Denmark | Page 7

race. Being sent to the University of Copenhagen, he chose to study Icelandic in order to read the ancient sagas, English to read Shakespeare, and German to read Goethe. This studious youth was most patriotic, and the poetry of his country appealed to him especially. ?ehlenschl?ger's (a Danish poet) works fired his poetical imagination.
Grundtvig's poems were for the people, the beloved Jutland moors and Nature generally his theme. His songs and poems are loved by the peasants, and used at all their festivals. He wrote songs "that would make bare legs skip at sound of them," and, "like a bird in the greenwood, he would sing for the country-folk." So successfully did he write these folk-songs, that "bare legs" do skip at the sound of them even to-day at every festivity. He was an educational enthusiast, and his high-schools are peculiar to Denmark. It is owing to these that the country possesses such a splendid band of peasant farmers. Being a priest, he was given the honorary title of Bishop, and founded a sect called "Grundtvigianere."
This noble man died in 1872, over ninety years of age, working and preaching till the last, his deep-set eyes, flowing white hair and beard, making him look like Moses of old.
Adam ?ehlenschl?ger, the greatest Danish dramatist and poet, was a Professor at the University of Copenhagen, and a marvellously gifted man. He developed and gave character to Danish literature, and is known as the "Goethe of the North." Some of his finest tragedies have been translated into English. These have a distinctly northern ring about them, dealing as they do with the legends and sagas of the Scandinavian people. These tragedies of the mythical heroes of Scandinavia, the history of their race, and, indeed, all the works of this king of northern poets, are greatly loved by all Scandinavians. Every young Dane delights in ?ehlenschl?ger as we do in Shakespeare, and by reading his works the youths of Denmark lay the foundation of their education in poetry. This bard was crowned Laureate in Lund (Sweden) by the greatest of Swedish poets, Esaias Tegner, 1829. Buried by his own request at his birth-place, Frederiksberg, two Danish miles (which means eight English miles) from Copenhagen, his loving countrymen insisted on carrying him the whole distance, so great was their admiration for this King of dramatists.
Niels Ryberg Finsen, whose name I am sure you have heard because his scientific research gave us the "light-cure"--which has been established at the London Hospital by our Queen Alexandra, who generously gave the costly apparatus required for the cure in order to benefit afflicted English people--was born at Thorshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands. These islands are under Denmark, and lie north of the Shetlands. His father was magistrate there. His parents were Icelanders. At twelve years of age Niels was sent to school in Denmark, and after a few years at the Grammar School of Herlufholm, he returned to his parents, who were now stationed in their native town, Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland. Niels continued his studies there, and when old enough returned to Denmark to commence his medical work at the University of Copenhagen.
Hitherto he had shown no particular aptitude, but in his medical work he soon distinguished himself, and his skill gained him a place in the laboratory. He now began to study the effect of light as a curative remedy. All his life Finsen thought the sunlight the most beautiful thing in the world--perhaps because he saw so little of it in his childhood. He had watched its wonderful effect on all living things, being much impressed by the transformation caused in nature by the warm life-giving rays. With observations on lizards, which he found charmingly responsive to sun effects, he accidentally made his discovery, and gave to the world this famous remedy for diseases of the skin, which has relieved thousands of sufferers of all nations.
CHAPTER V
LEGENDARY LORE AND FOLK DANCES
The legend of Holger Danske, who is to be Denmark's deliverer when heavy troubles come upon her, is one which has its counterpart in other countries, resembling that of our own King Arthur and the German Frederick Barbarossa. When Denmark's necessity demands, Holger Danske will come to her aid; till then he sits "in the deep dark cellar of Kronborg Castle, into which none may enter. He is clad in iron and steel, and rests his head on his strong arms; his long beard hangs down upon the marble table, into which it has become firmly rooted; he sleeps and dreams. But in his dreams he sees all that happens in Denmark. On each Christmas Eve an angel comes to him and tells him all he has dreamed is true, and that he may sleep again in peace, as Denmark is not yet in