Produced by Jim Adcock from images obtained from the Internet Archive.
A DANISH PARSONAGE
BY
AN ANGLER
LONDON
KEGAN PAUL, TRENCH & CO., 1, PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1884
(The rights of translation and of reproduction are reserved.)
CONTENTS
CHAPTER I.
Introductory
CHAPTER II.
The Danish Parsonage--Trout fishing on the Gudenaa
CHAPTER III.
Rosendal
CHAPTER IV.
The Danish Church--The clerical party in Denmark
CHAPTER V.
Danish parishioners--The piano--English and Danish horses
CHAPTER VI.
Pike, perch, and eel fishing--A silver wedding at a Danish
proprietor's
CHAPTER VII.
Danish horse-breeding--A fatal accident
CHAPTER VIII.
The superstition of the Huldr--The tradition of Gefion--Of
Churches--The legend of the sunken mansion--Of the boar Limgrim
CHAPTER IX.
Kaempehoie or tumuli--Hidden treasure--Ghosts--Spectral
Huntsmen--Witches--Gypsies--The book of Cyprianus--Nissen--Elle folk
CHAPTER X.
The purchase of Rosendal--Pike fishing--Karl Lindal rides the English
horse
CHAPTER XI.
The legend of the Damhest--The Helhest--The Kirkelam--The
Gravso--Burying alive to propitiate supernatural power--Traditions of
robbers--The Basilisk--The Lindorm--Lygtemaend
CHAPTER XII.
Horse racing in Denmark--A horse race
CHAPTER XIII.
Trout fishing in hot weather--Danish ladies riding--A practical visit
to Rosendal
CHAPTER XIV.
Folketro--Havmaend--Havfruer--The gnome of the elder
tree--Varulv--Marer--Strandvarsler--Kirkegrim
CHAPTER XV.
The Pastor and his daughter--The Scotch landscape gardener--Folkeviser
CHAPTER XVI.
Trout fishing--The legend of the Aamaend--Changelings--Wise men and
wise women--Dvaerge--Tyge Brahe--Herr Eske Brok--The family Rosenkrands
CHAPTER XVII.
A drive through part of Jutland--Silkeborg--Himmelbjerg Traditions of
Holger Danske--Walling sinners up
CHAPTER XVIII.
Horsens--Veile--Legends--The Swedes in Jutland--Hamlet--Abbot Muus--A
found treasure--The priest at Urlev--Koldinghuus
CHAPTER XIX.
Holsted--Folke Eventyr--The story of the priest and his clerk--Of the
queen who was walled up seventeen years--Of the Trold and the
boy--Esbjerg
CHAPTER XX.
In England--Hardy Place--Mrs. Hardy--Correspondence with Denmark
CHAPTER XXI.
Mrs. Hardy visits Denmark--Helga Lindal--The yacht sails for
Copenhagen
CHAPTER XXII.
Yachting from Copenhagen to Christiania--Helga Lindal's Birthday
CHAPTER XXIII.
Christiania to Aarhus--Pastor Lindal and the yacht--John Hardy's
wedding-day is fixed--The Domkirke at Aarhus--Traditions and legends
CHAPTER XXIV.
Pastor Lindal joins the yacht for a cruise amongst the Danish
islands--Samso and traditions--Endelave and the giantess--Odense and
its historical traditions--Nyborg--King Christian and the monkey--The
ghost of Queen Helvig--Maerkedage--Svendborg--St. Jorgen and the
Lindorm--The murdered lady--Weather days
CHAPTER XXV.
Vordingborg--Mariebo and traditions--Legend of Borre
Island--Phanefjord and Gronsund--Legends of Phane and Gron--The
pilgrim stone--Drive to Moen's Klint--The Underjordiske--Margrethe
Skaelvig's wedding-dress--The twenty pigs and Gamle
Erik--Praesto--Stevn's Klint--Hoierup--The termination "rup"
explained--Copenhagen to Aarhus
CHAPTER XXVI.
Pastor Lindal's views as to his parish--His daughter's as to her
wedding-dress--The marriage--John Hardy and his wife's arrival at
Hardy Place--With the Pastor--A daughter-in-law's duty--Pastor
Lindal's strong opinions on the English church system--
ARGUMENT
The Viking, _tenax propositi_, if he planned an expedition, carried it
out, through all obstacles, or died in the attempt.
The descendants, softened in manner and cast of thought by centuries
of time, retain the same singleness of purpose.
There is no other thought of the duty of life except to do it. If self
has to be sacrificed, it is done without reserve.
The result is that there are men and women who are the reflection of
duty, and although this occurs in all lands, yet nowhere does it exist
in greater purity than in the descendants of the Viking.
A DANISH PARSONAGE
CHAPTER I.
"_Piscator_. Oh, sir! doubt not but that Angling is
an art. Is it not an art to deceive a Trout with an artificial
fly?--a Trout that is more sharp-sighted than any Hawk you
have named, and more watchful and timorous than your
high-mettled Merlin is bold. And yet I doubt not to catch a
brace or two to-morrow for a friend's breakfast."
