Alfred was a very famous English King who was born in 849 and who died in 899. He is usually referred to as “Alfred the Great” because of all the wonderful things he did while he was King. He started many schools and monasteries; he encouraged teachers to come to England; he had many Latin books translated into English (or Anglo-Saxon as it then was); he had many ships built and he created quite a large army. Although Alfred did all these things, he was a very simple man and his people loved him. This story about cakes shows us how simple he was.
While Alfred was King, the Danes kept coming across the sea in boats. They burnt villages and fought against the local people. England was at war all the time and King Alfred was in charge of the army. After one big battle King Alfred suddenly found himself alone. Many of his men had been killed and he had to find the rest of his army. He started walking through the woods and across the fields and after walking for many hours, he felt extremely tired. Suddenly he saw a small farmhouse and he went towards it. He knocked at the door and waited. At last a woman opened the door and asked the King what he wanted. She didn’t know he was the King, of course. She looked at him suspiciously. His clothes were torn and dirty and his face and hands were dirty, too. “Excuse me troubling you, madam,” the King said, “but I’m very tired and hungry. May I come in and rest please? Perhaps I could also have something to eat.”
The woman continued to look at the King suspiciously. Somehow, he didn’t look like a beggar. “All right,” she said at last. “You can come in and sit by the fire. You can have something to eat, too. But you’ll have to pay for it.” “I’m sorry,” the King said. “I’m not carrying any money at present, but I can arrange to have some money sent to you…” The woman interrupted him. “It’s all right,” she said. “You can pay for your food by working for it. I’m just making some cakes at the moment, so while sitting by the fire you can look after the cakes and take them off the fire when they’re ready.”
Entering the house, the King went into the kitchen and sat by the nice warm fire. The good woman brought him some food which he ate hungrily. After eating the food he began watching the cakes which were on a metal tray over the fire. He watched the cakes and kept looking into the fire and he got very sleepy. He couldn’t help falling asleep — it just happened.
Well, you can imagine what happened to the cakes. There was a smell of burning and the woman rushed into the kitchen and roughly woke up the King. She was very angry with him. “I allowed you to sit by my warm fire. I gave you food to eat and all I asked you to do was to look after my cakes. It was such an easy job, even a child could have done it. And look what you’ve done! You fell asleep and all my cakes are burnt. They’re just not fit to eat now. I shall have to throw them away.”
“I’m very sorry,” the King said. “Truly, I am. I was looking.”
Just then there was a loud knock at the door. The woman opened it and some soldiers spoke to her. “We’re looking for the King,” they said. “We know he came this way. Is he here please?”
Just then they saw the King. “Oh, Your Majesty,” they said, “we have come to lead you back to your men.”
“The King!” the woman cried. She fell on her knees. “Oh, Your Majesty, please forgive me for being so hard and unkind! How could I know? Oh, please forgive me.”
“You were not unkind,” the King said. “You gave me food and let me rest. I must apologize to you for being so careless. Thank you for letting me come into your house, and I am sorry for burning your lovely cakes.”
And then he left the house and went back to his army to continue fighting against the Danes.
