Produced by Hanh Vu and Sandra Laythorpe A BOOK OF GOLDEN DEEDS By Charlotte M. Yonge TABLE OF CONTENTS What is a Golden Deed? The Stories of Alcestis and Antigone The Cup of Water How One Man has saved a Host The Pass of Thermopylae The Rock of the Capitol The Two Friends of Syracuse The Devotion of the Decii Regulus The brave Brethren of Judah The Chief of the Arverni Withstanding the Monarch in his Wrath The last Fight in the Coliseum The Shepherd Girl of Nanterre Leo the Slave The Battle of the Blackwater Guzman el Bueno Faithful till Death What is better than Slaying a Dragon The Keys of Calais The Battle of Sempach The Constant Prince The Carnival of Perth The Crown of St. Stephen George the Triller Sir Thomas More's Daughter Under Ivan the Terrible Fort St. Elmo The Voluntary Convict The Housewives of Lowenburg Fathers and Sons The Soldiers in the Snow Gunpowder Perils Heroes of the Plague The Second of September The Vendeans PREFACE As the most striking lines of poetry are the most hackneyed, because they have grown to be the common inheritance of all the world, so many of the most noble deeds that earth can show have become the best known, and enjoyed their full meed of fame. Therefore it may be feared that many of the events here detailed, or alluded to, may seem trite to those in search of novelty; but it is not for such that the collection has been made. It is rather intended as a treasury for young people, where they may find minuter particulars than their abridged histories usually afford of the soul-stirring deeds that give life and glory to the record of events; and where also other like actions, out of their ordinary course of reading, may be placed before them, in the trust that example may inspire the spirit of heroism and self-devotion. For surely it must be a wholesome contemplation to look on actions, the very essence of which is such entire absorption in others that self is forgotten; the object of which is not to win promotion, wealth, or success, but simple duty, mercy, and loving-kindness. These are the actions wrought, 'hoping for nothing again', but which most surely have their reward.