In a vision, Alfred the One-Legged, a young boy running from the hordes of heathen Danes invading England, was guided to an old harness and told that if he would be the master of his life, he should give the harness to his namesake. And who would his namesake be but Alfred of Wessex, later to be England's king and deliverer?

King Alfred did, indeed, have the secret to mastery over life, but to the one legged boy it seemed a strange one. In England's bloodiest days, King Alfred taught patience and peace, learning and the written word. They were the strengths that saved England as well as young Alfred, who became the king's scribe.

"Every man," King Alfred said at Stonehenge, "is a part of the bridge between the past and the future. Whatever helps him feel this more strongly is good." Mr. Hodges has, himself, done this good thing. In this unique book he has re-created a noble hero, an exciting era, and the birth of Britain.

From the dust jacket