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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 !’