King Cnut and the tide

The story of King Cnut and the tide is an apocryphal anecdote meant to illustrate the piety or humility of King Cnut the Great (also written as Canute), recorded in the 12th century by Henry of Huntingdon.

In the story, Cnut demonstrates to his flattering courtiers that he has no control over the elements (the incoming tide), explaining that secular power is vain compared to the supreme power of God. The episode is frequently alluded to in contexts where the futility of "trying to stop the tide" of an inexorable event is pointed out, but usually misrepresenting Cnut as believing he had supernatural powers, when Huntingdon's story in fact relates the opposite.