Fengo's chamber, took down the sword that
was hanging over the sleeping king, and
hung up his own in its place. Great was the
consternation of Fengo when he was awakened
by a voice that said, in no pleasing tone,
"Fengo, your brave men are burning to
ashes, and Hamlet is here to avenge the
death of his father." The first impulse of Fengo
was to reach down the suspended sword, but
as that unlucky weapon was fastened to its
sheath, it proved a sorry defence against the
sharp blade wielded by Hamlet, and the
fratricide viceroy now received his mortal
blow.

Now, it was quite possible that Hamlet's
conduct on this eventful night might not be
in accordance with the views of Jutland generally.
With that prudence that was his leading
virtue he retired, therefore, to a safe
hiding-place, whence he could watch the
aspect of the political horizon. When the
break of day revealed the gloomy spectacle
of a palace in ruins and a heap of half-
burned corpses, the early rising part of the
population, not seeing any one who could tell
them how it had all happened, were not a
little puzzled. Sentiments were varied—
some were indignant at the wholesale
slaughter, some wept, while a third party,
which seems to have been that of the majority,
hinted that the event was to be regarded as
rather fortunate than otherwise. On this
hint, Hamlet issued from his nook, and made
an effective speech, in which he avowed what
he had done, gloried that he had avenged his
father's murder; and, in short, managed
matters so well, that a general shout
proclaimed him the successor of Fengo.

When he was firmly established in his
province, Hamlet fitted up three ships in a
most expensive manner, and paid a visit to
his father-in-law in Britain. His numerous
attendants carried gilded shields, while his
own target was ornamented with a pictorial
record of the deeds he had done. Never had
the Britons seen so fine a sight. The good
king, however, found himself in a moral
difficulty. He had, it seems, solemnly sworn to
Fengo that he would avenge his death, if it
occurred otherwise than by the course of
nature, and now Fengo was slain by the
person whom the king esteemed above
everybody else in the world. Hamlet must be got
rid of somehow or other; but, if he were put
to death in the palace, the laws of hospitality
would be shamefully violated. It was clear
that he must be sent somewhere else in order
to be killed, and Scotland at last suggested
itself to the British king as the very place
fitted for the purpose. Scotland was at this
time governed by a maiden queen, named
Hermutruda, who was so fierce, and withal
entertained such a dislike to matrimony, that
if a suitor presented himself, the popping of
the question was instantly followed by a
public execution. Hamlet was to solicit the
hand of this lady for the King of Britain,
who had recently become a widower, and the
Scottish queen, it was hoped, would dispatch
him according to precedent. Thus would
Fengo be avenged, and the British king would
be released from his moral difficulty.

However, when Hamlet reached the Scottish
court, affairs took a turn which the king
of Britain had not contemplated. The
terrible queen was greatly struck by the picture
on Hamlet's shield, and told him in a few
words, that if he would woo her on his own
account, instead of courting by proxy, she
would gladly bestow her hand upon him.
The queen was not only fierce but fair, and
Hamlet's heart had ever been susceptible to
feminine beauty. Therefore, we grieve to
relate, he jumped at the offer, regardless of
the tie in the south of the island, and having
married the Queen of Scotland, had the
consummate assurance to return to the king of
Britain, with his new wife, and a train of
young Scots at his heels.

Hamlet's first wife, the British princess,
was a gentle, forgiving creature, who was so
delighted at her husband's safe return, that
she vowed not only to love him still, but to
love his second wife also. With these professions
she met him on the road, bearing in her
arms an infant to which she had lately given
birth. At the same time she warned him that
her father did not entertain the same liberal
views on the subject of family affronts, and
that he had better be on his guard against
stratagem. When this amiable discourse
had proceeded so far, the old king came up,
embraced Hamlet as if nothing had
happened, and invited him to a banquet in the
palace. Hamlet was nothing loth, but, as
his old prudence did not forsake him, he
managed to put on a suit of armour, which
was concealed by his upper garments. Nor
did this precaution prove useless, for no
sooner did Hamlet make his appearance at
the palace-gate, than the king flung a spear
that would have gone through the body of
the Dane, had it not been checked by the
unexpected obstacle. The enmity of the
king being thus revealed, Hamlet retreated
to the spot where he had left his Scottish
adherents; but was immediately pursued by
his enemy, who routed the little force of
Scotsmen, and would have destroyed every
man of them, had he not been interrupted
by the approach of night. When darkness
had set in, Hamlet did one of those clever
things, that have justly earned him immortality
in the Danish chronicles. Instead of
resting himself, he carefully picked up the
bodies of the slain, and raising some into the
perpendicular with the aid of sticks and big
stones, while he placed others on horse-back,
he made them present a very formidable
appearance. Hence, when morning broke
and the Britons saw the new force, they
stood stupidly staring, wondering whence
the auxiliaries could have come. Hamlet
was not the man to lose an opportunity;