Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1894 — Fables of History. [ARTICLE]

Fables of History.

The story of King Arthur and his round table is a myth, although what purports to be the round table is still to be seen in a south of England town. Alfred the Great did not visit the Danish camp disguised as a minstrel. There Is no good reason to believe that he could either play the harp or speak Danish. The maelstrom is not a whirlpool which sucks ships down into the depths of the ocean. It is an eddy, which in fair weather cap be crossed in safety by any vessel. Queen Eleanor did not suck the poison from her husband’s wound, as she did not accompany him on the expedition during which the Incident is alleged to have taken place. The “Man in the Iron Mask” did not wear a mask of Iron. It was black velvet secured by steel springs. The wonderful Damascus blades that cut the bars of iron in two were not superior to the Toledb blades made to-day. Seneca was not a half Christian philosopher, but a grasping money lender and usurer, who died worth over £8,000,000. Caesar did not say, “Et tu, Brute.” Eye-witnesses to the assassination deposed that “ he died fighting, but silent, like a wolf.” Richard 111. was not a hunchback, but a soldier of fine form, some pretensions to good looks, and great personal strength and courage. Blondel, the harper, did not discover the prison of King Richard. Richard paid his ransom, and the receipt for it is among the Austrian archives. Cesar did not cross the Rubicon. It lay on the opposite side of the Italian peninsula from the point where he left his own possessions and entered Italy. The Bridge of Sighs at Venice has no romance worthy the name. Most of the unfortunates who cross it are petty thieves who are sent to the workhouse. Fair Rosamond was not poisoned by Queen Eleanor, but, after a long residence as a nun In the convent of Gadstow, died greatly esteemed by her associates.—[The Million.