Preface. Chapter I. The Seeking of Sword Helmbiter. Chapter II. The Gifts of Two Heroes. Chapter III. Odda, the Ealdorman of Devon. Chapter IV. Jarl Osmund's Daughter. Chapter V. Two Meetings in England. Chapter VI. Alfred the King. Chapter VII. The Pixies' Dance.Chapter VIII. The Black Twelfth-Night. Chapter IX. The Sign of St. Cuthberht. Chapter X. Athelney and Combwich. Chapter XI. The Winning of "The Raven." Chapter XII. Edington Fight.Chapter XIII. The Greatest Victory. Chapter XIV. King Alfred's Will. Notes.
The general details and course of events given in this storyare, so far as regards the private life and doings of King Alfred,from his life as written by his chaplain, Asser. One or two furtherincidents of the Athelney period are from the laterchroniclers--notably the sign given by St. Cuthberht--as are alsothe names of the herdsman and the nobles in hiding in the fen.
That Alfred put his first fleet into the charge of "certainVikings" is well known, though the name of their chief is notgiven. These Vikings would certainly be Norse, either detached fromthe following of Rolf Ganger, who wintered in England in 875 A.D.the year before his descent on Normandy; or else independent roverswho, like Rolf, had been driven from Norway by the high-handedmethods of Harald Fairhair. Indeed, the time when a Norsecontingent was not present with the English forces, from thisperiod till at least that of the battle of Brunanburh in 947 A.D.would probably be an exception.
There are, therefore, good historic grounds for the positiongiven to the hero of the story as leader of the newly-formed fleet.The details of the burning of his supposed father's hall, and ofthe Orkney period, are from the Sagas.
Much controversy has raged over the sites of Ethandune and thelanding place of Hubba at Kynwith Castle, owing probably to theduplication of names in the district where the last campaign tookplace. The story, therefore, follows the identifications given bythe late Bishop Clifford in "The Transactions of the SomersetArchaeological Society" for 1875 and other years, as, both fromtopographic and strategic points of view, no other coherentidentification seems possible.
The earthworks of the Danish position still remain on Edingtonhill, that looks out from the Polden range over all the country ofAlfred's last refuge, and the bones of Hubba's men lie everywhereunder the turf where they made their last stand under the old wallsand earthworks of Combwich fort; and a lingering tradition yetrecords the extermination of a Danish force in the neighbourhood.Athelney needs but the cessation of today's drainage to revert in avery few years to what it was in Alfred's time--an island, aldercovered, barely rising from fen and mere, and it needs but littleimagination to reproduce what Alfred saw when, from the same pointwhere one must needs be standing, he planned the final stroke that