When breakfast was over, the housewife told the king to wash up the dishes

This command was a staggerer for a moment, and the king came near

rebelling; but then he said to himself, 'Alfred the Great watched the cakes;

doubtless he would have washed the dishes, too — therefore will I essay it.'

He made a sufficiently poor job of it; and to his surprise, too, for the cleaning

Of wooden spoons and trenchers had seemed an easy thing to do. It was a

Tedious and troublesome piece of work, but he finished it at last. He was

Becoming impatient to get away on his journey now; however he was not to

lose this thrifty dame's society so easily. She furnished him some little odds

And ends of employment, which he got through with after a fair fashion and

With some credit. Then she set him and the little girls to paring some winter

Apples; but he was so awkward at this service that she retired him from it and

Gave him a butcher-knife to grind. Afterward she kept him carding wool until

He began to think he had laid the good King Alfred about far enough in the

Shade for the present, in the matter of showy menial heroisms that would read

Picturesquely in story-books and histories, and so he was half minded to

Resign. And when, just after the noonday dinner, the goodwife gave him a