A Norse Scald Weaves His Tale

A Norse Scald's
Tale of
King Alfred the Great
By Micah

By the light of the moon an old man gathered his fellow Norsemen around him and told them the folowing true story:

"A long time ago some of our Norsemen went to England, the land of the Anglo ~ Saxons. They caused much havoc, for they were going I-Viking. When we were in battle and someone died, more Norsemen would come to help. The Anglo ~ Saxons were terrified of us 'pagan warriors', for we were not Christian. Then many of us went to a kingdom called Wessex.

The king of Wessex, Ethelred, was a fair fighter, but he was more interested in religion then fighting. It was Ethelred's brother who Anglo ~ Saxons expected to defeat us.

All of the Anglo ~ Saxons loved Alfred. Even the pope had said that Alfred would be a great king of England some day. Alfred spent much time in scrolls and books-yes-but he was also was a fierce warrior and had amazing strategies. When we attacked Wessex we were surprised at how strong was King Alfred's army. Even though we were bigger in numbers, we had no luck ‘till we mounted a surprise attack on Christmas day and won. After that battle Alfred went into hiding. England was ours - for a little while.

Many of our men became restless and wanted adventure, so they left England. Our army became smaller than it was before.

When King Alfred came out of hiding, we were both amazed and astonished at how many men and weapons Alfred had. Alfred's army conquered us for we were surprised and small in numbers.

The Anglo ~ Saxons sieged us. We didn't have much food, so at the end 14 days we sent a messenger offering our submission. We promised that if spared we would leave England forever.

King Alfred had mercy on us and after that we sent another messenger to tell King Alfred that our leader, Jarl Guthorn, wanted to become Christian. Seven weeks later Jarl Guthorn and thirty of his best men were baptized.

Not long after Guthorn's baptism did the Anglo ~ Saxons managed to get all Norsemen who were still pagan out of England. We left them alone for a good four years.

I hear that during those four years King Alfred passed many good laws. That the people of England saw King Alfred as King of England--not just King of Wessex. People call him King Alfred 'the great'! Even I must admit, that King Alfred was both a good king and a great warrior!"