5 But George said to her: "Do not fear. Tell me what you await and why the vast crowd yonder are watching you." Again she begged him to fly. "You have a kind and noble heart, sir, I perceive," said she," yet fly, and at once.” "Not so," said George; "I will first hear your tale.” Then she told him all. "Be of good courage," said he. "It was for this I was sent. In the name of Jesus Christ I will defend you." "I do not know that name, brave knight," said she. 10 "Do not seek to die with me. It is enough that I should perish. You can neither save me nor yourself from this terrible dragon." At that moment the dragon rose with a great bellowing from the lake. "Fly! fly!" said the trembling princess. "Fly, sir knight!" 15 But George, nothing daunted, made the sign of the cross and went forward boldly to meet the dragon, commending himself to God. He raised his spear and flung it with all his force at the neck of the monster. So surely did the spear fly that it pierced the neck and pinned the dragon 20 to the ground. Then he bade the princess take her girdle and pass it round the spear and fear nothing. She did so, and the dragon rose and followed her like a docile hound. George led his horse and walked beside her, and thus they entered 25 the city. The people began to flee when they saw the dread beast, but George stayed them. Fear not," said he. "This monster can no longer harm you. The Lord sent me to deliver you." So the multitude followed, and they came before the palace, where the king sat sorrowing. And when the king heard the mighty rejoicing, he came forth and saw his beloved daughter 5 safe, with the dragon at her heels. Then George took his sword and smote off the dragon's head, and all the people hailed him as their deliverer. But George bade them give glory to the Lord; and he remained and taught them the new faith, so that the king 10 and the princess and all the people were baptized. And when George died he was called St. George, and it fell out finally that he became the patron saint of merry England. QUESTIONS AND HELPS 1. What is a dragon? 2. Why did the people of Silene make sacrifices to the dragon? 3. What is it to draw lots? 4. What is meant by the lot sparing no one? 5. What sort of girl do you think the princess was? 6. Was she brave? 7. Can one cry and still be brave? 8. Was she unselfish? 9. What do you think of St. George? 10. What two good things did he do? 11. Is this story true? 12. What do you suppose was really the dragon that St. George killed? Might it not be disease or wickedness that he overcame? This story of St. George and the Dragon is a very old legend, that has been told in different ways for hundreds of years. Mr. Scudder tells it in these words in his "Book of Legends." In the same book are about twenty other interesting stories. Mr. Scudder was born in Boston in 1838 and died in 1902. He was for a time editor of the Atlantic Monthly and wrote several books for grown people, but he is best known by his stories for children. Besides the "Book of Legends" he wrote "The Children's Book," "Book of Fables and Folk Stories," "Bodley Books," "Life of George Washington," and several others. saint (saint): one who is holy or remarkably good. took counsel: thought or considered together. sacrificed (sǎc'ri fiçed): offered or given up. respite (rès pite): a putting off or delaying of punishment. subjects (subjects): people who are ruled by a king or monarch. apparel (ăp păr ́ěl): clothes. Cappadocia (Căp på doshřå) : a country in Asia Minor. St. George was an English knight who happened to be in Cappadocia. bearing looks and manners. hard by near by. daunted (daunt'ěd): afraid. the sign of the cross: a sign made docile (doç'Ile): gentle, obedient. multitude (mǎl ́ti tūde): crowd. patron saint (pā'tron saint): a saint Libya (Lib'y ȧ). Silene (Sil ĕ'nē). SWEET AND LOW ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON [Tennyson, who wrote this beautiful little poem, is one of the great poets of England. He wrote in England at the same time that Emerson and Longfellow and Lowell and Whittier were writing in America. You will find the story of his life in Book Five of the Literary Readers. 5 The poem "Sweet and Low" is a lullaby, a song sung by a mother to her baby while rocking him to sleep. The mother is a sailor's wife. She is sitting in the evening at an open window, or perhaps on the porch of their little cottage overlooking the sea, and the west wind is blowing 10. softly and sweetly across the water as she rocks and sings to her little one. The moon is sinking so slowly that she calls it the dying moon, and as she looks she thinks of the baby's father who is out on the ocean far to the west, with the same moon shining on him. She thinks she can 15 almost see the white sails of his ship in the moonlight, and she calls to the wind to blow him safely home to her and to his little one, who is asleep in her arms.] Sweet and low, sweet and low, Wind of the western sea, Over the rolling waters go, Come from the dying moon, and blow, Blow him again to me; While my my little one, while my pretty one, sleeps. Sleep and rest, sleep and rest, Father will come to thee soon; Father will come to his babe in the nest, Under the silver moon: Sleep, my little one, sleep, my pretty one, sleep. QUESTIONS AND HELPS 1. Tell what you can about the author of this poem. 2. What is a lullaby? 3. Who is singing this lullaby, and at what time of the day is she singing it? 4. What two words tell how the wind is blowing? 5. What does the word "breathe" tell? 6. What is meant by the "rolling waters"? 7. What is the dying moon"? 8. Who is meant by "him" in the seventh line? 9. What does the mother want the wind to do? 10. How do you think she feels toward the father as she sings those words? |