THE KNITTING LESSON
"WON'T mother be surprised, Miss Eklund, when she finds out how fast I
have learned to knit?" said Sigrid.
"Yes, I am sure she will be much pleased," replied Miss Eklund.
Sigrid was very soberly knitting a red worsted square, while her
governess sat near to help her when the little steel needles behaved
badly. It was Sigrid's first piece of knitting, so she was flushed and
eager over her task.
The morning sun poured through the window on a pretty picture.
Against the heavy dark wooden chair, Sigrid's pale gold hair shone
and glistened. It was brushed back very tight and trim, for that is
the way Swedish mothers think little girls should wear their hair.
The two smooth braids were fastened with a broad blue ribbon. Over
her plain dark blue woolen dress, she wore a blue and white checked
gingham apron. Except for the aprons which she always wore, Sigrid's
dresses were much like those of her little American cousin, only they
were very plain and simple. She did not have any rings, or bracelets or
necklaces. That was not because she did not love the pretty trinkets.
Oh, no. But she must wait till she is older.
The nursery where they were sitting was a large comfortable room with
a huge porcelain stove which filled all one corner of the room and
reached way to the ceiling. It was made of shiny green tiles, the
colour of the walls of the room, and down in the front were two large
brass doors, behind which was the fire. This was the only kind of
stove that Sigrid had ever seen, so she never thought that it was queer.
I must not forget to tell you about the odd decoration of the nursery
windows. After the fashion of all Swedish windows, they swung out
from the middle like doors. When the cold winter months came, on went
double windows. Though Sigrid was the healthiest child in the world,
she never knew what it was like to open a window in winter and let the
fresh, pure air blow in, for all around the inside of the frame were
neatly pasted narrow strips of paper. You buy these strips at the store
with mucilage on the back like a postage stamp. In the little narrow
space between the two windows, Sigrid's mother had planted bright green
mosses and gray lichens with tiny red cups. A little wooden house and
several painted wooden men and women were placed in this miniature
park, that kept green all winter. Sigrid liked her window better than
any in the house, for all the others had only the mosses and coloured
berries.
"Before many months, I believe you will be able to knit a pair of
stockings," said Miss Eklund, as she watched her industrious pupil.
"Did you have to make all your stockings when you were a little girl?"
said Sigrid.
"Yes, indeed. I was smaller than you are when I began to learn to knit,
for my father was a poor farmer and there was a large family of us. The
first thing I ever made was a cozy for a coffee-urn, just as you are
doing," said Miss Eklund.
"Oh, tell me what you used to do when you were a little girl. Did you
learn your lessons at home as Anders and I do?" asked Sigrid.
"It was very different when I was your age, for we lived way out in
the country in a big red farmhouse, and our nearest neighbour was two
miles away. We lived in the far north, so that when the winter days
were only a few hours long, I could not go to school, but I learned
a great deal at home. During the long evenings, father and my big
brothers could not see to work on the farm or cut timber, so we would
all sit together in the living-room with its huge open fire. Father
made mother's chairs or a cradle for the baby, or whittled tools for
the farm. Brother Olaf carved wooden platters and spoons with wonderful
animals and figures. Then in the spring-time he would sell these things
in the city markets.
"Mother used to spin and weave our warm clothes, and she taught me how
to do all these things, besides sewing and embroidering. Sometimes,
father would tell us the same old sagas that you children love to hear."
"Did you have to study catechism, too?" Sigrid's rosy face looked
quite solemn at the thought, for every day she had to learn a portion
of the catechism, and also Bible history. She loved the stories of
David and Saul and Daniel in the lions' den, but the catechism! Oh,
that was very, very hard for a little girl!
"All little Swedish girls must learn their catechism, Sigrid, and my
father was even more strict than your good parents," replied Miss
Eklund.
"Elsa's big sister, who went to England last year, says that English
children do not have to learn to knit and sew and embroider just as
they learn their geography and spelling. Why do I have to learn to do
these things, when my father could buy them for me?" asked Sigrid.
Just then, Sigrid dropped a stitch in her knitting, and had to unravel
two rows before Miss Eklund could reply.
"Even though your mother lived in a beautiful house and her father was
very rich, she also learned to knit and sew and crochet. You must know
how to do these things so you will be able to take care of your own
home when you grow up. But it is time for dinner now and I hear your
mother's callers going. Make haste and put your knitting away lest she
see her present."
Every morning, Sigrid had an early breakfast with her brother Erik,
who went to a private school. He was studying very hard to go to the
university at Upsala. Then she must study her lessons and learn many of
the same things which her governess had been taught in the long winter
months on the farm. And after that came her gymnastic exercises every
day, as much a lesson as her reading and spelling.
"Erik," called Sigrid, after dinner, as her brother walked past the
nursery. Though he was only three years older than his sister, he was
a tall, sturdy boy, and Sigrid felt very proud of him. She beckoned him
to a quiet corner where they could whisper unobserved.
"I have a surprise for mother. Miss Eklund has taught me to knit, and
mother does not know yet. If I can get it finished, it is going to be a
cozy for Christmas."
