Knute was a great and mighty emperor. he was ruler over the three kingdoms of England,Norway,and Denmark. He was a great and mighty Lord with a court filled with men of great riches, and power.He had begun to suspect, however, that his courtiers were NOT giving him good advice and were trying to fill his head with empty praise and flattery to gain rank,wealth, and position. His fears were proved true when one day his courtiers, and advisers were gathered together,and one of them said "Why great king you are so powerful, the sea itself must obey your commands!"

Now we know any self respecting Norseman knows the way of the sea is to be a fickle mistress who obeys no one no matter how powerful. So he responded "Really? do all my advisers agree? Am I really that great and mighty of a lord?"

"Oh ,yes your Majesty" they all gushed "you are truly the greatest and mightiest king who ever lived!"

"We shall see," said Knute as he rose from his throne and marched out towards the shore "I shall go the waters edge and command the tide to not rise,and soil my expensive robes"

So Knute went down to the shore,and in a booming authoritative voice bellowed "Tide! I command thee to not raise and leave my feet dry,and my robes unsullied"

He then turned to his advisors and courtiers and said, "I hope, for your sake, that the tide does not rise. because if you have DARED lie to you emperor, you will pay with your HEADS."

In fact, the tide did continue to rise. When the water had risen to the emperor's knees, he called for his bodyguards to have all his advisors and courtiers beheaded. He then filled his court with men whom he knew would never lie to him , no matter how harsh the truth was.

    How the farmer learned to sleep at night

Once there was a farmer,and all his sons had grown and went a-viking and traveled far away. He needed some help with all the work on the farm so he decided to hire a farm hand. he sent out word that he was hiring a hand and soon a young man came to his farm. the farmer asked "have you ever done farm work before?" 

"no " answerd the young man" but I always sleep soundly at night"

This answer intrigued the farmer, Perhaps this young man is such a hard worker at whatever he does he is exhausted every evening the farmer thought to himself. He hired the young man on the spot. he then showed him around the farm and all the duties he was to do.

The young farm hand was always diligent about his duties and always got his share of the work done, but the farmer didn't see anything unusually vigorous about the way the lad worked that would make him sleep especially well.

then one night there was a great storm with lightning and wind and rain!!!...

 the farmer, in a great panic rushed to the young farm hands bed and tried to awaken him...WAKE UP! WAKE UP we must check the haystacks are tied down so the wind doesn't blow them away!!! we must go down to the stream to make sure the fish traps are secured so the rain doesn't wash them away !!! we must check the barn door is latched tight so the lightning doesn't scare the horses and and they bolt away!!!!

But the youth would not wake up for anything. so the farmer ran around in the wind and driving rain. He found the haystacks neatly tied down ...as theyoung farmhand did every evening before supper....he found the fish traps secured tightly to the bank...as the young lad did everytime he harvested the fish from them... he found the barn door tightly latched...as the farmer himself had instructed the lad to always do after he was done feeding the horses.

In the morning when the young farm hand awoke, he explained to the farmer" I always sleep well,because i am always diligent and careful about my job. So i don't have to get up and run around in the rain in the middle of the night."