We find it, however, a very hard virtue to practice, when a case occurs requiring the exercise of it toward a person who has done _us_ an injury.

Let those who think that in Alfred's situation they should have acted as he did, look around upon the circle of their acquaintance, and see whether it is easy for them to pursue a similar course toward their personal enemies--those who have thwarted and circumvented them in their plans, or slandered them, or treated them with insult and injury.

By observing how hard it is to change our own resentments to feelings of forgiveness and good will, we can the better appreciate Alfred's treatment of Guthrum.
Alfred was famed during all his life for the kindness of his heart, and a thousand stories were told in his day of his interpositions to right the wronged, to relieve the distressed, to comfort the afflicted, and to befriend the unhappy.

On one occasion, as it is said, when he was hunting in a wood, he heard the piteous cries of a child, which seemed to come from the air above his head.

It was found, after much looking and listening, that the sounds proceeded from an eagle's nest upon the top of a lofty tree.