1066 and all that

Chapter XII

Reading edition

RUFUS. A RUDDY KING

Illustration from 1066 and all that: A memorable history of England, comprising all the parts you can remember, including 103 good things, 5 bad kings and 2 genuine dates

A Good Thing

This monarch was always very angry and red in the face and was therefore unpopular, so that his death was a Good Thing: it occurred in the following memorable way. Rufus was hunting one day in the New Forest, when William Tell (the memorable crack-shot, inventor of Cross-bow puzzles) took unerring aim at a reddish apple, which had fallen on to the King’s head, and shot him through the heart. Sir Isaac Walton, who happened to be present at the time, thereupon invented the Law of Gravity. Thus was the reign of Rufus brought to a Good End.