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- KING CANUTE ON THE SEASHORE
- A HUNDRED years or more after the time of Alfred the Great there was
- a king of England named Canute. King Canute was a Dane; but the
- Danes were not so fierce and cruel then as they had been when they were
- at war with King Alfred.
- The great men and officers who were around King Canute were always
- praising him.
- "You are the greatest man that ever lived," one would say.
- Then another would say, "O king! there can never be another man so
- mighty as you."
- And another would say, "Great Canute, there is nothing in the world that
- dares to disobey you."
- The king was a man of sense, and he grew very tired of hearing such
- foolish speeches.
- One day he was by the seashore, and his officers were with him. They
- were praising him, as they were in the habit of doing. He thought that
- now he would teach them a lesson, and so he bade them set his chair on
- the beach close by the edge of the water.
- "Am I the greatest man in the world?" he asked.
- "O king!" they cried, "there is no one so mighty as you."
- "Do all things obey me?" he asked.
- "There is nothing that dares to disobey you, O king!" they said. "The
- world bows before you, and gives you honor."
- "Will the sea obey me?" he asked; and he looked down at the little waves
- which were lapping the sand at his feet.
- The foolish officers were puzzled, but they did not dare to say "No."
- "Command it, O king! and it will obey," said one.
- "Sea," cried Canute, "I command you to come no farther! Waves, stop
- your rolling, and do not dare to touch my feet!"
- But the tide came in, just as it always did. The water rose higher and
- higher. It came up around the king's chair, and wet not only his feet, but
- also his robe. His officers stood about him, alarmed, and wondering
- whether he was not mad.
- Then Canute took off his crown, and threw it down upon the sand.
- "I shall never wear it again," he said. "And do you, my men, learn a lesson
- from what you have seen. There is only one King who is all-powerful;
- and it is he who rules the sea, and holds the ocean in the hollow of his
- hand. It is he whom you ought to praise and serve above all others."
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