HAMLET. 65

Afterwards Hamlet
begged Laertes to forgive
him.

“T could not bear,” he
said, “that any, even a
‘ brother, should seem to love
her more than I.”

But the wicked Claudius
would not let them be
friends. He told Laertes
how Hamlet had killed old
Polonius, and between them
they made a plot to slay
Hamlet by treachery.

Laertes challenged him
to a fencing match, and
all the Court were present.
Hamlet had the blunt foil
always used in fencing, but
Laertes had prepared for
himself a sword, sharp, and
tipped with poison. And
the wicked King had made
ready a bowl of poisoned
wine, which he meant to
give poor Hamlet when he should grow warm with the sword play, and
should call for drink. :

So Laertes and Hamlet fought, and Laertes, after some fencing, gave
Hamlet a sharp sword thrust. Hamlet, angry at this treachery—for
they had been fencing, not as men fight, but as they play-—closed with
Laertes in a struggle ; both dropped their swords, and when they picked
them up again, Hamlet, without noticing it, had exchanged his own blunt
sword for Laertes’ sharp and poisoned one. And with one thrust of it
he pierced Laertes, who fell dead by his own treachery.

At this moment the Queen cried out, “The drink, the drink!
Oh, my dear Hamlet! I[ am poisoned!”

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