--_The Complete Angler._
John Hardy had lived with his mother at Hardy Place. His father had
died when he was six years of age, and there was consequently a long
minority of fifteen years. The greatest influence in John Hardy's life
was a trout stream that ran winding through an English landscape for
four miles in the Hardys' property. John Hardy fished it as a
schoolboy, and it was the greatest triumph he experienced as a lad, to
catch more trout in it with a fly than the numerous fly-fishers to
whom Mrs. Hardy's kindness gave permission. When college days came,
John Hardy, ever intent on fishing, went to Norway in the vacation
with the checkered result of getting an occasional salmon, and in the
smaller streams on the fjelds a quantity of small trout. The grand
scenery in the fjords, and the kindly nature of the people, led John
Hardy to more remote districts, where sport was better, the fare and
quarters worse, but some acquisition of Scandinavian language a
necessity.
Thus John Hardy not only gradually acquired a knowledge of many
dialects in Scandinavia, but the ability to read and understand the
simpler books in the language. He travelled and fished through Norway
and Sweden, and by degrees learnt, from the necessity of speaking it,
more and more of the Danish language, the language of Scandinavia, as
English relatively is to broad Scotch. This naturally led to his going
to Denmark, and his travelling through Jutland and the Danish islands.
In Jutland he accidentally fished in a West Jutland river, and to his
surprise found the difficult but good fishing that his heart longed
for.
John Hardy returned home, and was at Hardy Place with his mother the
whole winter, and then, as April came round with the fishing season,
John became restless, and told his mother of his Danish fishing
experiences, and left for Copenhagen. His mother said, "Write me once
a week, John, and bring me home a Scandinavian princess for your
wife." John Hardy promised to write, but said he thought Scandinavian
princesses did not rise to a fly. His mother's face grew grave, and
she said, "You should marry soon, John; you are twenty-eight, and I
want to see you married to a wife to whom you can trust Hardy Place
and the care of your mother in her old age."
"I can find no one yet, dear mother," said John Hardy. "I cannot bear
you should have any one at Hardy Place you did not only like but
love."
"Bless you, John," said his mother. "I trust in your love; and I know
some men are such gentlemen, and so was your father, and so are you,
John."
So Hardy left for Copenhagen by the English steamer from Hull to St.
Petersburg, and was landed in the pilot-boat at Elsinore, and went
thence by rail to Copenhagen. On the journey John Hardy thought that
his best course was to get lodgings with a respectable family in
Jutland near the Gudenaa, the little river that embouches in the
Randers fjord and flows through part of Jutland, and is the principal
river in it.
John Hardy had taken from his bankers introductions to persons in
Copenhagen, to whom he had communicated his wishes. The result was an
advertisement in the _Berlinske Tidende_ that an Englishman required
lodgings near the Gudenaa, with an opportunity of being taught the
Danish language. The replies were many and of a very varied character,
as might be anticipated from such an advertisement.
But John Hardy received a reply from a Danish clergyman in Jutland,
which struck his fancy beyond the rest. It was as follows:--
"In reply to the advertisement in the _Berlinske Tidende_ of
yesterday's date, I beg to offer lodgings in my house. It is a small
parsonage in Jutland, and the Gudenaa is near. There is a towing-path
on the banks, and where such exists the fishing is free, consequently
no difficulty will arise as to permission to fish. The fishing is not
particularly good, and if great anticipations exist on this score, I
must say that they will not, in my opinion, be realized. Small fish on
which the trout feed are abundant, as also the cadis worm and fly, and
the trout do not take readily an artificial bait, either fly or
minnow. I cannot, therefore, say that I think many trout can be
caught. There is also much fishing with small nets. I can, however,
teach Danish to an Englishman, although my knowledge of English is
imperfect; but on the other hand, if the advertiser will teach my two
sons, of sixteen and fourteen years of age, English, I should require
no payment from him. I am a widower, with a daughter and the two sons
already named. I can only add that he would be received kindly, and
treated as a member of my family."
The straightforwardness of this communication had its effect on John
Hardy's open character, and he replied that he would accept the
conditions stipulated, but that he could do so only on a payment of a
monthly sum, which he was advised in Copenhagen was a full
compensation, and rather more than would be expected, for the
accommodation and cost that might be incurred by the Danish Pastor.
The reply from the Jutland parsonage was: "The evident consideration
shown by your answer to my letter should be sufficient, but before you
come here will you kindly give me references in Copenhagen, or, if
that be difficult, in England, where I might make inquiry. I am the
Pastor of the parish where I reside, and it is due to my position that
I should make inquiry before I can admit any one to my house under any
circumstances. I do not wish to ask what is not right or reasonable,
but as I am situated it is a necessity, however advantageous your
coming here might be to me."
This reply impressed John Hardy more than the previous communication,
and he replied with the address of a bank in Copenhagen, with
reference to his own bankers in London, for which John Hardy had to
wait a week in Copenhagen. These replies were to the effect that John
Hardy was a gentleman of position and character in England, and that
any amount that might be incurred by him for expenses in Denmark would
at once be paid by the Danish bank.
