Dane-Geld

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.

Luke loves candy. The other day he pushed the chair up to the counter, climbed up on the counter and opened the cabinet where the Halloween candy is kept. I don't give him as much as his sisters get, but his desire is clearly larger than his sisters', since it is unmitigated by any sort of internal restraint.

He quite unabashedly begs for candy from his sisters. I tell them to take the candy and eat it in their bedrooms, away from Luke, but they feel sorry for him and don't like to see him cry (perhaps they sympathize, having to deal with the same cruel mother). They will give him a square from their candy bar, or a skittle, or some other small token to help him feel better.

And that is called asking for Dane-geld,
And the people who ask it explain
That you've only to pay 'em the Dane-geld
And then you'll get rid of the Dane!

The problem is, of course, that once they have given Luke some candy, he refuses to leave them alone until they give him more. And more. And more... Frankly he makes quite a pest of himself, and I feel bad for Eleanor and Amanda, but they really brought it on themselves. Eventually I distract Luke and they run away to eat their candy in peace. But there has been more crying and whining and fuss than there would have been if the girls had kept their candy to themselves.

It is always a temptation for 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 we've proved it again and again,
That if once you have paid him the Dane-geld
You never get rid of the Dane.

I think that the girls are starting to figure out the price of giving Luke what he wants, although I think they still really don't want to make him cry.

I wonder what Luke is learning from all this. It might be that if you whine enough, your sisters give you what you want. It is useful to manipulate your older sisters, although perhaps not admirable (and he will probably try to use the technique on his parents). Eventually they will get tired of being manipulated so brazenly, and he'll have to figure out something more clever.

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 say: --

"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 pays it is lost!"

(http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/dane_geld.html Dane-Geld by Kipling. This poem applies in all sorts of situations, if you use your imagination.) Update: Michael noted that the poem's formatting was leaving off the last of some of the lines, I may have fixed it.