A King Traduced

My good friend Peter "Mighty Sailor Man" McGrath pointed out, justly, that I maligned good King Knut den mektige (Cnut, or, to avoid unfortunate dyslexic misspellings, Canute) when I ascribed to him, unjustly, arrogance enough to think he could by command drive back the tide. In fact, the true tale tells of Cnut's exasperation with flattering courtiers and his convincing demonstration that they were full of skide.

Canute the Great - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

He is perhaps best remembered for the legend of how he commanded the waves to go back. According to the legend, he grew tired of flattery from his courtiers. When one such flatterer gushed that the king could even command the obedience of the sea, Canute proved him wrong by practical demonstration at Thorney Island, his point being that even a king's powers have limits. Unfortunately, this legend is usually misunderstood to mean that he believed himself so powerful that the natural elements would obey him, and that his failure to command the tides only made him look foolish. It is quite possible that the legend is simply pro-Canute propaganda.

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