John Hardy, it must be confessed, would rather have been fishing in
the Gudenaa than waiting for references that would show he was to be
trusted in a Danish household; but he was assured in Copenhagen that
in Jutland an introduction is not only necessary, but that it should
be supported by references, which when once done in a satisfactory
manner, then the natural kindness of the Jutland people would be open
to him. John Hardy's later experiences led him to recognize how true
the advice he received in Copenhagen was in this respect.
He left Copenhagen by the steamer for Aarhus, and went by rail to a
small station on the railway, where the Pastor met him with a
two-horse vehicle, that made the small distance of eight English miles
a journey of nearly three hours. The Pastor was a man of fifty, with a
fresh complexion and a kindly face, and asked many questions of John
Hardy's family and friends, his position in England, his age, the
income from his landed property, and his views and intentions in life.
John Hardy had, however, heard he must expect this, and answered
simply and frankly.
When at length the little Danish parsonage was reached, with its
whitewashed garden wall, with poplar trees and lilac bushes, John
Hardy felt it was a relief to escape the close cross-examination to
which he had been so long subjected, and to see the Pastor's two boys
running out with eager curiosity to inspect the Englishman, and assist
in taking his luggage to the room apportioned to him.
"We shall have dinner shortly," said the Pastor. "Helga is not here to
meet us, and that is a sign that we shall not wait long. Karl and Axel
will show you your room and bring anything you may want, and help you
to unpack your portmanteaus."
John Hardy went to his room--a room with little furniture, but adapted
as a sitting-room or bedroom. The two boys, with the desire that all
boys have to be useful to a guest, assisted in undoing his luggage,
and John Hardy was soon ready to follow them to the little dining-room
of the parsonage.
The table was laid with a little bunch of wild flowers and grasses
here and there, but with little else. The Pastor received Hardy in a
more friendly manner than he had exhibited before, and his daughter
Helga appeared from a door leading from the kitchen, and was
introduced by her father. John Hardy saw a tall woman of twenty, with
fair hair and violet eyes, and bowed. The dinner was borne in by two
women-servants, and Helga signed to John Hardy where he should sit.
There was little conversation at dinner. John Hardy, for his part, was
hungry, and also knew little Danish; but gradually, as the more
substantial dishes disappeared, conversation arose, and John Hardy
turned its direction to the fishing in the Gudenaa.
"Your frank letters to me," said Hardy, "would not lead me to expect
much; but there are trout in the Gudenaa, and it might be that a few
might be caught."
"You will not catch them with a fly, after the English fashion," said
Karl. "An Englishman that came from Randers has been here, and he
caught three only in a whole day."
"I fear Karl is right," said the Pastor. "There is such an abundance
of fish-food in the Gudenaa, that a means of catching them that leaves
no option to the fish is apparently the only successful method."
"That is the very position that interests me," replied Hardy. "The
difficulty is the only pleasure in the sport."
"They fish with the lines set at night, baited with a small fish, and
catch, not only trout, but eels," said Karl. "You might try that. But
they do not catch many."
Helga had brought her father a large porcelain pipe with a long stem,
and the Pastor was smoking slowly and vigorously. Coffee was brought
in, and Helga offered Hardy a large pipe like her father's. This he
declined.
"Do you not smoke?" said the Pastor.
"Yes," replied Hardy; "but we are not accustomed to do so in a lady's
presence in England; and what an English gentleman would do in England
he should do in Denmark."
"Good," said the Pastor, "very good. But it is our custom to smoke.
The practice is habitual with us. Helga, will you speak?"
"I should be sorry you did not smoke, Herr Hardy," said Helga. "My
father likes to have some one smoking at the same time. It will be a
comfort to him."
So John lit a cigar with some misgiving; and he sent Karl up to his
room for a courier-bag, in which he had some fishing-books with
trout-flies. Karl and Axel looked at the English trout-flies with
interest.
"Those feathered things," said Karl, "I have seen used, but they only
catch small trout, and now and then a bleak. I have seen Englishmen
use them here from Randers."
John Hardy selected three flies and put them on a casting-line, and
wound it round his hat, and he said, "Now, will you two boys go with
me to fish at six o'clock to-morrow morning?"
"Yes, that will we," said Karl. "Kirstin will call us, and will have
coffee ready an hour earlier than usual, if you wish it."
"Am I disturbing your house, Herr Pastor," said Hardy, "by suggesting
this to your boys?"
"By no means," said the Pastor. "It is now Thursday, and we shall not
expect you to begin to teach them English until Monday, and the boys
can have a free time until then. We have breakfast at ten to eleven,
and you would have time to fish a little; and Kirstin will give you
some bread and butter and coffee at six."
"There is nothing unusual in this, Herr Hardy," said Froken Helga, in
reply to a look of surprise from Hardy. "It will put us to no
inconvenience."
"That may be," said the Pastor; "but I think you should clearly
understand that you are not likely to catch any trout."
"That," said Hardy, "we must leave to the trout to decide."