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Chap. XXXIX.
STORY OF HAMLET.
153
more anxious than ever to make an end of his stepson.
He then sends him to England; and here Shakespeare
has followed the true story. Amleth adds to the
instructions for the death of his companions, that the King
of England is to give him his daughter in marriage.
Amleth is still very queer; he refuses to eat or drink
at the English king’s table. On inquiring, he replies
he will not touch food because “ the bread savours of
blood, the beer of iron, and the lard of dead men’s
carrion: ” he adds also (very ill-bred), that the king
has eyes like a bondsman, and that the queen in three
things behaved herself like a servant-maid. They only
regard him as mad; but after a sharp observation the
king discovers Amleth was right in his supposition as
regards the food: for the corn came from a field where
a battle had taken place; the pigs had eaten a dead
man’s carrion; and in the fountain of the brewer were
discovered several rusty swords. The English king now
becomes uneasy, and, taking his mother to task, forces
her to own that a bondsman was his father. Later
Amleth declares that (shocking bad manners) the
queen is not of higher origin herself: for, first, she hides
her head in her cloak; secondly, in walking she lifts up
her kirtle under the girdle; and, thirdly, after eating
she picks her teeth with a fish-bone—all decided proofs
of low birth; “ but perhaps,” he added by way of a
sop, “her mother was a prisoner of war, which fully
accounts for her low habits.” The king (a most
un-dutiful son) praises his wisdom, and gives him his
daughter in marriage. Amleth now demands
recompense for the death of his companions, and receives
a considerable sum of gold, which he melts down into
two hollow sticks; and, after a year’s absence, begs
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