Little Greta of Denmark Part 12

When they crossed the last bridge and pa.s.sed through the last gateway into the inner courtyard of Kronborg, Greta stopped in surprise. "Oh, Anna, it's so large and so beautiful." Then, just to show that she wasn't really afraid of climbing, she asked, "Tante Elsie, do you suppose we could climb to the top of one of the towers?"

"Yes, I think so."

From the little balcony on the tower they looked out over the ocean.

"Is that an island across the water?" asked Greta.

"Oh, no, Greta. That is Sweden, only three miles away. In the olden days, Kronborg was a fortress that guarded the entrance to the Baltic Sea. All the s.h.i.+ps that came from the North Sea into the Kattegat and then into the Baltic had to pa.s.s this point of land, and every s.h.i.+p that went by here had to pay money to Denmark. Up here in this very tower there were guards who watched all the s.h.i.+ps to see that every one stopped and paid for the privilege of going past this point. In those days, Kronborg was the most important castle in Denmark."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE MOAT AROUND KRONBORG]

"Don't they have to pay this money now?"

"No. About a hundred years ago Denmark stopped asking for this payment.

s.h.i.+ps that are going to the Baltic Sea can now go through the Kiel Ca.n.a.l in Germany, instead of going all the way around Denmark," explained Anna's mother.

As they walked down the narrow, winding stairs, Anna suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, Mother, we forgot to tell Greta why Kronborg is still an important castle."

"Maybe she already knows."

"No, I don't. Please tell me, Anna."

"According to an old, old story, Holger the Dane sleeps in the dungeon that is deep below this tower. If Denmark is ever in trouble of any kind, he will awake and come to her rescue."

"I've heard of Holger the Dane, of course," said Greta, "but I thought he was just an imaginary person."

"He's no more imaginary than a Nisse," said Anna, with a twinkle in her eye.

Greta hated to leave Kronborg, but when Anna told her that they were going to see even finer castles than this one, she was willing to go.

After driving about fifteen miles, they turned off the main road and drove down a long avenue of beech trees. At the end of this avenue there was a large white building, with a four-cornered tower rising from the center.

"This is Fredensborg Palace, where the King and Queen live in the autumn," said Anna. "The King comes here for the hunting season."

"Can we go inside this palace?" asked Greta. "I would love to see the Queen's own room."

"Of course you would, little Margrete," said Tante Elsie. "We will ask the guide to show us the Queen's apartments."

It seemed to Greta that the guide took them through miles and miles of rooms. Even then, he showed them only a part of the two hundred and seventy rooms. The palace was much larger than it looked from the front, for it was very long.

"Surely this isn't the _Queen's_ room," said Greta, as she stood in the doorway of the large, sunny bedroom.

"Why not, Greta?" asked Anna in surprise.

"Why, I thought it would be a very grand room, with furniture of gold."

Tante Elsie laughed. "Oh, Greta, you forget that the King and Queen of Denmark are people of simple tastes. This is a beautiful room, and it shows that the Queen likes lovely things. But it also shows that she does not spend money just to make a grand display."

"Perhaps the young lady would like to see the ballroom," said the guide.

"I think she will find that it is all that she imagined and really fit for a queen."

[Ill.u.s.tration: FREDERIKSBORG CASTLE]

He led them through several drawing-rooms and then into the ballroom. It was a large, square room, with windows clear up to the ceiling. The walls and ceiling were light blue, so that it seemed as if the room were open to the sky.

"This is what I always thought a royal palace would be like," said Greta in deep contentment.

"The ceiling of this room is eighty-one feet high," explained the guide.

"It forms the tower in the middle of the palace."

Greta didn't want to leave this lovely room. She was fascinated by the pictures painted on the walls, the gorgeous hangings at the windows, and the large groups of gla.s.s candlesticks that hung from the ceiling and sparkled like icicles as the sun shone on them.

"Do you want to see the Queen's crown?" asked Anna, as they reluctantly left the beautiful ballroom.

"The Queen's crown?" said Greta. "The Queen is in Copenhagen now; surely her crown wouldn't be here at Fredensborg."

"She has a crown here, too. It is really lovelier than the one she wears at court," said Anna.

When they came to the garden behind the palace, Greta saw what Anna meant. In the middle of the sloping green lawn there was a huge bed of pansies, arranged in the shape of a crown. In the lower part of the crown the pansies were all purple, and in the upper part they were all gold.

"You are right, Anna. This is prettier than any crown of real gold."

"Come, girls. We must be on our way now," said Anna's mother. "We have a long ride ahead of us."

"Are we going to see _another_ castle?" asked Greta.

"Yes, the finest one of all."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE COURTYARD OF FREDERIKSBORG]

After a short drive through a large forest of beech trees, they came to Frederiksborg Castle. It was built on three small islands in the center of a lake. The castle itself was so large that it covered the islands completely and seemed to rise up out of the water itself. When King Frederick built the first castle here, nearly four hundred years ago, he purposely chose these islands in the center of a lake because they were the safest place for a castle. Enemies could not easily reach it here.

When this old, old castle was destroyed by fire, a much finer one was built on the islands.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FREDENSBORG PALACE]

As they crossed the bridge to the main part of the castle, Greta saw two women entering the main doorway.

"Look, Anna," she said in great excitement. "Isn't that Princess Ingrid and Princess Louise going into the castle right this minute?"

When Anna looked, the women had disappeared. Greta was now more eager than ever to visit the castle. Maybe she would see her beloved Princess Ingrid again. Would the Princess remember the little girl who had found her handkerchief on the stairs of the Marble Church? Greta wondered. She was anxious to go inside, but Anna stopped in the courtyard to listen to the chimes on the castle tower. Every hour of the day the ringing chimes played a different tune.

"Let's see the Knights' Hall first," suggested Anna, when they went inside.

Greta wanted to say, "Let's follow Princess Ingrid," but she didn't know which way the Princess had gone. So she followed Anna without a word.

The Knights' Hall was the largest room Greta had ever seen. The walls were covered with hangings whose colored threads were woven in such a way as to show scenes from Danish history. Greta thought she would like to study history if she could learn it from pictures like these instead of from textbooks. While she was looking at one of the hangings in a far corner of the room, Anna grabbed her arm.

"There they go, Greta. Don't you want to follow them?"

Then Greta remembered that Princess Ingrid was here in the castle. How could she have forgotten? She and Anna and Tante Elsie left the Knights'

Hall and entered the long series of drawing-rooms that filled one wing of Frederiksborg. Greta scarcely looked at the paintings that hung on every wall. She wanted to see a real live princess, not a painted lady in a golden frame. They walked slowly through room after room, but not a glimpse of the Princess did they get.