, and no one else could lead his army into battle so well as he. And so, between ruling and fighting, he had a busy time of it indeed. A fierce, rude people, called the Danes, had come from over the sea, and were fighting the Eng-lish. There were so many of them, and they were so bold and strong, that for a long time they gained every battle. If they kept on, they would soon be the masters of the whole country. At last, after a great battle, the English army was broken up and scat-tered. Every man had to save himself in the best way he could. King Alfred fled alone, in great haste, through the woods and swamps. Late in the day the king came to the hut of a wood-cut-ter. He was very tired and hungry, and he begged the wood-cut-ter's wife to give him something to eat and a place to sleep in her hut. The wom-an was baking some cakes upon the hearth, and she looked with pity upon the poor, ragged fellow who seemed so hungry. She had no thought that he was the king. "Yes," she said, "I will give you some supper if you will watch these cakes. I want to go out and milk the cow; and you must see that they do not burn while I am gone." King Alfred was very willing to watch the cakes, but he had far greater things to think about. How was he going to get his army to-geth-er again? And how was he going to drive the fierce Danes out of the land? He forgot his hun