Viking
An Embar-ass-ing Setback
“Then, just as King Adils was pulling the spear shaft with the ring on it back towards him, King Hrolf galloped up and sliced off both his buttocks right down to the bone.” […]
Repost
Greek and Roman
The Downtrodden Show Their Might
“These valiant men gained the chance they had longed for–to be free to die in battle rather than to perish of hunger–and immediately took arms to kill the generals Lupicinus and Maximus.” […]
Britons and Celts
A Patriot’s Vision of his Homeland
“Numberless springs also well up, and burst forth from the hills and the sloping ridges of the mountains, and, trickling down with sweetest sound, in crystal rivulets between flowery banks, flow together through the level vales, and give birth to many streams; and these again to large rivers, in which Scotia marvelously abounds, beyond any other country.” […]
Greek and Roman
The Drama of the Stork
“It happened that the female stork brought forth young, and the male flew about to procure food. Now, while he was absent, the female admitted a gallant; and before the return of the male went down to the fountain to wash herself, in order that the other might perceive no disorder in her appearance.” […]
History
To Defy a Khan
“Never in our time were so many men engaged on one battlefield, especially so many horsemen. So many died on either side that it was a marvel to behold.” […]
Human Affairs
Stubbornness of the Stable Boy
“When I was coming to you just now, the porter closed the gates in front of me. So I kicked the gate with my foot so that the iron broke to pieces, and the gate fell all to pieces.” […]
Human Affairs
Never in a Goat’s Eye
The patient felt no pain; but added, “I wish you would hasten to restore my eyes.” The operator cheerfully complied; but as he prepared his implements, a crow entered by an open window, and, seeing the eyes upon the table, snatched one of them up, and flew away with it.” […]
Britons and Celts
Just What Happens on a Wedding Night?
“Let, wing’d with pleasure, the soft minutes flow,
And lasting bliss no interruption know,
While with like heat, her faithful bosom warms;
For in his time he was the flower of arms.” […]
Greek and Roman
The Phalanx March
“As ravening fire rips through big stands of timber high on a mountain ridge and the blaze flares miles away, so from the marching troops the blaze of bronze armor, splendid and superhuman, flared across the earth, flashing into the air to hit the skies.” […]
Medieval Mentality
Righteous Punishment
“When he was alive he had lacked a brain, and now that he was dead he lacked a heart, for they ripped it from his entrails and impaled it on a stake, swollen as it was with fraud and evil.” […]