"burning their cakes"

[Bill Palmer]

The fable, as I recall it, is that he was a fugitive king hiding out (from
Vikings?) in a peasant cottage and the lady of the house asked him to make
sure the cakes didn't burn in the fireplace, which he promptly allowed to
happen.  She, not knowing he was her monarch, supposedly chewed his ass out.

Bill Palmer

----- Original Message -----
From: "Barbara Need" <bhneed at GMAIL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 4:53 PM
Subject: Re: "burning their cakes"


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Barbara Need <bhneed at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: "burning their cakes"
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Alfred (the Great) was supposed to have burned some cakes while hiding
> out in a marsh. (This I know from _1066 and All That_.)
>
> Barbara
>
> Barbara Need
> Chicago
>
> On 4 Sep 2009, at 3:39 PM, Amy West wrote:
>
>> I'm scratching my head about a phrase I've come across: I think it's
>> a Britishism. . .
>>
>> It was AElfred, Victorian school children were taught, who unified
>> the nation, saved the English from the invaders, and founded the
>> British Navy, while mixing with the common people with east, despite
>> burning their cakes.
>>  --- Julian Richards, _Vikings: A very short introduction_, p. 123
>>
>> It's the "despite burning their cakes" that has me scratching my head.
>>
>> ---Amy West
>
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