The Listening Grove · Fifty Famous Stories Retold
Chapter 1: King Alfred and the Cakes
A Charlotte Mason read-aloud lesson. Press play, with the lesson.
What is Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 1, King Alfred and the Cakes, about?Parent review
Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 1, King Alfred and the Cakes, tells one of the best-loved tales of early England. Long ago, when the fierce Danes had overrun the land, King Alfred was driven into hiding and took shelter, ragged and unknown, in a woodcutter's hut. The woodcutter's wife asked him to watch her cakes baking on the hearth, but Alfred, deep in worry for his kingdom, let them burn. The good woman scolded him roundly, never guessing she was speaking to her king. It is a gentle story of a great man brought low, bearing a poor woman's blame with patience, and it opens the whole book's picture of England long ago.
Show what you know!
Use your printable Lesson Guide. Fill in the vocabulary you know, then click to check your work and learn some new words today.
What are the difficult or advanced vocabulary words in Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 1, King Alfred and the Cakes?hearth, haste, rude, pityHave a look
- hearth: the floor of a fireplace, where the fire burns
- haste: great speed or hurry
- rude: rough, wild, and not yet civilized (an older meaning)
- pity: a feeling of sadness or care for someone who is suffering
Locate it on the map!
Use your printable Lesson Guide. Use an atlas and fill in the blank map if you can find the geographic location, then click to check your work.
What important geographic location connects with Fifty Famous Stories Retold Chapter 1, King Alfred and the Cakes?
- Find the Athelney Marshes (Somerset, England).
See it on the mapHave a look
This matches the map in your Lesson Guide.
The Books come Alive!
Read or listen to Chapter 1 of Fifty Famous Stories Retold, the Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition, read by Laura Caldwell.
Read by Laura Caldwell for LibriVox (public domain), professionally adjusted and trimmed by Kindred Thicket.
What do the Teacher’s Notes tell us about Chapter 1 of Fifty Famous Stories Retold?Parent review
This is a Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition. Baldwin’s 1896 words are read exactly as he wrote them, and we add Teacher’s Notes with historical and literary context.
- About the whole bookFifty Famous Stories Retold gathers real history together with well-loved legends and traditions. These notes tell you, story by story, which is which.
- This chapterAlfred was the King of Wessex (871-899); a single kingdom of "England" did not exist yet.
- This chapterHe is universally known today as Alfred the Great.
- This chapterThe Danes were the Vikings, who invaded from Scandinavia.
- This chapterAlfred actually fled a surprise attack on Chippenham and hid in the Somerset marshes with a few followers, not alone.
- This chapterThe cake-burning story is a beloved legend with no historical evidence.
- This chapterHis comeback took months, not days, ending in victory at the Battle of Edington in May 878.
Memory becomes Action!
Use the Response Resource* to remember and spell tricky names. Choose one way to narrate.
*Materials in the Lesson Guide.
What is the list of names, people, characters, and places that are important in Chapter 1 of Fifty Famous Stories Retold?King Alfred (also Alfred the Great), The Danes, The Woodcutter's Wife, EnglandHave a look
- King Alfred (also Alfred the Great): The wise king of Wessex, called king of England in the tale, who fought the invading Danes and at last defeated them.
- The Danes: The fierce Viking invaders from across the sea who overran the English and drove Alfred into hiding.
- The Woodcutter's Wife: The peasant woman who sheltered the ragged king and scolded him for letting her cakes burn, not knowing who he was.
- England: The land Alfred ruled and defended; in his day still the separate Anglo-Saxon kingdoms, chiefly his own Wessex.
Chapter 1 Q & A
This is a Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition. Baldwin’s stories mingle real history with beloved legend, and here is what to know about this one.
Is the story of King Alfred burning the cakes true?
The cake-burning story is a beloved legend with no historical evidence behind it. Alfred was a real king of Wessex who really was driven into hiding by the Danes in 878, so the setting is true history. But the charming scene of a king scolded for burning a poor woman's cakes was passed down as a tale, not recorded as fact.
Who was King Alfred?
Alfred was the King of Wessex from 871 to 899, one of several Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in what would later become England. He is universally known today as Alfred the Great for his wisdom, his reforms, and his long struggle against the Danes. In his own day there was no single country called England yet.
Who were the Danes?
The Danes were Vikings who sailed from Scandinavia to raid and settle in England. They overran much of the land and drove Alfred into hiding in the Somerset marshes. Baldwin calls them fierce, which fits their warlike raids, though over time many Danes settled peacefully and became Christian.
Did Alfred really win back his kingdom?
Yes. After hiding in the marshes, Alfred gathered his followers and defeated the Danes at the Battle of Edington in May 878. The tale suggests his comeback took only a few days, but in truth it took months of patient effort. His victory secured Wessex and earned him his lasting name, Alfred the Great.