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167

Thiele

in his entertaining w ork

Folkesagn”

or

" P o p u la r L eg e n d s:” — " F o r m any ages th e din

of

arm s w as ev ery now and then h eard in the

casem ates u n d er K ronborg. No one knew the cause,

n o r w as th ere a m an in all th e land found bold

enough to descend into them to u n rav el the m ystery .

A t la st a s la v e , w ho had forfeited his life , w as

offered p a rd o n and liberty on condition o f his

en te rin g the dreaded vaults, and bringing in fo rm ation

o f w h a t he th ere should m eet w ith.

H e w en t

dow n, and, com ing to a larg e iron door, w hich, on

kn ocking at, opened o f its own accord, saw b efore

him a deep vaulted cham ber.

F rom the centre

of

th e ro o f h un g a la m p , n early b u rn t o u t; and

b en eath it stood a huge stone ta b le , aro u n d w hich

sa t som e steel-clad w a rrio rs , resting th eir bowed

h e ad s upon th eir crossed arm s. H e who sat a t the

h ead o f the

table thenrose up.

It w as

Holger

Danske

— H olger the

D ane. B u t, as he raised

his h ead from his arm s, b u rst the stone table rig h t

asu n d er, forinto it his

beard had grow n. "G iv e

m e th y h a n d !” said he to the slave.

T he slave

d u rst n o t give him his h a n d ; b u t stretched forth,

in s te a d ,

an iro n b a r ,

w hich H olger grasped so

firm ly , as to leave a deep indent upon it.

A t

length, releasing his hold, he m u tte red : " It is w ell!

I am glad to find th ere still are

men

in D e n m a rk !’