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Quotation of the week
Månedens ordsprog
Eftertanken

THE BLACK DOUGLAS

In Scotland, in the time of King Robert Bruce, there lived a brave man whose
name was Douglas. His hair and beard were black and long, and his face was
tanned and dark; and for this reason people nicknamed him the Black Douglas. He
was a good friend of the king, and one of his strongest helpers.
In the war with the English, who were trying to drive Bruce from Scotland,
the Black Douglas did many brave deeds; and the English people became very
much afraid of him. By and by the fear of him spread all through the land. Nothing
could frighten an English lad more than to tell him that the Black Douglas was not
far away. Women would tell their children, when they were naughty, that the Black
Douglas would get them; and this would make them very quiet and good.
There was a large castle in Scotland which the English had taken early in the
war. The Scottish soldiers wanted very much to take it again, and the Black Douglas
and his men went one day to see what they could do. It happened to be a holiday,
and most of the English soldiers in the castle were eating and drinking and having a
merry time. But they had left watchmen on the wall to see that the Scottish soldiers
did not come upon them unawares; and so they felt quite safe.
In the evening, when it was growing dark, the wife of one of the soldiers
went up on the wall with her child in her arms. As she looked over into the fields
below the castle, she saw some dark objects moving toward the foot of the wall. In
the dusk, she could not make out what they were, and so she pointed them out to
one of the watchmen.
"Pooh, pooh!" said the watchman. "Those are nothing to frighten us. They are
the farmer's cattle, trying to find their way home. The farmer himself is enjoying the
holiday, and he has forgotten to bring them in. If the Douglas should happen this
way before morning, he will be sorry for his carelessness."
But the dark objects were not cattle. They were the Black Douglas and his
men, creeping on hands and feet toward the foot of the castle wall. Some of them
were dragging ladders behind them through the grass. They would soon be
climbing to the top of the wall. None of the English soldiers dreamed that they were
within many miles of the place.
The woman watched them until the last one had passed around a corner out
of sight. She was not afraid, for in the darkening twilight they looked indeed like
cattle. After a little while she began to sing to her child:—

"Hush ye, hush ye, little pet ye,
Hush ye, hush ye, do not fret ye,
The Black Douglas shall not get ye."
All at once a gruff voice was heard behind her, saying, "Don't be so sure
about that!"