Children's Ghost Stories by Andrew Murray

Author:Andrew Murray
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: ghost stories, childrens ghost stories, Charles Dickens, Washington Irving, Sleepy Hollow, A Christmas Carol, Halloween stories, Halloween books for kids, classic ghost stories, scary stories
Publisher: Andrew Murray
Published: 2019-08-09T00:00:00+00:00

The Ghost of King Hamlet

By William Shakespeare

Retold by Andrew Murray

Horatio, Hamlet and the Ghost (Henry Fuseli)

On a misty moonlit night in deep winter, a shadow moved among the battlements of Elsinore Castle, home to the Kings of Denmark. Two royal guards were the first to see it, and they went running, swords a-clatter, to spread the alarm. The scholar Horatio climbed the battlements to discover if the guards had been dreaming or drinking, but no, he saw it too – the figure of a great warrior clad in the finest armour, but moving through the drifting veils of mist without a sound.

Horatio crept as close as he dared, and peered at the face beneath the visor.

“I declare it is the face of King Hamlet – but the King is dead and surely this must be his unhappy spirit! But what has caused him to restlessly wander the Castle like this?”

The King had died very recently, in mysterious circumstances, and his brother Claudius had come to the throne and married Hamlet’s widow, Queen Gertrude. So Horatio and the guards went to find Prince Hamlet, son of Gertrude and the dead king, and they brought him to the battlements.

Hamlet was filled with dread at the sight of the ghostly knight – but he ventured forward in the misty moonlight and, in a quavering voice, asked,

“Who goes there?”

The ghost turned to him, and Hamlet saw that it was indeed his father.

“My son, I have come to tell you that I have been murdered – and by none other than my own brother, Claudius. He poured poison in my ear while I slept! Hamlet, you must avenge my death. Punish Claudius for his grievous crime, bring justice to the Kingdom, and let my spirit rest in peace!”

And with the coming light of dawn, the ghost vanished and Hamlet found himself alone.

Hamlet set about the task of avenging his father’s murder – but he was a quiet, studious character, and so he delayed the task. The whole idea of it filled him with horror – how indeed would you feel if you knew that your uncle had murdered your father and married your mother? So Hamlet slid into a state of deep despair, unable to sleep at night, unable to take action by day.

Claudius and Gertrude grew increasingly worried about his strange behaviour, and wanted to find out the cause. So they tasked two of Hamlet’s closest friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to spy on him. The Lord Chamberlain, a puffed up little man called Polonius, suggested to Claudius that Hamlet might be in love with his daughter, Ophelia. So Claudius listened in on a conversation between Hamlet and Ophelia – but Hamlet gave no indication of being in love with the girl. He even declared that he wanted to ban marriages altogether, and told Ophelia to become a nun instead.

Then a troupe of wandering actors came to Elsinore Castle to put on a play – and Hamlet saw an opportunity to test his uncle’s guilt.

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