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I . The Ghost on the Battlements Long ago , the kings of Denmark lived in a great stone castle called Elsinore . It stood by the sea , and a cold wind blew round its high walls all year . On the flat tops of those walls , the battlements , soldiers kept watch day and night . One winter night , just after twelve o’clock , a soldier called Bernardo came up to the battlements to start his watch . Soon two more men joined him . One was Marcellus , an officer of the guard . The other was Horatio , a young scholar . He was a close friend of Prince Hamlet , the son of the dead king . “ Has the thing appeared again tonight ? ” asked Marcellus quietly . “ I have seen nothing , ” said Bernardo . “ Horatio says that it’s only our imagination , ” said Marcellus . “ So I asked him to watch with us tonight . If it comes again , he can see it with his own eyes and speak to it . ” “ Oh , it won’t appear , ” said Horatio with a smile . But at that moment Marcellus pointed into the dark . “ Look , there it is again ! ” A tall figure was walking slowly towards them along the wall . It was wearing armour , and its face was pale and sad . It looked exactly like old King Hamlet , who had died two months before . “ You are a scholar , ” whispered Marcellus . “ Speak to it , Horatio . ” Horatio was shaking with fear . “ Who are you ? ” he said . “ Why do you walk here in the night , in the shape of our dead king ? In the name of heaven , speak ! ” But the figure turned away and disappeared into the darkness . “ You are pale , and you are trembling , ” said Bernardo . “ Is this still only our imagination ? ” “ I didn’t believe it before , but now I have seen it with my own eyes , ” said Horatio . “ It was the king himself , in the armour that he wore when he fought the King of Norway . I think this means trouble for our country . ” Then Horatio told them about that old fight . Many years before , King Fortinbras of Norway had challenged King Hamlet of Denmark to a fight between the two of them alone . King Hamlet killed him , and so he won some Norwegian lands . Now the dead man’s son , young Fortinbras , wanted those lands back . He was collecting an army of wild young men . “ That is why our soldiers keep watch every night , ” said Horatio . “ And that is why men are making guns and building ships , even on Sundays . ” Suddenly the ghost appeared again . This time Horatio stepped in front of it and opened his arms . “ Stop ! ” he cried . “ If you can speak , speak to me ! Do you know of some danger to our country ? Tell me ! ” At that moment a cock crowed in the distance , and the ghost began to move away . The men tried to hit it with their long spears , but the spears passed through it like air . Then it was gone . “ People say that ghosts must go back to their prison when the cock crows in the morning , ” said Horatio . “ Look , the sun is coming up in the east . We must tell young Hamlet what we have seen tonight . This spirit didn’t speak to us , but I am sure that it will speak to him . ”
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