#2 The whole of Kipling's poem
IT IS always a temptation to an armed and agile nation,
To call upon a neighbour and to say:—
“We invaded you last night—we are quite prepared to fight,
Unless you pay us cash to go away.”
And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That youÂ’ve only to pay Â’em the Dane-geld
And then youÂ’ll get rid of the Dane!
It is always a temptation to a rich and lazy nation,
To puff and look important and to say:—
“Though we know we should defeat you, we have not the time to meet you.
We will therefore pay you cash to go away.”
And that is called paying the Dane-geld;
But weÂ’ve proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.
It is wrong to put temptation in the path of any nation,
For fear they should succumb and go astray,
So when you are requested to pay up or be molested,
You will find it better policy to says:—
“We never pay any one Dane-geld,
No matter how trifling the cost,
For the end of that game is oppression and shame,
And the nation that plays it is lost!” |
Two German engineers seized in Iraq this week were shown in a video yesterday appealing for their government to save their lives as Berlin strongly condemned the abduction. The two men, snatched at gunpoint by men in army uniforms, were shown surrounded by four masked men brandishing assault rifles from a group calling itself Ansar Al-Tawheed Wal Sunnah (Followers of Unity and Prophetic Tradition). No demands from the captors were apparently issued but Al-Jazeera television which showed the video said the men pleaded for the German government to intervene to secure their release. “The first contact was made by the kidnappers,” German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier told RTL television of the video. “We cannot give any further details about the group.”