25 King Canute on the Seashore (England)

A hundred years or more after the time of Alfred the Great^[1] there was a king of England named Canute^[2]. King Canute was a Dane. 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 honour.”

“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^[3]. 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.”

—edited by James Baldwin

[1]　Alfred the Great：英國歷史上稱為Alfred, the Great of Wessex（849—899），英格蘭西南部撒克遜人的西撒克斯王朝國王，在位時文修武治，有很盛的功業。

[2]　Canute：克努特大帝（994?—1035），英格蘭和丹麥國王，1016—1035在位為英格蘭國王，1018—1035兼丹麥國王。英國歷史上的名王。這篇是關於他的傳說。

[3]　And do you...from what you have seen：這是個修辭疑問句，不用問號，讀出時不用升調。