Chapter XV: Copenhagen

COPENHAGEN.--THE STORY OF ANCIENT DENMARK.--THE ROYAL FAMILY.--STORY
OF A KING WHO WAS OUT INTO A BAG.

On the Denmark Night Mr. Beal gave a short introductory talk on Copenhagen, and several of the boys related stories by Hans Christian Andersen. Master Lewis gave some account of the early history of Denmark and of the present Royal Family; and Herman Reed related an odd story of one of the early kings of Denmark.

* * * * *

"Copenhagen, or the Merchants' Haven, the capital of the island kingdom of Denmark, rises out of the coast of Zealand, and breaks the loneliness and monotony of a long coast line. It was a beautiful vision as we approached it in the summer evening hours of the high latitude,--evening only to us, for the sun was still high above the horizon. The spire of the Church of Our Saviour--three hundred feet high--appeared to stand against the sky. Palaces seemed to lift themselves above the sea as we steamed slowly towards the great historic city of the North.

"The entrance to the harbor is narrow but deep. The harbor itself is full of ships; Copenhagen is the station of the Danish navy.

"We passed very slowly through the water streets among the ships of the harbor,--for water streets they seemed,--and after a tedious landing, were driven through the crooked streets of a strange old town to a quiet hotel where some English friends we had met on the Continent were stopping.

"The city is little larger than Providence, Rhode Island. Its public buildings are superb. It is an intellectual city, and its libraries are the finest of Europe.

"It is divided into two parts, the old town and the new. In the new part are broad streets and fine squares.

"We visited the Rosenborg Palace, the old residence of the Danish kings;--it is only a show palace now. In the church we saw Thorwaldsen's statues of the Twelve Apostles, regarded as the finest of his works.

THE STORY OF ANCIENT DENMARK.

It is a strange, wild romance, the early history of the nations of
the North.

The Greeks and Romans knew but little about the Scandinavians. They
knew that there was a people in the regions from which came the
north winds. The north wind was very cold. Was there a region beyond
the north wind? If so, how lovely it must be, where the cold winds
never blow. They fancied that there was such a region. They called
the inhabitants Hyperboreans, or the people beyond the north wind.
They imagined also that in this region of eternal summer men did not
die. If one of the Hyperboreans became tired of earth, he had to
kill himself by leaping from a cliff.

The Northmen, or the inhabitants of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden,
were of the same origin as the tribes that peopled Germany, and that
came from the East, probably from the borders of the Black Sea. They
were fire-worshippers, and their chief god was Odin.

Denmark means _a land of dark woods_. In ancient times it was
probably covered with sombre firs. One of its early kings was Dan
the Famous. His descendants were called Danes.

Many ages after the reign of this king, the land was filled with
peace and plenty. It was the Golden Age of the North. Frode the
Peaceful was king in the Golden Age. He ruled over all lands from
Russia to the Rhine, and over two hundred and twenty kingdoms of two
hundred and twenty subjugated kings. There was no wrong, nor want,
nor thieves, nor beggars in the Golden Age. This happy period of
Northern history was at that age of the world when Christ was born.

According to the Scalds, the god Odin used to appear to men. He
appeared the last time at the battle of Bravalla, a contest in which
the Frisians, Wends, Finns, Lapps, Danes, Saxons, Jutes, Goths, and
Swedes all were engaged. The dead were so thick on the field, after
this battle, that their bodies reached to the axle-wheels of the
chariots of the victors. At the time of this battle Christianity was
being proclaimed in England. It was approaching the North. With the
battle of Bravalla the mythic age of Denmark and the North comes to
an end.

I have told you something of Louis le Debonnaire, who went to die on
a rock in the Rhine, that the waters might lull him to his eternal
repose. He was a missionary king, and he desired nothing so much as
the conversion of the world to Christ. He was the son of
Charlemagne. "It is nobler to convert souls than conquer kingdoms"
was his declaration of purpose. He sent missionary apostles to the
North to convert Denmark. His missions at first were failures, but
in the end they resulted in giving all the Northern crowns to
Christ's kingdom, that Louis loved more than his own.

The Danes in the Middle Ages became famous sea-kings. Before
England, Denmark ruled the sea. One stormy day in December Gorm the
Old appeared before Paris with seven hundred barks. He compelled the
French king to sue for peace.

The sea-kings conquered England. Canute the Dane was king of all the
regions of the northwest of Europe. His kingdom embraced Denmark,
England, Sweden, Norway, Scotland, and Cumberland. Such is the
second wonderful period of Denmark's history.

THE ROYAL FAMILY OF DENMARK.

Royal people, as well as "self-made men," often undergo remarkable
changes of fortune. No one, however high or low, is free from the
accidents of this world. All men have surprises, either good or bad,
in store for them.