"That's fine," said Erik, "but you wait till I show you something which
I learned to make in my sloyd class at school." Erik glanced around
cautiously. Nobody was in sight, so he drew a carved tray from his
school-bag.
"Oh, it's beautiful!" and Sigrid clapped her hands with glee. "How
could you make it? Why, it is just like an old Viking ship with the
dragon's head peering at you from the prow. And you have made the sides
like the scales of some strange monster. Mother will be so delighted.
"It must be splendid to be a big boy and go to your school," continued
Sigrid. "You do such interesting things. I wish that I could go on a
school journey with my teacher for two or three days and see some of
our wonderful old castles, as you do. Mother says perhaps Miss Eklund
and I may go with her and father when they go through the Göta Canal
to Göteborg, next summer, to visit Aunt Frederika. That will be better
than a school journey."
"But, Sigrid, there are many wonderful things to see right here in our
own beautiful Stockholm," said Erik. "Many school-children come here
every spring with their teachers."
"Sometime you promised you would tell me an old saga about Stockholm
before there was any city here," said Sigrid.
"Oh, you mean about King Agne," said Erik. "Once father pointed out to
me the place where he was supposed to have landed with his ships, so I
always like that story."
"Yes, yes, that is the one. Do tell me," said Sigrid.
Erik loved to tell his little sister these stories that he had often
heard from his mother and father, so he did not need to be urged.
"Many hundred years ago, when the bold Vikings sailed out from our
harbours and conquered far and wide, King Agne ruled in Upsala. Where
our city is to-day, was only a group of green wooded islands with a few
huts. Late in the summer, King Agne came sailing in from the Baltic,
and dropped anchor near the large island, where the king's palace is
to-day."
"Why, I can see that from mother's window," said Sigrid.
"Yes, we are so high up from the water, we can easily see the island.
These old Viking kings often went on voyages of conquest along our
shores. Way off to the east, King Agne had warred against King Froste
of Finland and slain him. Then the victor plundered the country and
sailed over here with much booty. He had taken captive the king's
beautiful daughter Skialf, his son Loge, and many others.
"King Agne was exultant over his victory and he wanted to make the
Princess Skialf his bride. So he said to his henchmen:
"'Let a spacious tent be erected beneath that fine oak-tree on yonder
tongue of land. Then let my swiftest runners carry staffs of invitation
to all the chieftains round about and bid them gather at a royal feast
to celebrate the wedding of King Agne and the fair Princess Skialf.
Command them that they bring a goodly store of meat and drink for the
feast.'"
"Miss Eklund told us about the messengers' staffs when we went
skating, so I know about them," interrupted Sigrid.
"These sticks were burned at one end, with a noose at the other end.
This was a very plain way of telling the chieftains that they would be
hanged and their houses burned, if they neglected to send the message
on to the next chief.
"So a large number gathered in the huge tent which looked out on the
Baltic, where the dragon-prowed ships lay at anchor.
"All this time the poor princess was very unhappy. But she dared not
let the king know her fears. She thought and thought how she could
escape becoming his bride. Finally a plan grew in her mind and she said
to the king:
"'O brave and generous king, I beseech you that, before the royal
wedding feast, you hold a funeral banquet in honour of my noble sire.
My lord, may you give ear to this great favour which a captive maiden
begs for her father.'
"The princess prayed so piteously that the heart of the old Viking was
melted, and he again commanded:
"'Let the two feasts for my slain enemy and for my wedding be
celebrated at the same time.'
"The goodly company gathered around the royal board, and fell to eating
and drinking with great zest. The grave-ale was handed around in a huge
drinking-horn, and the lusty warriors drank so long and so deep that
soon they became boisterous and began to fight among themselves.
"Now the king wore about his neck a long and massive chain of gold. It
was so long that it hung way down on his chest. Many other Viking kings
had worn this royal treasure.
"In the midst of the carousal, the princess whispered to the king:
"'My lord, have a care for your beautiful gold necklace, lest you lose
it during the revels.'
"'Ah, my lovely bride, you are right. What a prudent and careful wife
you will make!' said the king, as he coiled the chain several times
around his neck.
"Ere long, the fiery-hearted warriors were so drunk with ale that sleep
overcame them, and one by one they fell from their places at the table.
As soon as they were soundly slumbering, the princess rose from her
place by the king's side. She and the other captives had only pretended
to drink. She fastened a ship's rope to the coil of gold about the
king's neck and then handed the rope to her brother, who was outside.
"Whist! the men threw the rope over the branch of the huge oak. Up went
the tent into the air, and the king was strangled with his own golden
chain."
"What a horrible story!" said Sigrid with a shudder. "What became of
the princess?"
"Oh, she and the other captives hastened away to the ships and sailed
back to Finland. When the Vikings awoke from their heavy sleep, they
were wild with rage. But there was nothing to do but to bury the king
beneath a great mound of earth, which the waves long since washed away."
"Ugh! I am glad I did not live in those cruel days, aren't you, Erik?"
But Erik shook his head and laughed. "Just think what fun it would be
to sail away in a brave ship, out on the wild ocean where no man had
ever been before. Those old Vikings were as strong as giants and feared
nothing in the world. I must finish studying my lessons now, but I'll
tell you another tale some other time."