The Tree of Justice by Rudyard Kipling. Short summary

5 seconds

A tale from the Tales of Old England series. The story of the meeting of the last king of the defeated Saxons and the king of the victorious Normans, of true nobility and courage.

1 minute

Dan and Una meet again with an old acquaintance, Sir Richard. This time the knight tells the boys the story of King Henry’s meeting with the defeated Saxon King Harold.

King Henry was about to sail to Normandy to fight Robert. Before sailing, the king expressed a desire to hunt in the lands of De Aquila and Richard.

De Aquila, Richard and Hugh gave the king a grand hunt, worrying about his safety as well. But during the hunt, one of the Saxon peasant herders spoke unflatteringly of the sovereign. The incident was reported to the king, and he summoned the troublemaker to himself. It turned out to be a half-crazed old man, cared for by the king’s jester Rarey.

Hugh, seeing the old man, fell on his knees before him. It turned out to be the defeated forty-year-old King Harold of the Saxons, believed to have been killed at the Battle of Suntlake. Insane and almost memoryless, the former king died in the arms of Hugh, his loyal subject.