Few families have experienced a more striking change in position
than the present royal house of the little northern kingdom of
Denmark. Twenty years ago, the present king, Christian IX., was a
rather poor and obscure gentleman, of princely rank, to be sure,
residing quietly in Copenhagen, and bringing up his fine family of
boys and girls in a very domestic and economical fashion. He was
only a remote cousin of Frederick VII., the reigning monarch, and he
seemed little likely to come to the throne.

But death somewhat suddenly prepared the way for him, so that when
old Frederick died, in 1863, Christian found himself king.

This, however, was but the beginning of the fortunes of this once
modest and little-known household. Just before Christian came to the
throne, his eldest daughter, Alexandra, a beautiful and an amiable
girl, attracted the attention of the Prince of Wales. The prince
became attached to her, and in due time married her.

About the same time, Christian's second son, George, was chosen King
of Greece, and was crowned at Athens, and is still reigning there.

After three years had passed, the second daughter, Maria Dagmar,
who, like her sister Alexandra, was a very lovely and attractive
girl, was married to the Czarowitch Alexander of Russia, after
having been betrothed to his elder brother Nicholas, who died. She
is now Empress of Russia.

Somewhat later, the eldest son of the Danish king married the only
daughter of Oscar II., King of Sweden and Norway, thus forming a new
link of national friendship between the three Scandinavian nations.

It is thus quite possible that in the not distant future no less
than four of King Christian's children, who were brought up with
little more expectation than that of living respectably and wedding
into Danish noble families, will occupy thrones in Europe. It may
happen that the two daughters will share two of the greatest of
those thrones,--that one will be Queen of England; the other is
Empress of Russia,--while the two sons will be respectively King of
Denmark and King of Greece.

This great good fortune, in a worldly point of view, which has come
to the Danish royal family, cannot certainly be attributed solely,
or even mainly, to luck or chance. It has been, after all, chiefly
its virtues which have won it such a high position in Europe. The
good breeding and excellent character of the king's children have
won for them the prominence they now hold; for the daughters are as
womanly and virtuous as they are physically attractive, and the sons
are models of manly bearing and irreproachable habits.

THE STORY OF A KING WHO WAS PUT INTO A BAG.

"His realm was once a cradle, and now it is a coffin," might be said
of the most powerful monarch that ever lived. Kings are but human,
and they are pitiable objects indeed when they fall from their high
estate into the power of their enemies. Never did a king present a
more humiliating spectacle in his fall than Valdemar II., called the
Conqueror.

Under the early reign of this king, the Golden Age seemed to have
returned to Denmark. Never was a young monarch more prosperous or
glorious in so narrow a kingdom.

His empire grew. He annexed Pomerania. He wrested from the German
Empire all the territories in their possession north of the Elbe and
Elde, and he finally became the master of Northern Germany.

He was a champion of the Church. A papal bull conceded to him the
sovereignty of all the people he might convert, and he entered the
field against the pagans of Esthonia, with an army of 60,000 men,
and 1,400 ships! He baptized the conquered with kingly pomp and
pride.

His reign was now most splendid. Denmark was supreme in Scandinavia
and Northern Germany. The Pope revered the Danish power, and the
world feared it.

But secret foes are often more dangerous than open enemies. The
conquered princes of Germany hated him, and planned his downfall.

Among these was the Count-Duke of Schwerin. He pretended great
respect and affection for Valdemar. He laid many snares for the
king's ruin, but they failed. He was called "Black Henry" in his own
country on account of his dark face and evil nature, and Valdemar
had been warned against him as a false friend.

But he was warm, obsequious, and fascinating to the king, and the
king liked him.

In the spring of 1233 Valdemar invited him to hunt with him in the
woods of Lyo.

"Tell the king I am disabled and cannot leave my couch," said the
artful count, who now thought of a way to accomplish his
long-cherished purpose.

He left his couch at once, and sent his spies to shadow the king.

The king landed at Lyo with only a few attendants.

One night the king was sleeping in the woods of Lyo in a rude,
unguarded tent. His son was by his side.

They were awaked from slumber by an assault from unknown foes, and a
sense of suffocation.

What had happened? The king could not move his arms; his head
seemed enveloped in cloth. He could not see; his voice was stifled.
He _felt_ himself carried away.

Black Henry had entered the tent with his confidants, and had put
the King of the North and his son into two bags, and tied them up,
and was now hurrying away with them to the river.

Black Henry laid his two captives in the bottom of a boat like two
logs, and hoisted sail; and Valdemar, whose kingdom was now only a
bag, was blown away towards the German coast.

He was thrown into prison, and there lived in darkness and neglect.
The Pope ordered his release, but it was not heeded. The Danes tried
to rescue him, but were defeated.

He was at last set free on the agreement that he should pay a large
ransom. He returned to his kingdom, but found his territory reduced
to its old narrow limits. His glory was gone. His empire had been
the North; it had also been a bag; and at last it was a coffin. Poor
old man! His last years were peaceful, and in them he served Denmark
well.