True Stories of Wonderful Deeds

Оглавление

Unknown. True Stories of Wonderful Deeds

The Royal Oak

Bonnie Prince Charlie

Nelson and Hardy

Watt and the Kettle

Queen Victoria and her Soldiers

The Relief of Lucknow

Grace Darling

David Livingstone

The Battle of Waterloo

The Charge of the Light Brigade

The Coronation of King Edward VII

WAR

A Boy's Heroic Deeds

A Cat's Extraordinary Leap

A Brave Queen

King Alfred and the Cakes

Not Angles, but Angels

Hereward the Wake

Canute

The Brave Men of Calais

Wat Tyler

Bruce and the Spider

Richard and Blondel

The White Ship

Joan of Arc

Afloat with a Tiger

Queen Margaret and the Robbers

William Caxton

Sir Philip Sidney

The "Revenge"

The Pilgrim Fathers

Guy Fawkes

Cromwell and his Ironsides

The Spanish Armada

The Defence of Lathom House

THE OUTLAWED ARCHERS

Elizabeth and Raleigh

Отрывок из книги

There is in Shropshire a fine oak-tree which the country people there call the "Royal Oak". They say it is the great-grandson, or perhaps the great-great-grandson of another fine old oak, which more than two hundred years ago stood on the same spot, and served once as a shelter to an English king. This king was Charles II, the son of the unlucky Charles I who had his head cut off by his subjects because he was a weak and selfish ruler.

On the very day on which that unhappy king lost his head, the Parliament passed a law forbidding anyone to make his son, Prince Charles of Wales, or any other person, king of England. But the Scottish people did not obey this law. They persuaded the young prince to sign a paper, solemnly promising to rule the country as they wished; then they crowned him king. As soon as the Parliament heard of this they sent Cromwell and his Ironsides against the newly-crowned king and his followers, and after several battles the Scottish army was at last broken up and scattered at Worcester.

.....

When they had gone, without even glancing up into the tall oak-tree, he came down, and rode away from the wood on an old mill-horse, with his friends the wood-cutters walking beside him to take care of him as best they could. The saddle was a poor one, and the horse's pace jolted Charles so much, that at last he cried out that he had never seen so bad a steed. At this the owner of the horse jestingly told him that he should not find fault with the poor animal, which had never before carried the weight of three kingdoms upon its back. He meant, of course, that Charles was king of the three kingdoms of England, and Scotland, and Ireland.

Carried by the old horse, and helped by the poor wood-cutters, Charles at last reached the house of a friend. Here he hid for a time, and then went on to try and escape from the country. This time, so that he might not be discovered, he was dressed as a servant, and rode on horseback, with a lady sitting on a cushion behind him, as was then the fashion. After several more dangers he managed to get on board a ship and sailed away to France.

.....