"A hundred years or more after the time of Alfred the Great there was a king of England named Ca-nuté. King Canute was a Dane; but the Danes were not so fierce and cruel then as they had been when they were at war with King Alfred.
The great men and of-fi-cers who were around King Canute were always praising him.
"You are the greatest man that ever lived,” one would say, “Then an-oth-er would say, "O king! there can never be an-oth-er man so mighty as you."
And another would say, "Great Canute, there is nothing in the world that dares to dis-o-bey you."
The king was a man of sense, and he grew very tired of hearing such foolish speeches.
One day he was by the sea-shore, and his of-fi-cers 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 dis-o-bey you, O king!" they said. "The world bows before you, and gives you honor."
"Will the sea obey me?" he asked; and he looked down at the little waves which were lapping the sand at his feet.”
Excerpt From:
Fifty Famous Stories Retold
James Baldwin
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