Many years ago there [?] in England a wise and good king whose [?] was Alfred. No other man ever did so much for his [?] as he; and people now, all over the world, [?] of him as Alfred the Great. In those days a king did not have a very [?] life. There was war almost all the time, and no one else could [?] his army into battle so well as he. And so, between ruling and fighting, he had a busy time of it indeed. A [?], rude people, called the Danes, had come from over the sea, and were [?] the English. There were so [?] of them, and they were so bold and strong, that for a long time they won every battle. If they kept on, they would [?] be the masters of the whole country.