One of the things they used to cure the sick people with, was a plant called misletoe. It does not grow on the ground, but on the branches of trees; sometimes, but rarely, on the oak. The Druids knew the time of year when its berries were ripe, and made a great feast, and all the people came to it; and the oldest Druid, dressed in white, and with a white band round his head, used to take a golden sickle, and go up into the trees where the misletoe grew, and cut it while the others sang songs, and said some prayers to their false gods, because they did not know the true God. These Druids used to advise the kings what to do, and what rules to give the people; and because nobody in England could write, the Druids made songs and verses about everything that happened, and taught them to the young people, that they might teach them again to their children. Those who made these songs were called BARDS. Now you know that, though it is a very good thing to be able to repeat fine verses about things that happened long ago, it is much better to have them written down; because people might forget some of the verses, and then their children would not know what had happened in their country before they lived themselves. And so it was with the Druids. People began to forget the oldest verses, when something happened that I will tell you about in the next chapter, by means of which the Britons learned not only to write and read, but to know the true God. [Illustration: Decoration] CHAPTER III. How the Romans came and conquered the Britons, and made them work. There is a city called ROME, a good way from England, and the people belonging to it are called ROMANS. Now, at the time I told you of, when the poor Britons were so ill off for almost everything, the Romans were the cleverest and bravest people in the world. By their bravery they had conquered all the countries between Rome and England, which you know was then called Britain; and by being able to write better than any other people at that time, they made books, in which they set down everything that happened to them and to the people they conquered. One of their bravest and cleverest men, called JULIUS CÆSAR, wrote what I have told you about Britain, and some more that I am going to tell you. When the Romans had found out that there was such a country as Britain, some sailors and merchants came here to see what the country and the people were like. And they saw that the people were very strong and well made, and found that they were clever, and good tempered, and they wished to have some of them for servants, and some for soldiers. And they saw too that the country was very pretty, and that if anybody who knew how to build nice houses, and to make proper fields, were to live here, it would be a very pleasant place indeed.