142 HOLGER DANSKE,

i ast, and trembled in his heart; in the peasants lowly
Snhichest too became a heart in the Danish arms. And the
old grandfather dried his eyes, for he had known King Frederick
with the silvery locks and honest blue eyes, and had lived for
him: he folded his hands, and looked in silence straight before
him. Then came the daughter-in-law of the old grandfather, and
said it was late, he ought now to rest ; and the supper-table was

d. :
Pe Bat it is beautiful, what you have done, grandfather !” said
she. ‘Holger Danske, and all our old coat of arms! It seems
to me just as if 1 had seen that face before!”

“No, that can scarcely be,” replied the old grandfather ; “ but
I have seen it, and I havetried to carve itin wood as I have kept
it in my memory. It was when the English lay in front of the
wharf, on the Danish second of April,* when we showed that we
were old Danes. In the Denmark, on board which I was, in
Steen Bille’s squadron, I had a man at my side—it seemed as if
the bullets were afraid of him! Merrily he sang old songs, and
shot and fought as if he were something more than a man. . |
remember his face yet; but whence he came, and whither he
went, I know not—nobody knows. I have often thought he might
have been old Holger Danske himself, who had swum down from
the Kronenburg, and aided us in the hour of danger: that was
my idea, and there stands his picture.”

And the statue threw its great shadow up against the wall, and
even over part of the ceiling; it looked as though the real Holger
Danske were standing behind it, for the shadow moved, but this
might have been because the flame of the candle did not burn
steadily. And the daughter-in-law kissed the old grandfather,
and led him to the great arm-chair by the table; and she and her
husband, who was the son of the old man, and father of the little
boy in the bed, sat and ate their supper; and the grandfather
spoke of the Danish lions and of the Danish hearts, of strength
and of gentleness; and quite clearly did he explain that there
was another strength besides the power that lies in the sword;
and he pointed to the shelf on which were the old books, where
stood the plays of Holberg, which had been read so often, for
they were very amusing; one could almost fancy one recognized
the people of by-gone days in them.

“See, he knew how to strike too,” said the grandfather : “he
scourged the foolishness and prejudice of the people so long as he
could”—and the grandfather nodded at the mirror, above which
stood the calendar, with the “ Round Tower”+ on it, and said
“Tycho Brahe was also one who used the sword, not to cut into
flesh and bone, but to build up a plainer way among all the stars

* On the 2nd of April, r80r, occurred the sanguinary naval battle between the Danes

and the English, under Sir Hyde Parker and Nelson.
+ The astronomical observatory at Copenhagen,