Denmark | Page 4

happy day. In the evening the tired
but still joyous throng return home, all the better for the simple and
pleasant outing. No country uses the bicycle more than Denmark, and
Sunday is the day when it is used most. For the people who prefer to
take their dinner at home on Sunday there is the pleasant stroll along
the celebrated Langelinie. This famous promenade, made upon the old
ramparts, overlooks the Sound with its innumerable yachts skimming
over the blue water, and is a delightful place for pedestrians. A walk
round the moat of the Citadel, on the waters of which the children sail
their little boats, is also enjoyable. This Citadel, now used as barracks,
was built by Frederik III. in 1663, and formerly served as a political
prison. Struensee, the notorious Prime Minister, was imprisoned here
and beheaded for treason. A few narrow, picturesque streets
surrounding this fort are all that remain of old Copenhagen.
The art treasures contained in the museums of Copenhagen being
renowned, I must tell you a little about them. Two or three of the
palaces not now required by the Royal Family are used to store some of
these treasures. Rosenborg Castle, built by Christian IV., and in which
he died, contains a collection of family treasures belonging to the
Oldenburg dynasty. This historical collection of these art-loving Kings
is always open to the public. Besides Thorvaldsen's Museum, which
contains the greater portion of his works, there is the Carlsberg
Glyptotek, which contains the most beautiful sculpture of the French
School outside France. The Danish Folk-Museum is another interesting
collection. This illustrates the life and customs of citizens and peasants
from the seventeenth century to the present day, partly by single objects,
and partly by representations of their dwellings. The "Kunstmusæet"
contains a superb collection of pictures, sculpture, engravings, and
national relics. Here a table may be seen which formerly stood in
Christian II.'s prison. History tells how the unhappy King was wont to
pace round this table for hours taking his daily exercise, leaning upon
his hand, which in time ploughed a groove in its hard surface. The
Amalienborg, a fine tessellated square, contains four Royal palaces, in
one of which our Queen Alexandra spent her girlhood. From the
windows of these palaces the daily spectacle of changing the guard is

witnessed by the King and young Princes.
Copenhagen is celebrated for its palaces, its parks, porcelain, statuary,
art-treasures, and last, but not least, its gaiety.
CHAPTER III
HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, THE "FAIRY TALE" OF HIS
LIFE
I suppose the Dane best known to English boys and girls is Hans
Christian Andersen, whose charming fairy-tales are well known and
loved by them all. Most of you, however, know little about his life, but
are interested enough in him, I dare say, to wish to learn more,
especially as the knowledge will give you keener delight--if that is
possible--in reading the works of this "Prince of Story-tellers."
Andersen himself said: "My life has been so wonderful and so like a
fairy-tale, that I think I had a fairy godmother who granted my every
wish, for if I had chosen my own life's way, I could not have chosen
better."
Hans C. Andersen was the son of a poor shoemaker, an only child, born
in Odense, the capital of the Island of Funen. His parents were devoted
to him, and his father, who was of a studious turn of mind, delighted in
teaching his little son and interesting him in Nature. Very early in life
Hans was taken for long Sunday rambles, his father pointing out to him
the beauties of woods and meadows, or enchanting him with stories
from the "Arabian Nights."
At home the evenings were spent in dressing puppets for his favourite
show, or else, sitting on his father's knee, he listened while the latter
read aloud to his mother scenes from Holberg's plays. All day Hans
played with his puppet theatre, and soon began to imagine plays and
characters for the dolls, writing out programmes for them as soon as he
was able. Occasionally his grandmother would come and take the child
to play in the garden of the big house where she lived in the gardener's
lodge. These were red-letter days for little Hans, as he loved his granny

and enjoyed most thoroughly the pleasant garden and pretty flowers.
The boy's first great trouble came when his father caught a fever and
died, leaving his mother without any means of support. To keep the
little home together his mother went out washing for her neighbours,
leaving little Hans to take care of himself. Being left to his own devices,
Hans developed his theatrical tendencies by constructing costumes for
his puppets, and making them perform his plays on the stage of