"For dire was Alfred in his hour
The pale scribe witnesseth,
More mighty in defeat was he
Than all men else in victory,
And behind, his men came murderously,
Dry-throated, drinking death."
So at last the sign of the cross was put on Guthrum and
"Far out to the winding river
The blood ran down for days,
When we put the cross on Guthrum
In the parting of the ways."
And in the last book, "The Scouring of the White Horse," we see Alfred at peace again.
"In the days of the rest of Alfred,
When all these things were done,
And Wessex lay in a patch of peace,
Like a dog in a patch of sun—
The King sat in his orchard,
Among apples green and red,
With the little book in his bosom
And the sunshine on his head."
And he gathered the songs of simple men, and gave alms, and "gat good laws of the ancient kings like treasure out of the tombs"; and men came from the ends of the earth and went out to the ends of the earth because of the word of the King.
"And men, seeing such embassies,
Spake with the King and said:
'The steel that sang so sweet a tune
On Ashdown and on Ethandune,
Why hangs it scabbarded so soon,
All heavily like lead?'"
They asked: "Why dwell the Danes in North England and up to the river ride?"
"And Alfred in the orchard,
Among apples green and red,
With the little book in his bosom,
Looked at green leaves and said: