{"collection":"myth-cosmogony","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_40647/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_40647","id":"gutenberg_40647","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40647","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Adventure","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Mythology, Legends & Folklore","Children -- Denmark -- Juvenile literature"],"text":"LITTLE GRETA OF DENMARK\n\n[Illustration: THE LITTLE MERMAID]\n\n\n\n\n LITTLE GRETA\n OF DENMARK\n\n BY\n\n BERNADINE BAILEY\n\n _Illustrated with Photographs\n Taken by the Author_\n\n GROSSET & DUNLAP\n _Publishers_ NEW YORK\n _by arrangement with the A. Flanagan Company_\n\n\n\n\nCOPYRIGHT, 1939, BY A. FLANAGAN COMPANY\n\nPRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA\n\n _Skarum Molle,\n Vemb, Denmark_\n\n_Dear Mrs. Bailey:_\n\n_Thank you very much for the privilege of reading the manuscript of\nLITTLE GRETA OF DENMARK. You have given a very faithful and realistic\npicture of my country._\n\n_I am extremely happy to know that the children in America will have a\nchance to learn about Denmark through such a book as yours. It will help\nto unite America and Denmark in even stronger bonds of mutual\nunderstanding and friendship._\n\n _Sincerely yours,\n Laurids Villemoes_\n\n_February 1, 1939_\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n PAGE\n\n Chapter I\n A Search Begins 9\n\n Chapter II\n The Search Continues 21\n\n Chapter III\n A Ride down the River 34\n\n Chapter IV\n Excitement in the Forest 50\n\n Chapter V\n The Storks 63\n\n Chapter VI\n Dinner at Vosborg Castle 74\n\n Chapter VII\n A Day at the Shore 88\n\n Chapter VIII\n A Second Visit to Vosborg 106\n\n Chapter IX\n Chouse Seeks the Spotlight 118\n\n Chapter X\n A Day of Happy Surprises 130\n\n Chapter XI\n The Best Surprise of All 147\n\n Chapter XII\n Chouse Is Homesick 165\n\n Chapter XIII\n \"Goodbye\" 186\n\n[Illustration: LITTLE GRETA OF DENMARK]\n\n\n\n\nLITTLE GRETA OF DENMARK\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nA SEARCH BEGINS\n\n\nGreta opened very sleepy eyes and stretched a long, long stretch. Every\nsingle morning, before she got out of bed, she put her arms above her\nhead and stretched as far as she could reach. Greta wanted to grow tall,\nand she thought that maybe if she pulled her arms 'way up and her feet\n'way down, she would grow tall more quickly. Greta had been named after\nthe most famous queen of Denmark, and so she wanted to be tall and\ngraceful, just as that queen had been.\n\nIn about two minutes she jumped out of bed and started to dress. If she\ndressed very fast, she would have time to run out to the barn and see\nthe kittens before breakfast. The kittens were only a week old, and\nGreta loved them every bit as much as their own mother did. Greta lived\non a very large farm, and on the farm was a very large barn. In fact,\nthe barn was about three times as large as the house Greta lived in. The\nbarn was built of red brick and it formed three sides of a square. The\nhouse itself made the other side of the square. It was also built of\nbrick, but it was painted white.\n\nThe horses were kept in one part of the barn, the cows in another part,\nand the pigs in still another part. Then there was one large section\nwhere the hay was kept. When the kittens were born, Greta made a nice\nsoft bed of straw for them in the farthest corner of the barn, where the\npigs and cows and horses could not possibly reach them. Every morning\nshe ran out to see the kittens to be sure that they were all right. She\npicked up each of the four soft, furry little animals and gave it a\nspecial hug before she went off to school. And when she came home from\nschool she played with the kittens until it was time for dinner.\n\nOf course Chouse didn't like this one little bit. Chouse was the\nwire-haired terrier, and he had always been Greta's special pet. In the\nsummer he played with her every minute of the day. But things were very\ndifferent now, since the kittens had come. Greta didn't pay much\nattention to Chouse. The kittens took every minute of her time. Just the\nsame, Chouse was waiting for her this morning outside her bedroom door.\nBreakfast would be ready in five minutes, so Greta ran quickly, with\nChouse barking at her heels. All out of breath, she reached the farthest\ncorner of the barn, where the kittens had their bed of straw.\n\nThen Greta stopped very still. She rubbed her eyes. Surely this was just\na bad dream. The soft bed of straw was empty. No one would have taken\nher kittens, and none of the horses or cows or pigs could reach them.\nWhere in the world could they be? She began to look all over that end of\nthe barn, poking about the straw that covered the floor. There wasn't a\nsign of the soft balls of fur. Two large tears rolled down Greta's face.\nJust then she heard her brother Hans calling.\n\n\"Greta, where are you? Breakfast is all ready and we are waiting for\nyou.\"\n\nThere was such a big lump in the little girl's throat that she could\nhardly answer. Finally she said, \"Here I am, Hans, but my kittens are\ngone.\"\n\n\"Gone? What do you mean?\" Hans had found her by now and he put his arm\naround her shoulder. \"Don't cry, Greta. We'll find them all right. Come\non to breakfast now.\"\n\n[Illustration: GRETA'S HOME]\n\n\"I don't think I can eat anything, Hans. I wish I didn't have to go to\nschool today. I want to look for my kittens.\"\n\n\"I'll help you look for them as soon as we get home from school. Come\non, now. Mother and Father are waiting.\"\n\nSo Greta wiped the tears from her face and went into the house with\nHans. She sat down at the table, but the lump just wouldn't go out of\nher throat, and she could hardly swallow.\n\n\"Remember, Greta, there are only two more days of school, and then you\nwill have all summer to play with the kittens.\" Hans tried his best to\ncheer up his little sister. Hans was fifteen years old, so of course he\ncouldn't possibly be upset over a little thing like the loss of four\nsmall kittens.\n\n\"Maybe Chouse has hidden your kittens, Greta,\" suggested her father.\n\"Day before yesterday I saw him chasing the baby pigs. I punished him\nfor that, but he didn't seem to learn, for yesterday he was chasing the\nbaby chickens and he killed two of them. Now you know we can't have that\nsort of thing going on. I think we had better send Chouse away to some\nother farm.\"\n\nGreta could hardly believe her ears. \"You don't really mean that you\nwould send _Chouse_ away?\"\n\n\"Yes, I mean just that, Greta. We can't have a dog that is destructive.\nAnd if he has hurt your kittens, I don't think you would want to keep\nhim, either.\"\n\nGreta didn't say a word, but a choking feeling came into her throat.\n\n\"Finish your breakfast, Greta, or you will be late for school,\" reminded\nher mother.\n\nGreta went to school in the village, a mile away. When the weather was\ngood, she rode her bicycle. But whether she walked or rode, Chouse\nalways went with her to the door of the school. And he was always\nwaiting for her when school was out in the afternoon.\n\nGreta didn't know her lessons very well that day. Her mind was on Chouse\nand the kittens. She couldn't bear the thought of losing her playmate,\nand yet, if he had hurt the kittens, maybe he ought to be sent away.\nSuddenly she heard the teacher call her name.\n\n\"Greta, what was the Union of Kalmar?\"\n\nGreta's thoughts were far away from Danish history, and it was hard to\nbring them back. Everyone in the room was looking at her. Slowly she\nrose to her feet.\n\n\"The Union of Kalmar took place in 1397, when Norway and Sweden came\nunder the rule of Denmark.\" Gradually it was coming back to her.\n\n\"And who was the ruler of Denmark then?\" asked the teacher. \"You should\nknow that, Greta, better than anyone else in the class.\"\n\nGreta's cheeks flushed a bright pink. How could she have forgotten?\n\n\"Queen Margrete brought about the Union of Kalmar,\" explained Greta.\n\"That is why she was the greatest queen Denmark has ever had.\" The other\nchildren smiled when Greta said this. They all knew that her name was\nreally Margrete and that she had been named for this famous queen of\nlong ago.\n\n[Illustration: HANS, GRETA, AND THE KITTENS]\n\nGreta thought it was the longest day of her life, but school was finally\nover. Chouse was waiting for her at the door when she came out of the\nbuilding. He was such a faithful little playmate, how could she bear to\nsend him away? Well, maybe she wouldn't have to.\n\nShe got on her bicycle and rode home just as fast as her legs could\npedal. Before she went into the house she looked again in the barn to\nsee if the kittens had, in some wonderful way, come back to their bed of\nstraw. But the bed was still empty.\n\nHans helped her search every part of the large barn--where the horses\nwere kept, where the cows were kept, where the pigs were kept, and where\nthe hay was kept. They took sticks and poked around in the hay. At last\nthe children decided that the kittens simply were not in the barn at\nall.\n\n\"Let's go look in the chicken house, Greta,\" suggested Hans.\n\nSo they looked all through the chicken house just as carefully as they\nhad looked in the barn. But still there was no sign of the dear little\nkittens.\n\n\"Oh, Hans, what am I going to do?\" Greta was crying now as if her heart\nwould break. \"Do you think that Chouse has taken them away some place?\"\n\n\"No, I don't think so, Greta. But maybe one of the Nisser has carried\nthem off.\"\n\n\"Oh, Hans, why would a Nisse take my darling kittens?\"\n\n\"Well, if you do something to make a Nisse angry at you, he is bound to\npunish you in some way.\"\n\nThe Nisser are the little fairy folk, or brownies, that live in every\nhome in Denmark. If you are kind to them, they will do something nice\nfor you; but if you hurt them or make them angry, they will punish you.\n\nWhen Greta went to bed that night she pulled the warm feather cover\ntightly around her shoulders. She wasn't exactly afraid of the Nisser,\nbut she felt much better when she was all covered up. It was late in\nJune, but the nights were quite cool. Greta was glad that her mother had\nleft the feather cover on her bed. It was a large, thick cover, but it\nwas light and warm, for it was filled with duck feathers.\n\nSoon Greta fell asleep, and all night long she dreamed that a little\nNisse was sitting on the foot of her bed, saying, \"Greta, do you\n_really_ want your kittens back again?\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTHE SEARCH CONTINUES\n\n\nGreta was up earlier than ever the next morning. Maybe the Nisser had\ndecided not to punish her after all. Maybe the mysterious little\ncreatures would bring her kittens back. So Greta dashed out to the barn\nto look. But the bed of straw was still empty.\n\nAll day long there was sadness in her heart. The other children at\nschool were very gay, for this was the last day of school. There was\nmuch singing and there were many games. There was more singing and games\nand laughter than there were lessons. But Greta was not gay. She kept\nthinking of her lost kittens, and every now and then there was the\nawful fear that she might lose Chouse, too.\n\nShe hurried home from school even faster than the day before. Chouse had\nto run, run, run to keep up with her bicycle. He barked and barked, as\nif he wanted to say, \"Greta, don't go so fast.\" But Greta kept right on\ngoing. Nothing could stop her. She rode right up to the barn door and\nran inside. Maybe the kittens had come back. But no, the bed of straw\nwas empty.\n\nThen Greta remembered that she had not looked in the garden. Maybe the\nkittens were out there playing, and the Nisser hadn't taken them at all.\nJoyously she ran across the courtyard, with Chouse close at her heels.\nChouse thought his little mistress was going to play with him again, as\nshe used to do, so he ran on ahead of her and hid under a peony bush. He\nlay there without making a sound, waiting for Greta to find him. But\nGreta paid no attention to the little wire-haired terrier.\n\n[Illustration: THE ROAD TO SCHOOL]\n\nShe walked slowly up and down the garden paths, looking carefully to the\nright and left. Then she began to look under the rose bushes and the\npeony bushes and the big clumps of iris. After a while Chouse came out\nfrom his hiding place and followed his young mistress all around the\ngarden. It was no use trying to get her to play with him.\n\nIt took a long time for Greta to search the entire garden. Every home in\nDenmark has a flower garden, and this was one of the largest and\nprettiest for miles around. Greta looked under every inch of the thick\nhedge that surrounded the garden. She looked all through the bed of\nmarigolds and the bed of poppies and the bed of tulips. By this time\nChouse seemed to know that she was searching for something and he tried\nto help her. He began poking into all the flower beds himself. While\nthey were in the midst of their search, old Peter, the gardener, came\nalong and stopped to watch them.\n\n\"Chouse, you naughty dog, get out of the flower beds!\" Old Peter was\nangry. He had worked very hard all spring to make the garden beautiful.\nFor many hours he had raked and hoed and watered the flower beds. And\nnow, in ten minutes, this naughty Chouse had undone all his work.\n\n[Illustration: CHOUSE]\n\n\"Oh, Peter, I've lost my kittens and Chouse is helping me look for them.\nPlease don't scold him.\" If Peter complained about Chouse, then her pet\nsurely would be sent away, thought Greta.\n\n\"Lost your kittens, Greta? Well, now, that's too bad. Maybe I can help\nyou find them.\"\n\nSo old Peter took his hoe and he started poking among the flower beds,\ntoo. He poked and he poked, but not a kitten did he find. Greta got down\non her hands and knees and looked and looked, but not a kitten did she\nfind. And Chouse poked and scratched and dug up the earth, but not a\nkitten did he find. The kittens just weren't there.\n\nEvery evening, between nine and ten o'clock, the family gathered in the\nliving room for coffee. This was an old, old custom in Denmark, where\nthe people like coffee better than any other drink. Greta was usually in\nbed by nine o'clock, but since there was no school the next day, her\nmother let her stay up with the rest of the family. Instead of coffee,\nGreta had a bowl of strawberries and cream. They were large, sweet\nberries, fresh from the strawberry patch on the farm. June was the\nstrawberry month in Denmark. They seemed to grow everywhere, and\neveryone ate them, three or four times a day.\n\nGreta said hardly a word all evening. She was afraid to ask her father\nwhat he was going to do with Chouse. Maybe he would forget the whole\nmatter if nothing were said about it. And she didn't mention the\nkittens, for that would bring up the subject of Chouse.\n\nGreta's mother noticed that the little girl was unusually quiet.\n\n\"Greta, how would you like to have Anna come and visit you this summer?\"\nher mother asked.\n\n\"Oh, Mother, that would be wonderful.\" Greta's face was one big smile.\nAnna was her cousin, and she lived in Copenhagen. Four years ago she\nhad spent the summer on the farm with Greta and Hans, and the three\nchildren had had fun together all summer long.\n\n[Illustration: GRETA ON HER BALCONY]\n\n[Illustration: HANS AND CHOUSE]\n\n\"You can write her in the morning and invite her to visit you.\"\n\nGreta ran across the room to her mother and gave her a big hug. \"Oh,\nMother, you are _so_ sweet!\"\n\nGreta's mother smiled. She understood little girls. She knew that Greta\nhad been sad, and she wanted to make her happy.\n\n\"I guess Anna is quite a big girl by now, Greta. Let's see. She must be\nthirteen years old.\"\n\n\"Do you suppose she will act like a young lady? Or will she want to play\nwith me?\"\n\n\"Her mother says she is quite a tomboy, so I'm sure she will want to\nplay with you.\"\n\n\"Shall I ask her to bring her bicycle?\" After her family and her dog and\nher kittens, Greta liked her bicycle better than anything else in the\nworld. She knew that she wouldn't want to leave _her_ bicycle at home if\nshe went away for the summer. So surely Anna would like to bring hers\nalong.\n\n\"She doesn't need to bring her bicycle, Greta,\" said Hans. \"She can use\nmine.\"\n\n\"Yes, I think that will be best, Greta,\" said her mother.\n\n[Illustration: EVERY HOME HAS ITS GARDEN]\n\n\"And I'll let her use my new boat, too,\" added the boy.\n\n\"Why, Hans, you won't let _me_ use your boat.\"\n\n\"But you are only ten, and Anna is thirteen,\" argued Hans.\n\n\"Even if I am only ten, I can paddle a boat.\"\n\n\"Time for bed now, Greta,\" reminded her mother. She didn't want the day\nto end in a quarrel.\n\n\"I'll get up early, Mother, and write Anna the very first thing.\"\n\nGreta kissed her mother and father good night and started to bed. Her\nown little room was just across the hall from the living room. The\ndining room, the living room, and three of the bedrooms were on the\nsecond floor of the house. On the first floor there was the kitchen, the\nmaids' rooms, and the large office for Greta's father. Greta liked her\nlittle room, and she especially liked the balcony that was just outside\nher room. It was a small balcony looking out over the courtyard. It was\nfun to play on this balcony and to pretend that she was an actress\nbowing to a large crowd of people.\n\nJust as she was ready to jump into bed, Greta heard a scratching sound\non her door. It was Chouse, who felt very much neglected because Greta\nhad forgotten to pat him good night. This was the first time she had\nforgotten it, but Chouse hadn't forgotten. So there he was.\n\nGreta hugged him tight. \"Oh, Chouse, I _can't_ let Father send you away.\nWhatever would I do without you? Even if you did hide my kittens, I\ndon't want to lose you. And you _will_ be a good dog, won't you?\"\n\nChouse barked once, which meant \"Yes,\" and Greta hugged him again, just\nfor luck.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nA RIDE DOWN THE RIVER\n\n\nGreta read her letter over carefully to see if all the words were\nspelled right. This is what she had written to Anna:\n\n \"_Dear Anna:_\n\n _I would like to have you come and visit me this summer. I know we\n can have lots of fun. Hans says you may use his bicycle and also\n his boat. That is a real honor, for he won't let me use his boat.\n He says I am too small._\n\n _I had four darling little kittens, but now they are gone and I\n can't find them anywhere. Do you suppose a Nisse took them away?_\n\n _Chouse, my dog, has been very naughty and Father says he may have\n to send him away. I hope he won't, because I like to play with\n Chouse._\n\n _Come as soon as you can. Mother and Father and Hans all send their\n love. So do I._\n\n _Your cousin\n Greta._\"\n\nShe addressed the envelope, writing \"Copenhagen\" in very large letters.\nJust as she was going out of the door, her mother called to her.\n\n\"When you are in the village, Greta, please stop at the bakery and bring\nback some bread. I told Marie to bake an extra loaf today, but she\nforgot it. And we have company coming tonight.\"\n\n\"All right, Mother. I won't forget.\"\n\nAs Greta rode into the village she thought of all the things that she\nand Anna could do that summer. She didn't have to pay much attention to\ncars coming down the gravel road, for there were many more bicycles than\nautomobiles. Chouse ran right along beside her bicycle, but once in a\nwhile, when he saw a rabbit, he would suddenly dart away into the field.\nIn a short time he would come tearing back and soon catch up with Greta.\n\nThe fields were especially beautiful right now. The hay was yellow and\nalmost ready to cut. Greta could see for several miles in every\ndirection, for the land was flat and there were not many trees. In this\npart of Denmark the trees do not grow very large because of the wind\nthat blows all the time, summer and winter. This wind from the North Sea\nnever seems to stop blowing, and it blows so hard that the trees all\nlean to one side, away from the wind. There are scarcely any branches on\nthe side that the wind comes from.\n\nThe farmers are thankful for this wind from the sea, because it keeps\ntheir windmills turning. And from the windmills they get electric power\nto light their houses.\n\nGreta mailed her letter and started back home. She didn't stop to visit\nwith any of her friends in the village, because she was eager to get\nhome and look for her kittens again. She hadn't given up the hope of\nfinding them, though she really didn't know where to look. When more\nthan halfway home, she suddenly remembered the loaf of bread.\n\n\"Come, Chouse. We must go back to the village.\" Chouse had run to the\nside of the road, looking for rabbits again.\n\n[Illustration: A BARBER'S SIGN]\n\nFrom away down the road, Greta could see the sign of the bakery. Shaped\nlike a large pretzel, it hung 'way out in front of the store. Every\nbakery had a sign like this, and many of the other shops had their own\nspecial signs. Each barber shop had a large metal plate hanging out in\nfront. The plate was cut in a deep curve on one side, where it was\nsupposed to fit around a man's neck when he had his hair cut. Of course\nbarbers didn't use plates like this any more, but these signs were\nstill used to mark a barber shop.\n\n[Illustration: A BAKERY SIGN]\n\nWhen Greta got home, Hans was just getting ready to start out in his\nnew boat.\n\n\"Want to come along, Greta?\"\n\n\"Sure I do. Where are you going?\"\n\n\"Oh, just down the river.\" The little river which ran in front of the\nhouse and wound around through the fields seemed like the nicest part of\nthe farm to Hans and Greta. They fished in the river in the summer and\nskated on it in the winter. Hans was proud of his new boat, which was a\nbirthday present from his father. Although he never let Greta go out in\nit alone, he often asked her to go with him.\n\n\"Wait just a minute, Hans. I must take this bread in the house and then\nI'll go with you.\"\n\nChouse was already in the boat when Greta came out. The minute that Hans\nstarted toward the boat, Chouse always jumped in ahead of him. He never\nsat still in it long. He would dash back and forth from the front to\nthe back, and every now and then he tried to jump out, when he saw a\nrabbit running across the field.\n\n[Illustration: CHOUSE LIKED THE BOAT]\n\n\"Are you going to let me paddle, Hans?\" asked Greta.\n\n\"Maybe I will, after while.\"\n\nGreta had to be content with this sort of a promise. She was very happy\njust to be out in this beautiful new boat. By the time they had gone\naround the first bend of the river, Greta began to think of her kittens\nagain.\n\n\"Hans, do you think that a Nisse really did take my kittens away?\"\n\n\"Well, of course, I don't _know_, Greta. But it looks like it.\"\n\n\"I thought you didn't believe in the Nisser, Hans.\"\n\n\"Why, one _has_ to believe in the Nisser. There is just no other way to\nexplain some of the things that happen.\"\n\n\"Do you remember the time my doll disappeared and I couldn't find her\nfor months and months?\"\n\n\"Sure I do. And then all of a sudden she appeared again.\"\n\n\"And you know, Hans, how I had looked simply _everywhere_ for that\ndoll.\"\n\n\"Yes. And then you found her under the bed in your room. That is why I\nsay that you have to believe in the Nisser. There is no other way to\nexplain things like that.\"\n\nWhile they were talking, Chouse had been running back and forth in the\nboat. Suddenly he put his front feet up on the side and started barking.\nHe barked and barked and wagged his tail. He was trying so hard to tell\nthem something.\n\n\"I guess Chouse sees a rabbit. He wants to get out of the boat.\"\n\n\"Let's let him out, Hans, and see what he does.\"\n\nHans quickly turned the boat and paddled over to the shore. Chouse\njumped out before the boat had even touched the bank. In fact, he almost\nfell into the river, he was in such a hurry to get out. Then he ran\nacross the field and was soon out of sight, swallowed up in the field of\nhay.\n\n\"Hans, please let me paddle now.\"\n\n\"Wait until we get around the next bend in the river.\"\n\nHans's boat was still so new that he liked to paddle it himself.\n\n\"Well, all right.\" Greta was disappointed, but she had to be content.\n\nHans pushed the boat away from the shore and paddled down the middle of\nthe river. The river was quite straight here. Greta thought that the\nnext bend was very far away indeed. And it seemed that Hans was\npurposely going just as slowly as he could. Oh, why did he want to tease\nher this way? Greta hoped that her father would get her a boat when she\nwas fifteen years old. But that was a long time off--five whole years.\n\n\"I wonder where Chouse has gone, Hans.\"\n\n\"Oh, he's chasing rabbits all over the field.\"\n\nJust then they heard Chouse bark, but it was a very faint bark, as if he\nwere far away. The children looked and looked, but they couldn't see\nhim anywhere. He barked again, and this time it sounded a little bit\nlouder, but he was still out of sight. As Greta and Hans went on down\nthe river, the barking got louder and louder.\n\n\"Oh, Hans, I see Chouse,\" cried Greta in great excitement.\n\n\"Where is he, Greta?\"\n\n\"He's way down there in front of us, right down by the water near that\ngroup of trees. Hurry, Hans. Let's see why he is barking.\"\n\nHans pushed the boat forward with strong, swift strokes. He knew exactly\nhow to handle his boat, and in no time at all they had reached the group\nof trees that was growing by the edge of the water.\n\n\"Oh, Hans, the kittens! There are the kittens!\" Greta stood right up in\nthe boat. \"Hurry, Hans. One of the kittens is in the river.\"\n\n\"You'd better sit down, Greta, or you'll be in the river yourself.\"\n\nWith one strong stroke of his paddle, Hans drove the boat against the\ngrassy bank. Both children jumped out and ran over to Chouse and the\nkittens. One kitten was lying on the grass, but it looked more like a\nrat than a kitten. Its soft fur was soaking wet. Chouse was working hard\nto pull the other kitten out of the river. Finally he got it up on the\nbank just as Hans rushed up to help with the rescue.\n\n\"Oh, Hans, the poor little things are almost drowned.\" Greta picked up\nthe two mewing kittens and held them close to her, trying to make them\ndry and warm and comfortable.\n\n\"It certainly is lucky that we came along when we did,\" said Hans. \"Or\nrather, it's lucky that Chouse was hunting rabbits along here.\"\n\n[Illustration: SAFE AGAIN]\n\n\"But where are the other two kittens, Hans?\"\n\nHans didn't answer right away. He walked along the shore for a little\ndistance, stopping now and then to look carefully in the water. At one\nplace he got down on his knees and looked. Then he walked back quickly\nto Greta.\n\n\"I'm afraid we shall never find them, Greta. Come on. Let's go home so\nthat we can get these kittens really dry and warm. We must give them\nsome warm milk, for I know they are hungry.\"\n\nAll the way home Greta was very quiet. She took off her sweater and\nwrapped it around the kittens, holding them in her lap. Suddenly she\nlooked up at Hans with a smile.\n\n\"Hans, this certainly proves that Chouse didn't try to do away with the\nkittens, for he was the one who _rescued_ them. Surely Father won't send\nhim away now.\"\n\n\"I don't know, Greta. I saw Chouse chasing the chickens again\nyesterday.\"\n\n\"Did Father see him?\" asked Greta with a worried look.\n\nHans was in a teasing mood and he didn't answer Greta right away.\nFinally he said, with an annoying smile on his face, \"I think I'd better\nnot tell you, Greta.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nEXCITEMENT IN THE FOREST\n\n\n\"Oh, Father, I'm afraid to go any higher.\" Greta clung to her father's\narm in terror. This was the first time she had climbed up the lookout\ntower in the forest, and even now she was only halfway up. It seemed\nsuch a fearfully long way to the top.\n\n\"I just can't go on,\" the little girl pleaded.\n\n\"Why, Greta, for months you've begged to climb up here.\"\n\n\"But I didn't know it was so high.\"\n\n\"You won't be scared if you don't look down at the ground. Just hold\ntightly to my hand and you will be all right. Remember, Greta, a girl\nwho is named after a queen must not be afraid of anything.\"\n\n\"All right, Father, I'll go on.\"\n\n[Illustration: AT THE TOP OF THE TOWER]\n\nIn no time at all they reached the very top of the tower, which stood in\nthe middle of the forest.\n\n\"Why, Father, I can see all of Denmark from here.\"\n\nHer father laughed. \"Not quite all of it, Greta. But you can see all of\nour farm and a good many other farms, too. By the way, Greta, just how\nlarge _is_ Denmark?\"\n\n\"I thought school was over for the summer,\" laughed Greta. \"But I'll\ntell you anyway. Denmark covers exactly 16,574 square miles. Besides\nthat, Denmark owns Greenland and the Faroe Islands. Any more questions,\nteacher?\"\n\n\"Not right away. I'll try to think up a really hard one next time.\"\n\nGreta's father began looking closely at the forest. He was very proud of\nthe rows and rows of sturdy evergreens that covered a hundred acres of\nhis farm. Each year a certain number of trees was cut. Some of them were\nsold, and some of them were used for fuel. But always, every year, new\ntrees were planted to take the place of those that were cut.\n\nGreta was gazing off into the distance, but suddenly her attention was\ncaught by Chouse, who was running along the road that led to the tower.\nIf only her father didn't see him, thought Greta. Not a word had been\nsaid about Chouse for the last two days, and Greta hoped that the whole\nmatter had been forgotten.\n\nWhen Chouse reached the foot of the tower he began barking loudly. He\nhad never climbed the tower and he wasn't as brave as Greta, for he\ndidn't even try. He just kept on barking and barking and barking. Greta\ncalled to him, but he paid no attention. He merely barked more loudly\nthan before. Of course her father heard him.\n\n\"What's that dog up to now, Greta? I guess you'll have to go down and\nsee what he wants. Are you afraid to go down the tower alone?\"\n\n\"No, of course I'm not afraid.\" Greta was glad of the chance to show\nhow brave she really was.\n\nBut when she got down and patted him, Chouse still kept on barking.\nSomething was the matter, but Greta couldn't imagine what it was. Soon\nher father came down, and Greta could see that he was annoyed. Chouse\nrushed up to him and barked, trying so hard to tell him something. The\ndog dashed down the road a short distance and then ran back, barking\nfuriously all the time.\n\n\"I guess we shall have to follow, Greta.\"\n\nWhen Chouse saw that they were following, he stopped barking and was\nquite content. Once in a while he would run on ahead in a great hurry.\nThen he would run back to Greta and her father and bark again.\n\n\"There must be something wrong in the forest,\" said Greta's father. \"I\nhave never seen Chouse so upset.\"\n\n\"You were just up in the tower, Father. If there had been a fire, you\nwould surely have seen it.\"\n\n[Illustration: SOME TREES ARE CUT EACH YEAR]\n\n\"Maybe not, because I was watching the men cutting the trees, trying to\ndecide how many we should cut this year. I hadn't looked over the rest\nof the forest yet.\"\n\nA forest fire is a dreadful thing in this part of the country, where the\nwind from the North Sea blows all day long. It can blow a fire in front\nof it until all the trees are gone. That is why the forests are always\nwatched so carefully.\n\nSuddenly Chouse darted off the main road into a narrow path. Greta and\nher father followed right at his heels, for they knew that the dog was\nleading them somewhere. This was his only way of telling them something\nthat he thought they should know. Soon he turned off to still another\npath. Never for a moment did he hesitate. Chouse knew exactly where he\nwas going.\n\nWhen they came to the very edge of the forest, Chouse dashed around and\njumped up and down in great excitement. At last they had reached the\nplace to which he had been leading them. And no wonder that Chouse was\nso excited, for right in front of them, just a few feet from the line of\ntrees, there was a fire!\n\n\"Oh, Father, will the whole forest burn down?\" asked Greta, as she\nwatched the flames which crackled through the pile of twigs and\nunderbrush.\n\n\"No, Greta. Thanks to Chouse, we got here in time. But if the wind\nshould change suddenly, the whole forest could very easily burn down.\"\n\n\"How did such a fire ever get started?\"\n\n\"I told old Peter to clear out some of the twigs and underbrush,\"\nexplained her father, \"but I also told him that he must never go away\nwhen these piles were burning. He must stay with them every minute.\"\n\n\"I wonder where he is now?\"\n\n\"I don't know. But he should be right here, watching this fire.\"\n\n\"If the wind did change, how would he put out the fire?\"\n\n\"By throwing earth on it, Greta.\"\n\nWhile they were talking, Chouse was standing near by, wagging his tail\nand looking very proud of himself.\n\n[Illustration: IN THE FOREST]\n\n\"Chouse, you are the best dog in the whole wide world,\" said the happy\nlittle girl. \"First you rescued my kittens and now you have saved the\nwhole forest from burning. We couldn't possibly send Chouse away. Could\nwe, Father?\"\n\nHer father didn't answer right away. Finally he said, \"By the way,\nGreta, have you named the kittens yet?\"\n\n\"No, I haven't. I've been trying to think of some very special sort of\nnames, but I just can't think of any.\"\n\n\"Maybe Anna can help you find the right names,\" her father suggested.\n\n\"Of course she can. But I wonder when Anna is coming? I haven't heard\nfrom her yet.\"\n\n\"Why don't you run home and see if you got a letter this morning? I must\nstay here and watch this fire until old Peter comes.\"\n\n\"All right, Father.\"\n\nIt didn't take Greta long to get home. Even Chouse could hardly keep up\nwith her. She hadn't been away from her kittens for this long a time\nsince the day Chouse had rescued them. You would never know now that\nthey had been almost drowned. Their fur was just as soft and fluffy as\nit had ever been.\n\n\"Oh, there you are, Greta. I've been looking everywhere for you.\" Her\nmother greeted her at the door of the house. \"Here is a letter for you\nfrom Anna.\"\n\nGreta read the letter eagerly.\n\n \"_Dear Greta:_\n\n _Thank you for your nice invitation. I shall be very happy to come.\n Can you meet me at the train at Holstebro? I shall arrive next\n Monday at half past two._\n\n _Lovingly yours,\n Anna_\"\n\n\"Another letter came this morning, Greta, and I have a real surprise for\nyou.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE LETTER FROM ANNA]\n\n\"Oh, Mother, what is it?\" Greta's eyes were already dancing with\nhappiness.\n\n\"We are invited to Vosborg for dinner next week.\"\n\n\"You mean the beautiful castle up on the hill,\" asked Greta, \"the one\nthat I have always wanted to visit?\"\n\n\"Yes, dear, that very castle.\"\n\n\"But I thought that Mr. Christianson didn't live there any more?\"\n\n\"He has been away for many years, but now he has come back to live in\nVosborg.\"\n\n\"And you mean that _I_ can go, and Hans, and Anna, too?\"\n\n\"Yes, Greta.\"\n\n\"Oh, _Mother_!\" Greta threw her arms around her mother's neck. \"I must\ntell Hans right away.\" And off she dashed, with Chouse at her heels.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nTHE STORKS\n\n\n\"Greta, I didn't know that you had storks on your farm,\" said Anna.\n\n\"Of course we do,\" said Greta. \"Every farm has a nest of storks.\"\n\nHans and Greta had been showing Anna the garden and the river and all\nthe animals on the farm. Greta herself had almost forgotten about the\nstorks, because she was so used to them. And anyway, they weren't\nanimals you could play with, like the kittens and the dog.\n\n\"They bring us good luck,\" explained Hans. \"Every farmer puts up an old\nwheel, or something else that is round, so the storks can build their\nnest on it. Sometimes he puts it on the roof of the barn and sometimes\non the house.\"\n\n\"Don't you have storks at home, Anna?\" asked Greta.\n\n\"Goodness, no! I don't think there's a stork in all Copenhagen, except\nmaybe in the zoo.\" Anna couldn't take her eyes from the large round nest\non the roof of the barn. \"Do they stay here all the year round?\" she\nasked.\n\n\"It's too cold for them here in the winter. When cold weather comes,\nthey all fly south. Father says that some of them go as far as Africa.\nBut early in the spring they always come back.\"\n\n\"Does the same family of storks come back every year?\" asked Anna.\n\n\"We _think_ it's the same family,\" answered Greta, \"but we're never\nreally sure, for you can't ever get very near the storks.\"\n\nWhile the children had been talking, one of the storks was standing on\none leg on the edge of the nest.\n\n\"That's the papa stork that you see now,\" explained Hans. \"He's away\nmost of the day, gathering food, but every now and then he comes back to\nthe nest to rest. He always stands on one leg, just like that, when he\nrests.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE STORKS]\n\n\"The mama stork has to stay on the nest all the time until the eggs\nhatch,\" said Greta. \"Sometimes she stands up for a little while, but she\nnever flies away.\"\n\n\"I wonder how many eggs there are.\" Anna was more interested in the\nstorks than in anything else on the farm.\n\n\"Only four this year,\" said Hans. \"I climbed up on the roof yesterday to\nfind out. Some years there are five, and sometimes only three.\"\n\n\"My, but you _are_ brave, Hans!\" Anna looked at Hans in admiration.\n\"That roof is terribly steep. I know _I'd_ be afraid to climb it.\"\n\n\"But you are only a girl, Anna,\" teased Hans.\n\n\"Just the same, I can climb as well as a boy. I'll show you.\" And before\nHans could argue, Anna ran over to the house and climbed up the tree to\nGreta's balcony.\n\n\"I'll take it all back, Anna. You really _can_ climb.\" Hans hadn't\nexpected this cousin from the city to be such a tomboy. He would have to\nfind some other way to tease her.\n\n\"When will the baby storks hatch out, Greta?\" Anna couldn't get her mind\noff this fascinating subject.\n\n\"In another week or two, I expect.\"\n\n\"If the Nisser don't take the eggs first,\" said Hans.\n\n\"Oh, Hans, you don't _really_ think they would?\" Greta was upset at the\nvery thought.\n\n\"You know how the kittens disappeared, Greta. The same thing might\nhappen to the baby storks.\" Hans told Anna about the lost kittens and\nhow only two of them were found. \"Greta and I decided that the Nisser\ntook them,\" he finished.\n\n\"Why, Hans, how very silly!\" said Anna. \"Of course the Nisser wouldn't\ndo a thing like that. In fact, I don't believe there is such a thing as\na Nisse anyway.\"\n\nGreta didn't know whether to be shocked or not. There were times when\nshe herself had her doubts about the Nisser, but right now she felt sure\nthat they were the ones who had carried off the kittens.\n\n\"The Nisser don't play pranks all the time, Anna. They do lots of nice\nthings for us, too. Do you see that castle on the hill over there, with\nthe trees all around it?\"\n\nGreta pointed to Vosborg Castle, about a mile away. \"Let me tell you\nwhat the Nisser did _there_ one winter. There was snow five feet deep\nand it lasted for more than a week. No one could get outdoors at all.\nThe cows were in the barn, where they had plenty of food, but there were\nsix new calves in a shed out in the field. Everyone was afraid that they\nwould starve to death, but no one could get out and feed them. When the\nsnow finally melted and the men went out to see the calves, they found\nthem fat and healthy! The Nisser had taken care of them and fed them\nduring the snowstorm.\"\n\n\"So you see there really _are_ Nisser,\" said Hans.\n\nAnna wasn't at all convinced, but she didn't know how to argue against\nproof like this. Finally she asked, \"When did this happen, Hans?\"\n\n[Illustration: ANNA IS A TOMBOY]\n\n\"Oh, a long time ago. A hundred years ago, I guess.\"\n\n\"Then no one can really _prove_ it,\" argued Anna. \"It's just a story\nthat has been told over and over again, like a fairy tale.\" Anna\nbelieved in the things she could _see_, not in the things that people\nimagined they saw.\n\n\"We're going to this castle for dinner on Wednesday evening,\" said Hans.\n\"Then you can ask Mr. Christianson himself. He will certainly know\nwhether or not this really happened.\"\n\n\"We're going to a real castle for dinner?\" asked Anna. \"That will be\nlots of fun. Do you know how many rooms there are in the castle?\"\n\n\"At least fifty,\" answered Hans. \"Greta and I have never been in\nVosborg, for Mr. Christianson has been living in England for a long\ntime. But now he has come back here to live.\"\n\n[Illustration: ON THE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER]\n\nWhile they were talking about the castle, Greta's mother called to Anna.\n\"Wouldn't you like to write your mother, Anna, and tell her that you\narrived safely?\"\n\n\"Oh, yes, Tante [Aunt] Agnes. And I'll tell her that we are going to a\nreal castle for dinner.\" Anna ran into the house in great excitement.\n\n\"Hans, I wonder why Anna doesn't believe in the Nisser,\" said Greta.\n\"_You_ believe in them, don't you?\"\n\n\"Of course I do, Greta.\" Hans was quiet and thoughtful for a minute, and\nthen a merry twinkle came into his eyes. \"Before Anna goes back to\nCopenhagen, _she_ will believe in the Nisser, too.\"\n\n\"What do you mean, Hans?\" Greta knew that her brother had some kind of\nmischief in mind.\n\n\"I mean just that. She will believe in the Nisser just as strongly as\nyou and I believe in them.\"\n\n\"I don't see how you're going to convince her, Hans.\"\n\n\"_I'm_ not going to convince her, Greta. The Nisser themselves will do\nthat.\" Greta begged and begged, but Hans would not explain. \"Just wait\nand you'll find out, Greta.\" And Hans started off toward his boat,\nwhistling to Chouse to come along.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nDINNER AT VOSBORG CASTLE\n\n\n\"The carriage should be here any minute now.\" Greta ran to the window\nagain to look down the road.\n\n\"The carriage!\" said Anna in surprise. \"Are we going to Vosborg in a\n_carriage_, Greta?\"\n\n\"Yes. Mr. Christianson is sending his carriage for us. He doesn't like\nautomobiles, so he still keeps the old coach that has belonged to the\ncastle for a hundred years.\"\n\n\"There it is now, Greta,\" said Hans, who was just as eager to visit the\ncastle as Greta and Anna were.\n\nSoon they were all on their way to Vosborg. Although it stood on a hill,\nyou could hardly see the castle itself, because of the trees all around\nit. After a short ride they reached the castle's outer wall and drove\nthrough the wide entrance, with its high tower that formed an archway.\nThere was a long stretch of level ground inside the wall, before one\ncame to the stone bridge over the moat. The moat was a wide, deep ditch\nfilled with water, which ran all the way around the castle. In the olden\ndays it was an important protection, for enemies could not cross it and\nthus could not reach the castle buildings. Inside the moat there was a\nrampart, or a high ridge of earth, which was also a protection to the\ncastle. Then there was still another wall before one finally reached the\ncastle itself.\n\n\"There has been a castle on this spot for hundreds of years,\" Greta's\nmother told the children as they rode along in the old coach. \"This\nbuilding is only four hundred years old, so you see that it is rather\nnew! The castle that stood here before was destroyed in 1532.\"\n\n[Illustration: MR. CHRISTIANSON'S COACH]\n\n\"Mother, tell Anna about the Englishman who built the tower of Vosborg\nCastle,\" urged Hans.\n\n\"All right, Hans,\" said his mother. \"A long, long time ago, when the\nfirst castle was being built, the owner decided that he wanted a tower\non his castle that would be finer than that of any other castle in\nDenmark. He hunted the country over, but he couldn't find anyone who\ncould build such a grand tower. Finally he heard of a man in England who\ncould do this. So he sent for this man and told him to build a tower on\nVosborg that would be the finest in the land. The Englishman solemnly\npromised that he would do so.\n\n\"It took him three full years to build the tower, for he was determined\nto make it the finest in all Denmark. And it was. When it was done he\nwent to the owner of Vosborg and asked if he were satisfied. The owner\nwas well pleased, and he paid the builder a large sum of money. Long\nbefore this, however, he had decided that he would test the builder and\nthe honesty of his work. So after the Englishman had left the castle and\nwas walking down the road, a servant from Vosborg came running after\nhim, shouting, 'The tower is leaning.'\n\n\"This was to be the test of his work. If he turned around to look at the\ntower, the owner of the castle would know that the builder was not sure\nof his own work. If there were even the smallest doubt in his mind, he\nwould be certain to look around at once. But the English builder was\nvery sure that his work was well done. Not once did he look back. Not\nfor a minute did he pause in his journey. But as he walked on, he said\nto the servant from Vosborg, 'The tower does not lean. Tell your master\nthat I have done my work well; he did not spend his money in vain. He\nhas the finest tower in all Denmark. But also tell him that one day\nVosborg will be destroyed by a man in a blue coat.'\n\n\"The servant told his master. Fear and astonishment ran through the\ncastle like a flame. Who was the mysterious man in the blue coat who\nwould one day destroy the castle? No one knew. No one could even guess.\nThe owner of Vosborg was well liked by all the people. Surely no one\nwould do him harm. The years went by and the castle remained unharmed.\nGradually everyone forgot about the prophecy of the English builder. The\nman in the blue coat was no longer feared.\n\n\"Then one year there was a dreadful storm on the ocean. Never before had\nthe people seen such an angry sea. The waves dashed and pounded against\nthe shore as they had never done before. The water rose like a wall and\nspread over the land for many miles. No one had ever seen a storm like\nthis one. The water pounded against the outer wall of Vosborg. It\ncrumbled and fell. Within a few hours the ocean had rushed in and\nwashed away the rampart around the castle. There was then just one wall\nleft as a protection against the angry sea. It wasn't enough. On the\nsecond day of the storm the waves became even more fierce and violent.\nFinally, that wall crumbled and the whole castle of Vosborg was knocked\ndown by the force of the waves.\n\n[Illustration: THE ENTRANCE TO THE INNER COURTYARD]\n\n\"Thus the prophecy, told many years before, had at last come true. The\nEnglish builder had spoken truly. Vosborg was, as he had predicted,\ndestroyed by a man in a blue coat--the ocean.\"\n\n\"But I thought the ocean was several miles away,\" said Anna in surprise.\n\n\"It is now, Anna, but in those days it was very near. Every few hundred\nyears the shore line changes, due to the rising or falling of the land.\nSo Vosborg is now a mile or more from the ocean.\"\n\nBy this time they had reached the courtyard of the castle. The paving\nstones that covered the ground had long ago been worn to a smooth,\npolished roundness. On three sides of the courtyard there were low,\nwhite buildings. One of these contained the servants' quarters and the\nkitchens. Another contained the huge library of the castle. The third\nwas made up of the stables. On the fourth side of the courtyard stood\nthe imposing, four-story building that made up the main part of the\ncastle. In the center of the courtyard there was a lovely, round pool.\n\n\"Oh, Greta, it's beautiful,\" said the delighted Anna, as she looked all\naround her.\n\nDinner was served in the Knights' Hall, a long, stately room on the\nsecond floor. Tall candles lighted the banquet table and threw\nflickering shadows in the far corners of the room and against the high\nceiling. The walls were covered with brilliant paintings of the knights\nand ladies who had lived at Vosborg in olden days. Now and then, as the\ncandlelight caught the gleam of a bright red waistcoat or the silken\nbeauty of a lady's satin gown, Greta turned suddenly to look at the\nportraits. Once she thought that one of the great ladies of long ago was\nsmiling at her. But when she looked again, the lovely face showed only\nthe calm, quiet beauty of a painting. Had she really smiled? Greta\ncould not be sure.\n\nAfter dinner Mr. Christianson showed them the room that King Frederick\nhad used when he visited Vosborg Castle many years ago.\n\n\"This room used to be the chapel,\" explained Mr. Christianson, \"but it\nhad to be changed for a very amusing reason. The owner of the castle\nused to put his turkeys to roost in the chapel and even left them there\non Sunday. When the minister began to preach, all the turkeys babbled in\nanswer. Of course the whole church service was upset and the minister\ncouldn't go on. He refused to preach at Vosborg any more. When the king\nheard what had happened, he said that there would be no more chapel\nservices at this castle. So the chapel was changed into a bedroom. Many\nyears later a tiny chapel was built outside the castle wall. It is a\nlovely, quiet place of worship. The inside walls are lined with moss,\nand the outer walls are covered with thatch. It is really a little\ntemple in the woods.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE CHAPEL IN THE WOODS]\n\n\"Could we see it, Mr. Christianson?\" asked Anna, as they were going back\nto the drawing-room.\n\n\"I'm afraid it's too dark out there now. But I should be delighted to\nshow it to you if you care to come again, during the daytime.\"\n\n\"Oh, I'd love to. Thank you so--Oh, what's that noise?\" Anna looked at\nGreta, whose face had turned white. She, too, had heard a most unusual\nsound.\n\n\"I didn't hear any noise,\" said Mr. Christianson.\n\n\"It sounded like heavy wooden wheels,\" said Greta, who looked quite\nscared.\n\n\"It couldn't be that, Greta,\" said Hans. \"No one has come into the\ncourtyard.\"\n\n\"But I heard them _inside_ the castle,\" insisted Greta.\n\n\"Oh, of course. I had forgotten.\" Then Mr. Christianson explained. \"A\nlong time ago, when this castle was first built, the entrance to the\ncourtyard was in the center of this building, instead of at the side, as\nit is now. In fact, this drawing-room was built where the entrance used\nto be. Up to the very day of his death, the old coachman never approved\nof this change. So every evening, about this time, he drives his coach\nand four over the old road and through the old entrance. He has to come\nright through this room and that is why you always hear him.\"\n\nThe two girls looked at Mr. Christianson in wonder.\n\n\"You mean his _ghost_ drives through here every evening?\" asked Greta.\n\n\"Yes, Greta.\"\n\n\"But I didn't think there were any _real_ ghosts,\" said Anna.\n\n\"I don't know, my dear. No one has ever _seen_ him, but you yourself\nheard the rumble of the wooden wheels of the coach just now.\"\n\n\"I certainly heard _something_,\" admitted Anna.\n\n\"What else could it be?\" asked Hans, who was delighted to hear Anna\nadmit even this much.\n\nOn the way home from Vosborg, Anna was very quiet. Finally she just had\nto ask, \"Tante Agnes, do _you_ think that was the old coach that we\nheard tonight?\"\n\nHer aunt smiled. \"I don't know, Anna. I think you had better go to\nVosborg again in the daytime. Then you can find out for yourself whether\nor not it has any ghosts.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nA DAY AT THE SHORE\n\n\n\"Why don't you have a windmill on your farm, Uncle Frederick?\" asked\nAnna. \"Every one of these farms has a big windmill.\"\n\nAnna and her uncle and Greta were driving through the country on their\nway to the shore. Greta's father had to make a business trip to a small\ntown on the coast, and he was taking the girls with him. Chouse was\ncomfortably curled up on the back seat.\n\n\"We don't need a windmill, Anna, because we have the river.\"\n\n\"But how can the river take the place of a windmill?\" asked Anna.\n\n[Illustration: THE WINDMILLS PROVIDE ELECTRIC POWER]\n\n\"Greta, haven't you shown Anna the dam in the river?\" asked her father.\n\"This dam causes the water to fall from a great height. The force of the\nwater, as it falls on a large machine, provides the power that is\nturned into electricity. These other farms get their electric power from\nthe windmills. As the great arms are turned by the wind, they provide\npower that is changed, by the machinery, into electricity.\"\n\nAnna had lived in Copenhagen all her life, and everything about the\ncountry was new to her. She liked to watch the men cutting the hay and\npiling it up on the large wagons. On some of the farms the women were\nalso working in the fields. This was the busiest time of year on the\nfarm, and everyone had to help. Children hoed the long rows of cabbages\nand potatoes and beets.\n\nEvery time they drove through a village, Greta and Anna played a game to\nsee who could be first to find the oldest house. Each house had a name\npainted in large letters over the door or near it. This wasn't the name\nof the family; it was the name of the house itself. The year when the\nhouse was built was usually there, too. So each girl tried to be the\nfirst one to find the oldest house. Greta usually found it before Anna,\nbecause Anna saw so many other things that interested her.\n\n[Illustration: MIRRORS ON THE WINDOWS]\n\n\"What are those funny little mirrors in front of the windows, Greta?\"\nAnna pointed to the two small projecting mirrors fastened by an iron\nframe to the window of a small brick house.\n\n\"Oh, the people put those there so that they can sit beside the window\nand see who is coming down the street,\" explained Greta. \"There is one\nmirror facing up the street and one facing down the street. With these\nmirrors they can sit in the house and still see everything that goes\non.\"\n\n\"But they have so many plants and flowers in the windows that I don't\nsee how they can see anything outdoors.\"\n\nEvery home, whether in a village or on a farm, had a large flower\ngarden. And in every home, large or small, there were many plants in the\nwindows, where they could get the sunshine. All Denmark looked like a\nlarge garden, for there were roses, poppies, peonies, iris, pansies,\nor other brilliant flowers wherever one looked.\n\n[Illustration: ALONG THE SHORE OF THE NORTH SEA]\n\n\"Look, Greta, at the two little patches of green grass in the middle of\nthat field of hay. Why in the world did the farmer skip those spots?\"\n\n\"I'll tell you why, Anna,\" said her uncle. \"You will notice that those\nlittle green patches are always on small hills. They are the graves of\nVikings.\"\n\n\"But I thought that the Vikings lived more than a thousand years ago,\"\ninterrupted Anna.\n\n\"Yes, they did. They were a strong, bold race who lived in what is now\nDenmark, Norway, and Sweden. They roamed the sea and conquered many\nother lands. Some of them even went to America, long before the time of\nColumbus. It is against the law for anyone to disturb a Viking grave.\nYou will see many of these little mounds on the farms in this part of\nthe country. The farmers never plant anything on these graves. They\ncarefully plow all around them.\"\n\n\"We must be quite near the ocean now, for there's a lighthouse,\" said\nGreta. \"It would be fun to climb to the top of it. May we, Father?\"\n\n\"Yes, if you want to.\"\n\nIt didn't take Greta and Anna long to climb the narrow, winding stairs.\nFrom the top of the lighthouse they could see for many miles over the\nocean and over the land. Heavy waves beat upon the beach, and even as\nthey looked, the sand hills kept shifting, for the wind from the North\nSea was very strong. Not far away was the harbor, and in its quiet\nwaters some of the fishermen had fastened their sailboats. Near by they\nhad hung up their nets to dry. Each net was carefully spread over a rope\nthat was fastened to stakes in the ground. Other fishing boats, with\nsails full spread, were far out at sea.\n\n[Illustration: THERE ARE MANY BOATS IN THE HARBOR]\n\n\"Anna, do you see those people way down the beach? I wonder what they\nare looking for.\" Greta pointed to two women who were evidently\nsearching for something along the shore.\n\n\"I haven't any idea. Shall we go help them with their search? Look,\nGreta. Your father is motioning to us to come down. I think Chouse wants\nus, too.\"\n\nGreta's father had to go on to the next village, but he told the girls\nthat they could stay here until he came back.\n\n\"Chouse will take good care of you while I'm gone,\" he said, \"that is,\nif he doesn't run off and get into some kind of mischief himself.\"\n\nGreta and Anna were curious about the women they had seen down the\nbeach, so they decided to join them. With Chouse jumping and barking at\ntheir heels, they ran along the water's edge. The tide was coming in,\nand every now and then a large wave almost caught them. As they went\nfarther from the harbor, they found more and more sand dunes: gently\nrolling hills with long blades of grass poking up here and there through\nthe sand. Along this part of the beach there were many summer cottages,\nwith fences around them to keep the sand from covering them completely.\n\n[Illustration: ALMOST EVERY FARM HAS ITS WINDMILL]\n\n\"Have you lost something?\" asked Anna as they came near the two women.\n\"We'll be glad to help you look for it.\"\n\n\"No, we haven't lost anything,\" answered one of the women. \"We thought\nwe might find some amber along the beach.\"\n\n\"Amber?\" asked Greta in surprise. \"I didn't know it was found here.\"\n\n\"Oh, certainly. We have often found some very fine pieces of amber on\nthis very beach.\"\n\n\"Is amber a stone?\" asked Greta. \"Of course I know what it looks like,\nbut what is it made of?\"\n\n\"It has taken thousands of years to form the lovely clear yellow\nmaterial that we call amber,\" explained the second woman. \"It was once\nthe sticky, yellowish fluid given off by the pine trees. As time went\nby, those trees were buried under the ground or under the water. The\nsticky fluid gradually became hard as stone. It is those stone-like\npieces that we sometimes dig up along the beach of the North Sea.\"\n\n[Illustration: CHOUSE LIKES TO PLAY]\n\n\"They are very valuable, aren't they?\" asked Anna.\n\n\"Yes, some of them are. Those that are perfectly clear and have no\nflaws always bring a good price.\"\n\n\"We'll help you look,\" said Greta.\n\nThe two girls began to search for the little yellow lumps that lay\nhidden in the sand. At first it was fun, but after a while they got\ntired. They were just about to quit, when one of the women called out\nhappily, \"Here is a beautiful, large piece. It must weigh a pound.\"\n\nThe others rushed up to look at it. Amber is very light, so it took a\nlarge piece indeed to weigh a pound. After this they began searching\nwith fresh interest. Suddenly Greta found what she thought was a\nbeautiful piece of amber. But when she showed it to the two women they\nsaid it was much too heavy for amber.\n\nGreta got down on her knees and began poking among the stones and\nshells. Every now and then she dug into the sand and poked and looked\nand dug some more. While the girls were busy in this absorbing work,\nChouse ran up and down the beach. No one paid any attention to him. Once\nin a while he ran up to Greta to see if she would play with him. But she\njust pushed him away. \"Run away, Chouse. I'm too busy to play now.\"\n\n[Illustration: FISH NETS SPREAD OUT TO DRY]\n\nWhen Chouse got tired of playing by himself, he lay down on the sand\nnear Greta, watching her every minute. Suddenly he noticed something\nwriggling along the sand not far away. He sat up and looked. Soon the\nwriggling stopped. But Chouse kept on watching this strange object. Then\nhe got up and walked nearer to it, walking ever so quietly and\ncarefully. He simply _must_ see what this strange creature was. Greta\nwasn't paying any attention to Chouse or to the strange object near by.\nShe was too busy looking for amber. Chouse stood without moving,\nwatching the now motionless creature.\n\n\"Oh, Greta, I think I've found a real piece of amber!\" Anna ran across\nthe beach in great excitement. When she was ten feet from Greta she\nstopped in terror. \"Greta!\" she screamed. \"Look out! Run!\"\n\nGreta stood up and looked around, too startled to run. What had\nhappened? Then she saw. Not two feet away lay a green snake, coiled and\nready to strike. Greta knew at once that this was the most poisonous\nsnake in all Denmark. Her father had often warned her about it. But she\nsimply couldn't run. She was so frightened that she had lost the power\nto move. Greta knew that in less than a minute the snake would strike\nher. She knew that she must get away. But she couldn't.\n\nAt that very instant Chouse sprang forward. He had been watching this\ncrawling green creature for many minutes. Now was the time for him to\nact. And he did act. He seized the snake by the neck and quickly carried\nit off to a high sand dune. In less than two minutes the snake was dead.\n\nGreta sank down on the sand and Anna rushed up to her. \"Oh, Greta, are\nyou all right?\"\n\n\"Yes, Anna, I'm all right. But I was so frightened that I couldn't\nmove.\"\n\nChouse came back to Greta and she took him in her lap. \"After this,\nChouse, I think you will have to go with us wherever we go. I am quite\nsure that Father won't send you away.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nA SECOND VISIT TO VOSBORG\n\n\n\"Are you coming with us, Hans?\"\n\n\"Where are you going, Greta?\"\n\n\"Oh, didn't you know? Mr. Christianson has invited Anna and me to visit\nVosborg. He wants to show us the whole castle. I'm sure he would be glad\nto have you come, too.\"\n\n\"Thank you, Greta, but I think I'll go fishing today. Old Peter says\nthey are biting. Come along, Chouse.\" Hans started toward the river.\nChouse had run ahead and was already waiting in the boat.\n\n\"Shall we go on our bicycles, Greta?\" asked Anna, who never walked any\nplace if she could take her bicycle.\n\n\"No, let's walk. It's only a mile; besides, it's way too steep a hill\nto climb on a bicycle.\"\n\nThe girls walked happily down the road, never once looking back. If they\nhad looked back, they would have seen something very strange. Hans had\nstarted down the river, but he suddenly stopped the boat when he reached\nthe first bend. He paddled over near the shore and drew the boat up on\nthe bank. Then he cautiously hid behind a large tree trunk. The strange\nthing was that he didn't take his fishing pole out of the boat. He stood\nbehind the tree for quite a little while, watching Greta and Anna as\nthey hurried along to Vosborg.\n\nWhen the girls were out of sight, Hans called to the dog. \"Come, Chouse.\nIt's time for us to go now.\" They got into the boat again and Hans\npaddled slowly and quietly. But Greta and Anna had reached the turn in\nthe road, so they could not possibly see which way Hans was going.\n\nIn the field outside the castle wall, two storks were walking around on\ntheir long, slender legs. The girls stopped to watch them.\n\n[Illustration: MR. CHRISTIANSON]\n\n\"Oh, Greta, I wish we could get up close to them.\" Anna ran forward. She\nthought the storks couldn't possibly see her. But when she was still\ntwenty feet away they lifted their large wings and rose in the air. Soon\nthey had gone over the tops of the trees and high into the sky. Anna\nwatched them until they were out of sight.\n\n\"What would you like to see first?\" asked Mr. Christianson, when he\ngreeted his two young visitors at the door.\n\nBoth girls spoke at the same time. \"The little chapel,\" said Anna. \"The\nlibrary,\" said Greta.\n\nThey visited the chapel first, and then came back to the castle by way\nof a lovely, shaded path which ran by the side of the moat.\n\n\"Hans Christian Andersen used to walk along here, when he visited\nVosborg,\" said Mr. Christianson. \"He thought up many of his fairy tales\nas he strolled along under these trees. In the library there is a volume\nof his stories that I want to show you. Andersen gave this book to my\ngrandfather, and in the front he has written a little verse about\nVosborg.\"\n\n\"Do you suppose we might climb up in the tower?\" asked Anna, after they\nhad gone all through the garden and had come back into the inner\ncourtyard. Anna was very fond of climbing.\n\n\"Of course you may.\" Mr. Christianson took them up narrow stairs that\nkept going up and up and up. Finally they reached the top. From here\nthey could see the ocean in the distance.\n\n\"This is almost as high as the tower in our forest,\" said Greta.\n\n\"In olden times this tower was very useful,\" explained Mr. Christianson.\n\"From here one could see an enemy when he was still miles away.\"\n\n\"Denmark doesn't have any enemies now, does it?\" asked Anna.\n\n\"No, Denmark is one of the most peaceful countries in the world. It is\nalmost eighty years since we have been at war with any other nation.\"\n\nAfter a while they went down to the library. Mr. Christianson led the\ngirls past rows and rows of books, placed on shelves that reached from\nthe floor to the ceiling. When they came to the farthest corner of the\nroom he stopped and reached for the book of Andersen's Fairy Tales\nwithout even looking.\n\n\"You see, I know just where it is.\" Then a worried look came on his\nface. \"Why, I can't understand this,\" he said. \"This book was here last\nnight, for I showed it to some friends. And now it is gone.\"\n\n\"Maybe someone has borrowed it,\" suggested Greta.\n\n\"That is impossible, for I keep the library locked, and none of the\nservants has the key.\"\n\n\"Maybe you put it back in the wrong place,\" suggested Anna.\n\n\"I'm afraid that is impossible, too. You see I keep this book in a very\nspecial place because I prize it more than any other book that I own. I\nam always careful to put it back in this same spot.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE COURTYARD OF VOSBORG]\n\n\"We'll help you look for it,\" offered Greta. So the three began\nsearching one shelf of books after another.\n\n\"I suppose Hans would say that one of the Nisser had taken it,\" said\nAnna jokingly, when they had gone about halfway through the shelves of\nbooks.\n\n\"I wouldn't be at all surprised if one _had_ taken it,\" answered Greta\nquite seriously.\n\nThey kept on looking for almost an hour. By this time Mr. Christianson\nwas really worried. He finally called in all the servants and asked if\nany of them had been in the library that day. None of them had. The\ndisappearance of the book had become a real mystery.\n\n\"I should hate to lose this book more than any other book in the\nlibrary.\"\n\n\"Let's look once more on the shelf where it's supposed to be,\" said\nAnna.\n\nMr. Christianson laughed. \"But we looked there very carefully when we\nfirst came in.\"\n\nAnna wanted to look there again, so she ran down the long room to the\nspecial shelf.\n\n\"Here it is!\" she shouted. \"Right here on the shelf where it is always\nkept.\"\n\nThe others rushed up at once. \"Well, this _is_ strange,\" said Mr.\nChristianson. \"It wasn't here an hour ago, and no one has been in this\npart of the room since then.\"\n\n\"Except maybe a Nisse,\" said Greta.\n\nIn the front of the book Hans Christian Andersen had written a beautiful\npoem about Vosborg. It was no wonder that Mr. Christianson treasured\nthis book, for Andersen is the most famous writer of all Denmark.\nChildren all over the world love his fairy tales.\n\n\"It's getting late, Greta, and I think we should--\" began Anna and then\nstopped. A long, low moan cut through the stillness of the room. It\nseemed to come from quite near.\n\n\"What--what was that?\" asked Greta.\n\n\"Oh, I suppose that was Lady Margaret,\" explained Mr. Christianson.\n\"About a hundred years ago she was kept a prisoner in this room for many\nyears, and every now and then we hear her moaning.\"\n\n\"Did you ever see her?\" asked Anna.\n\n\"Well, no, I never did. But whenever we hear that low moan from this\nroom we know it is Lady Margaret.\"\n\n\"Doesn't it frighten you?\" asked Greta.\n\n\"Oh, no. We are quite used to it.\"\n\n\"This is really a haunted castle, isn't it?\" asked Anna.\n\n\"Every castle in Denmark has at least _one_ ghost, Anna.\"\n\nAll the way home the girls talked about the ghost of Lady Margaret. Anna\nwas beginning to think that maybe there really _were_ such things as\nghosts and Nisser. When they reached the house, Hans was just getting\nout of his boat.\n\n\"Did you get any fish, Hans?\" called Anna.\n\n\"No luck today, Anna.\"\n\n\"Are you sure you were trying to catch fish?\" asked Greta, in her most\nteasing manner.\n\n\"What do you mean by that, Greta?\"\n\n\"I thought maybe you had decided to go after books instead.\"\n\nAnna looked at Hans. Could he have been playing a joke on them at\nVosborg? Was it Hans who had taken the book and then put it back? But\nhow could he have gotten into the library? And anyway, she and Greta had\nboth seen him start down the river in the opposite direction.\n\nJust then Greta's mother called from the door. \"Anna, you have a letter\nfrom your mother.\"\n\n\"It's too bad you didn't take Chouse with you today, Greta,\" said Hans,\nwhen Anna had gone into the house.\n\n\"Why? What happened?\"\n\n\"He was naughtier than he's ever been before. He chased the young\nturkeys all over the place and injured three or four of them.\"\n\n\"Did Father see him?\"\n\n\"Yes. He came along just as Chouse caught one of the turkeys and he was\nterribly angry. You know how proud Father is of those turkeys.\"\n\n\"Oh, Hans, what _am_ I going to do?\" sobbed Greta. \"We can't seem to\nbreak Chouse of his awful habit of chasing things. And yet I can't bear\nto part with him.\"\n\nJust then Anna came running out of the house. \"Greta, I have the\ngrandest news. Mother wants you to come to Copenhagen with me when I go\nhome.\"\n\nFor a moment Greta forgot her worries about Chouse. \"Oh, Anna, that will\nbe wonderful. Let's ask Mother if I may go.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nCHOUSE SEEKS THE SPOTLIGHT\n\n\nIt was soon decided that Greta would go back to Copenhagen with Anna. At\ndinner that evening the girls talked about nothing else, for Greta had\nnever been in Copenhagen before.\n\n\"While you are away, Greta, I'll look around and find a new home for\nChouse,\" her father announced suddenly.\n\nAt last it had come--this terrible thing that she had been dreading.\n\n\"But I thought that Chouse had been a very good dog lately.\" For the\nmoment Greta had forgotten Hans's report about the turkeys.\n\n\"I had hoped he would learn to behave better,\" said her father, \"but\ntoday he injured several of the young turkeys, and I just _can't_ have\nit, Greta. So we must find another home for him. I know how you love\nChouse, and I hate to do this, but I don't see any other way out.\"\n\n\"Why can't Chouse come to Copenhagen with us?\" asked Anna, hoping that\nmaybe this would solve the problem, at least for a while.\n\n\"Do you think your mother would want him?\"\n\n\"Oh, yes, I'm sure it would be all right with Mother,\" said Anna. \"We\ndon't have any chickens or turkeys, so Chouse couldn't very well get\ninto mischief at my house.\"\n\nGreta's father hesitated a minute or two before he answered, while Greta\nwatched him anxiously. \"All right, Anna, Chouse may go to Copenhagen\nwith you and Greta.\"\n\n[Illustration: A TYPICAL VILLAGE SCENE]\n\nGreta sank back in her chair with a deep sigh. By the time she came home\nfrom Copenhagen, the whole matter would probably be forgotten. At any\nrate, the evil day had been postponed.\n\nWhen the day came for Greta and Anna to leave for Copenhagen, the whole\nfamily went to the train with them.\n\nHans gave Chouse a goodbye pat on the head. \"Take good care of my little\nsister, Chouse,\" he said.\n\n\"And you take good care of the kittens, Hans,\" warned Greta.\n\nSoon all the goodbyes were said and the two girls were on the train.\n\n\"I wish we could get seats by the window,\" said Greta. They walked up\nand down the aisle, which was on one side of the train, but there wasn't\na single empty seat beside a window. Each car was divided into a dozen\nsections, like little rooms, with two long seats facing each other.\nThere was space for four people on each seat, or eight people in each\nsection. The girls sat down in a section where there were only three\npeople. At the very next station, two of them got off, and then there\nwas a vacant seat beside the window. Greta and Anna decided to take\nturns at sitting there.\n\n\"What time will it be when we reach Copenhagen, Anna?\"\n\n\"After seven o'clock. You see we have to cross the peninsula of Jutland\nand then the island of Zealand before we come to Copenhagen.\"\n\n\"I have never seen a really large city before, Anna.\"\n\n\"You will love Copenhagen, Greta. It has such beautiful parks and shops\nand castles and, oh, _everything_!\"\n\n\"Oh, look, Anna, here we are at Lemvig already. Do you know the story\nabout Lemvig?\"\n\n\"No; what is it?\"\n\n\"A long, long time ago, when Denmark was at war with Sweden, the Swedish\nsoldiers had been ordered to march upon Lemvig and take the town. You\ncan see that almost the whole town is down in the valley; there are just\na few houses on the hills. The soldiers couldn't see the town at all,\nso they asked a farmer where it was. He pointed to the houses on the\nhill on the other side of the valley. Then the Swedish soldiers rode\nvery fast, keeping their eyes on these houses on the distant hill. They\ndidn't see the valley at all and they rode so fast that they all fell\ndown the hill and into the river. So Lemvig wasn't captured after all.\"\n\nAs the train started again and left Lemvig, Anna leaned out the window.\n\"Oh, it's too late now,\" she said sadly.\n\n\"Too late for what?\" asked Greta.\n\n\"I wanted to get an ice-cream bar, but the train started just as the boy\nwith the ice-cream bars came up to our window.\"\n\n\"We'll surely get one at the next town, Anna.\"\n\nAs soon as the train stopped again, Anna let down the window and they\neach bought an ice-cream bar and also one for Chouse. He had been\nstanding on Greta's lap, with his front feet on the window sill,\nwatching with great interest as they passed fields of yellow hay,\nforests of evergreens, pastures with large herds of cows, and great\nfields of cabbage and beets.\n\nWhen they had finally ridden clear across Jutland, which forms the main\npart of Denmark, and then across the island of Funen, which is connected\nwith the mainland by a large bridge, they came to a wide stretch of\nwater called the Great Belt.\n\n\"Get your suitcase, Anna,\" said Greta. \"We will have to get off the\ntrain and take a boat here.\"\n\nAnna laughed, but she didn't make a move to get her suitcase down from\nthe rack overhead.\n\n\"The whole train takes the boat, Greta. We don't have to get off at\nall.\"\n\n\"The whole train? But how can it?\"\n\n[Illustration: FARM HOUSES IN THE VALLEY]\n\n\"Just look out the window and you'll see for yourself.\"\n\nThe railroad tracks ran to the very edge of the water, where a large\nferry boat was waiting for the train. It had tracks on it, too, and the\ntrain ran right on to the boat. Greta could hardly believe her eyes. To\nthink that one could ride on a train and a boat at the same time! It\ntook about two hours to cross the water, and then they were on the\nisland of Zealand. The boat went right up to the railroad tracks and the\ntrain was soon on land again and speeding on its way.\n\n\"Everything here looks so different,\" remarked Greta, as she looked out\nthe window. \"There are so many more trees, and it isn't so flat as it is\nat home.\"\n\nBefore long they reached the large railroad station in Copenhagen, where\nAnna's mother was waiting for them.\n\n\"Your father will be here very soon, Anna, and then we are all going to\nTivoli for dinner.\"\n\n\"Is Tivoli a restaurant?\" asked Greta.\n\n\"No, Tivoli is one of the most famous parks in all the world,\" explained\nAnna. \"It's right in the center of Copenhagen. In fact, it's right next\nto this station. Oh, I wish Father would hurry.\"\n\nWhen Greta first saw Tivoli she thought she was in fairyland. Surely it\ncouldn't be real. The gay beds of flowers and the tinkling fountains and\nthe colored lights among the trees all seemed to be part of a magic\nworld. Besides all this beauty, Tivoli had many restaurants and theatres\nand places for concerts and games and other amusements.\n\nThey had dinner in one of the outdoor restaurants, and Greta was so\ninterested in watching the people as they passed by that she could\nhardly eat. After dinner they started to walk through the park and let\nGreta decide for herself what she would most enjoy. When they had gone\nonly a little way they came to a large open stage, where a play was\nbeing given. They all stopped to watch it for a few minutes, and Greta\nwouldn't leave the spot. To her it was the most fascinating thing in\nTivoli.\n\nSuddenly she noticed that something had gone wrong on the stage. The\nactors seemed confused and they hesitated over their lines. What could\nbe the matter? Then, to her horror, she saw Chouse run across the stage\nand jump up on one of the actors. He was a young lad who looked\nsomething like Hans. Chouse soon saw his mistake and began wandering\naround the large stage as if he were lost. The audience laughed. They\nknew that this wasn't part of the play, and it seemed very funny to\nthem.\n\nThe minute that Greta saw Chouse she started toward the stage. Going\naround to the back, where the audience could not see her, she whistled\nand called to her dog. Chouse was glad to hear his name. Happily he ran\noff the stage at once and the play went on.\n\n\"I think we had better go home now,\" said Anna's father, when Greta came\nback with the dog, \"before Chouse gets into any more mischief.\"\n\nGreta's heart sank. They had barely gotten into Copenhagen--in fact,\nthey hadn't even reached Anna's home yet--and Chouse had already gotten\ninto mischief. What in the world was she going to do with him?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nA DAY OF HAPPY SURPRISES\n\n\n\"Anna, please don't walk so fast,\" begged Greta. The two girls were\nwalking down Langelinie, the beautiful parkway along the ocean. Greta\nwas much shorter than Anna and she could not walk nearly so fast. Then,\ntoo, she liked to stop and watch the boats coming into the harbor. The\nname Copenhagen means \"merchants' harbor,\" and this city has one of the\nfinest harbors in Europe. All kinds of ships, from tiny sailboats to\nlarge ocean liners, come here from all parts of the world.\n\nWhen they had gone a little farther, Greta wanted to sit down and rest.\n\n\"Can't you walk just a tiny bit more, Greta? On the other side of this\nlittle bay there is someone I want you to meet.\"\n\n\"Who, Anna?\"\n\n\"She is called 'Den Lille Havfrue,'\" said Anna.\n\n\"'Den Lille Havfrue,'\" repeated Greta. \"'The Little Ocean Lady.' I still\ndon't understand, Anna. Who can this be?\"\n\n\"Just keep on walking, and I'll show you,\" answered Anna in her most\nmysterious manner.\n\nIn a few minutes the girls had gone around the bay.\n\n\"Oh, Anna, how beautiful she is!\" said the delighted Greta. Sitting on a\nrock at the edge of the water was the statue of a lovely mermaid--\"the\nlittle ocean lady.\"\n\n\"She looks like a real live person,\" went on Greta, \"except for her\nfish's tail instead of feet. Is there really such a person as a mermaid,\nAnna?\"\n\n[Illustration: A SIDE VIEW OF THE GEFION FOUNTAIN]\n\n\"I'm not sure, Greta, whether there is or not. But if there really is a\nNisse, then maybe there are mermaids, too. This Little Mermaid is the\nmost beautiful statue in Copenhagen. Some people think it is the\nloveliest one in all Europe.\"\n\n\"How large is Copenhagen, Anna?\"\n\n[Illustration: THE GEFION FOUNTAIN]\n\n\"It has about a million people. That's a third of the whole population\nof Denmark.\"\n\nAfter a short walk the girls came to a large fountain, the largest that\nGreta had ever seen. At the top of the fountain there was a statue of\nfour oxen, hitched to a plow and driven by a woman.\n\n\"This is called the Gefion Fountain, and it shows how the island of\nZealand was made,\" explained Anna. \"There is an old, old story that says\nthat Denmark was given permission to take as much of Sweden as one could\nplow around in a day. So the ruler of Denmark changed her four sons into\noxen and with them she plowed out the island on which Copenhagen stands.\nThis statue shows how she had to whip them and urge them on in order to\nplow out this large island before night came.\"\n\n\"Oh, I wish we had brought Chouse along,\" said Greta. \"He would love to\nplay in this fountain.\"\n\n\"Chouse likes to play in lots of places where he shouldn't. I think it's\na good thing that we left him home. He was very naughty at Tivoli the\nother night.\"\n\n\"He didn't mean to be naughty, Anna. Don't you think we can take him\nwith us sometime?\"\n\n\"Maybe; sometime,\" said Anna.\n\nAs the girls walked along they stopped now and then to look in the shop\nwindows. Whenever Greta saw a window full of beautiful silverware or\nchina she wanted to stop and buy a gift for her mother. This china,\ndecorated with figures in a soft blue color, was called Royal Copenhagen\nPorcelain, and it was famous all over the world. The silverware was\ndesigned by a Danish artist named Georg Jensen, and it was also very\nfamous.\n\n\"You will have lots of time to buy a gift for your mother, Greta. Don't\nstop now. I hope you aren't tired, for we have a hard climb ahead of\nus.\"\n\n\"A climb? Why, there isn't a hill in all Copenhagen.\"\n\n\"Do you see that church with the dome-shaped roof that's all green and\nshiny? Well, that's what we are going to climb.\"\n\n\"Oh, Anna, how can we? Why, it's taller than any of the other buildings\nin Copenhagen.\" Greta looked around her at the four- and five-story\nbuildings. The shiny green dome of the church rose far above them.\n\n\"It is usually called the Marble Church,\" explained Anna, \"because it is\nbuilt of marble. Its real name is Frederick's Church, because it was\nbuilt by King Frederick the Fifth.\"\n\n\"That shiny green dome isn't made of marble, is it?\" asked Greta.\n\n\"Oh, no,\" laughed Anna. \"The church cost a great deal to build, and when\nthey had gotten as far as the dome, there was no money left. So all the\nhousewives in Copenhagen gave their copper kettles to be melted up and\nused to make the dome of the church.\"\n\nInside the church it was cool and quiet. The girls started up the stairs\nand climbed for quite a while without saying a word. Greta began to\nthink that they would never reach the top.\n\n[Illustration: A COUNTRY SCENE]\n\n\"Is it much farther, Anna?\"\n\n\"This is the easy part of the climb, Greta. Don't give up yet.\"\n\nThey kept on climbing. The stairs wound round and round, and as the\ngirls went higher and higher the stairs became more and more narrow.\nFinally they came to the place where the stairs were so narrow and so\nsteep that a rope had been hung from the top to help those who climbed.\nIt was like climbing the side of a mountain.\n\n\"Now we've come to the hard part,\" said Anna. \"Take hold of this rope\nand don't let go.\"\n\n\"Anna, do you think we ought to go any higher?\" Greta was frightened but\nshe didn't want to admit it.\n\n\"Why, of course. There is no point in climbing this far and then\nstopping. You aren't afraid, are you, Greta?\"\n\n\"I guess not.\"\n\n\"Don't look down at all, and then you'll be all right,\" advised Anna.\n\nAll of a sudden Greta remembered what her father had told her when she\nwas climbing the tower in the forest. \"A girl who is named after a queen\nmust not be afraid of anything.\" After all, what was there to be afraid\nof? The stairs were narrow and steep, but she would hold tightly to the\nrope and she would be quite safe.\n\nWhen Greta was about ten steps from the top, she did glance down and saw\na handkerchief lying on the step below her. Very carefully she backed\ndown one step, holding to the rope with her left hand and clutching her\npurse with her right. As she took her left hand off the rope to pick up\nthe handkerchief, she started to lose her balance. In terror she grabbed\nat the rope. She didn't fall, but the handkerchief fell six or seven\nsteps below her.\n\nAnna had reached the top and called down to Greta. \"What's the matter,\nGreta? You mustn't stop now, when you are almost at the top.\"\n\n\"Did you drop your handkerchief, Anna? There is one here on the\nstairs.\"\n\nAnna felt in all her pockets. \"No, I didn't drop mine, Greta.\"\n\nGreta backed down the steps slowly and carefully. This time she would\nnot let go of the rope at all. She laid her purse on the step above\nwhile she picked up the tiny handkerchief and put it in her pocket. In a\nshort time she had reached the top of the stairs, where Anna was waiting\nfor her. Greta showed her the dainty little handkerchief, with its wide\nborder of lace.\n\n\"Look, Greta. It has an 'I' embroidered in one corner.\"\n\n\"I wonder whose it is, Anna.\"\n\nAs the girls walked out on the platform on top of the dome, they almost\nran into two beautifully dressed ladies. Greta made her prettiest\ncurtsy.\n\n\"Perhaps this handkerchief is yours,\" she said, holding it out to them.\n\n\"Why, yes, it is,\" said the taller of the two ladies. \"Thank you very\nmuch, my dear.\" She and her companion then started down the narrow\nstairway.\n\n\"I'm sure I have seen that lady before, but I can't remember where,\"\nsaid Anna, when they had gone. \"Come over here, Greta. I want to show\nyou the King's palace.\"\n\nJust a block away from the Marble Church was Amalienborg, the palace of\nthe King. The palace consisted of four beautiful buildings, built around\na large open square. Day and night, a tall guard in uniform marched\nslowly back and forth in front of the palace. King Christian is probably\nthe best loved king in all Europe, and no one would ever want to harm\nhim. Nevertheless, the guard is always there.\n\n[Illustration: AMALIENBORG PALACE]\n\n\"That is the famous Round Tower over there,\" explained Anna. \"Some day\nwe will climb up in it. The building with all the dragons on the roof is\nthe Stock Exchange.\" Anna went on to point out other interesting\nbuildings. Greta was most interested in the harbor and the hundreds of\nboats, which seemed to be everywhere in the city. Little arms of the sea\ncome right into the heart of Copenhagen, so there really are boats and\nbridges wherever one looks.\n\n[Illustration: THE KING'S GUARD]\n\nFinally the girls started home. After a long bus ride, they walked the\nfew remaining blocks to Anna's home.\n\n\"Anna, why does that building have so many little porches? Do they all\nbelong to one house?\" Greta pointed to a long brick building that had\nfully a hundred porches.\n\n[Illustration: \"BIRD CAGE\" PORCHES]\n\n\"That's a new apartment building, Greta. More than a hundred families\nlive there, and each family has its own little sun porch. Notice how\neach porch is built up solid on one side, but the other side and the top\nare open. In that way, every porch gets lots of sunshine, but the\nneighbors can't possibly see in it.\"\n\n\"They look more like bird cages than porches,\" said Greta.\n\n\"Oh, Greta,\" exclaimed Anna suddenly. \"I believe that was the Princess.\"\n\n\"Who, Anna?\"\n\n\"Why, the lady whose handkerchief you found. Let's hurry home and ask\nMother. I'm sure she will know.\"\n\nGreta told Anna's mother about the finding of the handkerchief, and Anna\ndescribed the two ladies.\n\n\"Do you suppose it could have been Princess Ingrid, Mother?\"\n\n\"I think it must have been, Anna. And the other lady was her sister\nLouise. You know that Princess Ingrid, the wife of our Crown Prince, is\na Swedish princess by birth. Today's newspaper says that Princess Louise\nhas come from Sweden to visit her sister Ingrid. Here is their picture.\nDoes it look like the two whom you saw?\"\n\nBoth girls looked at the paper eagerly. \"Yes, it _was_ Princess Ingrid\nand Princess Louise,\" said Greta. \"Oh, I must write Hans about this. He\nhas never even _seen_ a Princess. And now I have seen two of them and\neven talked to one.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nTHE BEST SURPRISE OF ALL\n\n\n\"Now it's our turn to show _you_ some castles, Greta,\" said Anna, as she\nand her mother and Greta got in the car. Anna's mother had promised to\ntake the girls on an all-day trip to northern Zealand. This part of\nDenmark is as full of castles as a plum-cake is full of plums.\n\nAfter driving about twenty-five miles along the shore, they came to\nKronborg Castle, in the town of Elsinore.\n\n\"This is the most famous castle in Denmark,\" said Anna's mother.\n\n\"Why?\" asked Greta.\n\n\"Haven't you ever read 'Hamlet,' Greta?\" asked Anna in surprise.\n\"Kronborg Castle is where Hamlet lived. Only Shakespeare called it\nElsinore, which is the name of the town instead of the castle.\"\n\n[Illustration: KRONBORG CASTLE]\n\nAs she walked across the old drawbridge and entered the outer yard of\nthe castle, Greta thought that Kronborg was the loveliest castle she had\never seen. It was much larger and much more wonderful than Vosborg. When\nthey came to the drawbridge across the second moat, Anna pointed out the\nhigh battlement where the ghost of the murdered king once walked.\n\n\"Does he still walk there, Anna?\" asked Greta.\n\n\"Maybe he does, Greta. All we really know about him is what Shakespeare\ntells us in his play.\"\n\nWhen they crossed the last bridge and passed through the last gateway\ninto the inner courtyard of Kronborg, Greta stopped in surprise. \"Oh,\nAnna, it's so large and so beautiful.\" Then, just to show that she\nwasn't really afraid of climbing, she asked, \"Tante Elsie, do you\nsuppose we could climb to the top of one of the towers?\"\n\n\"Yes, I think so.\"\n\nFrom the little balcony on the tower they looked out over the ocean.\n\n\"Is that an island across the water?\" asked Greta.\n\n\"Oh, no, Greta. That is Sweden, only three miles away. In the olden\ndays, Kronborg was a fortress that guarded the entrance to the Baltic\nSea. All the ships that came from the North Sea into the Kattegat and\nthen into the Baltic had to pass this point of land, and every ship that\nwent by here had to pay money to Denmark. Up here in this very tower\nthere were guards who watched all the ships to see that every one\nstopped and paid for the privilege of going past this point. In those\ndays, Kronborg was the most important castle in Denmark.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE MOAT AROUND KRONBORG]\n\n\"Don't they have to pay this money now?\"\n\n\"No. About a hundred years ago Denmark stopped asking for this payment.\nShips that are going to the Baltic Sea can now go through the Kiel Canal\nin Germany, instead of going all the way around Denmark,\" explained\nAnna's mother.\n\nAs they walked down the narrow, winding stairs, Anna suddenly exclaimed,\n\"Oh, Mother, we forgot to tell Greta why Kronborg is still an important\ncastle.\"\n\n\"Maybe she already knows.\"\n\n\"No, I don't. Please tell me, Anna.\"\n\n\"According to an old, old story, Holger the Dane sleeps in the dungeon\nthat is deep below this tower. If Denmark is ever in trouble of any\nkind, he will awake and come to her rescue.\"\n\n\"I've heard of Holger the Dane, of course,\" said Greta, \"but I thought\nhe was just an imaginary person.\"\n\n\"He's no more imaginary than a Nisse,\" said Anna, with a twinkle in her\neye.\n\nGreta hated to leave Kronborg, but when Anna told her that they were\ngoing to see even finer castles than this one, she was willing to go.\nAfter driving about fifteen miles, they turned off the main road and\ndrove down a long avenue of beech trees. At the end of this avenue\nthere was a large white building, with a four-cornered tower rising from\nthe center.\n\n\"This is Fredensborg Palace, where the King and Queen live in the\nautumn,\" said Anna. \"The King comes here for the hunting season.\"\n\n\"Can we go inside this palace?\" asked Greta. \"I would love to see the\nQueen's own room.\"\n\n\"Of course you would, little Margrete,\" said Tante Elsie. \"We will ask\nthe guide to show us the Queen's apartments.\"\n\nIt seemed to Greta that the guide took them through miles and miles of\nrooms. Even then, he showed them only a part of the two hundred and\nseventy rooms. The palace was much larger than it looked from the front,\nfor it was very long.\n\n\"Surely this isn't the _Queen's_ room,\" said Greta, as she stood in the\ndoorway of the large, sunny bedroom.\n\n\"Why not, Greta?\" asked Anna in surprise.\n\n\"Why, I thought it would be a very grand room, with furniture of gold.\"\n\nTante Elsie laughed. \"Oh, Greta, you forget that the King and Queen of\nDenmark are people of simple tastes. This is a beautiful room, and it\nshows that the Queen likes lovely things. But it also shows that she\ndoes not spend money just to make a grand display.\"\n\n\"Perhaps the young lady would like to see the ballroom,\" said the guide.\n\"I think she will find that it is all that she imagined and really fit\nfor a queen.\"\n\n[Illustration: FREDERIKSBORG CASTLE]\n\nHe led them through several drawing-rooms and then into the ballroom. It\nwas a large, square room, with windows clear up to the ceiling. The\nwalls and ceiling were light blue, so that it seemed as if the room\nwere open to the sky.\n\n\"This is what I always thought a royal palace would be like,\" said Greta\nin deep contentment.\n\n\"The ceiling of this room is eighty-one feet high,\" explained the guide.\n\"It forms the tower in the middle of the palace.\"\n\nGreta didn't want to leave this lovely room. She was fascinated by the\npictures painted on the walls, the gorgeous hangings at the windows, and\nthe large groups of glass candlesticks that hung from the ceiling and\nsparkled like icicles as the sun shone on them.\n\n\"Do you want to see the Queen's crown?\" asked Anna, as they reluctantly\nleft the beautiful ballroom.\n\n\"The Queen's crown?\" said Greta. \"The Queen is in Copenhagen now; surely\nher crown wouldn't be here at Fredensborg.\"\n\n\"She has a crown here, too. It is really lovelier than the one she wears\nat court,\" said Anna.\n\nWhen they came to the garden behind the palace, Greta saw what Anna\nmeant. In the middle of the sloping green lawn there was a huge bed of\npansies, arranged in the shape of a crown. In the lower part of the\ncrown the pansies were all purple, and in the upper part they were all\ngold.\n\n\"You are right, Anna. This is prettier than any crown of real gold.\"\n\n\"Come, girls. We must be on our way now,\" said Anna's mother. \"We have a\nlong ride ahead of us.\"\n\n\"Are we going to see _another_ castle?\" asked Greta.\n\n\"Yes, the finest one of all.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE COURTYARD OF FREDERIKSBORG]\n\nAfter a short drive through a large forest of beech trees, they came to\nFrederiksborg Castle. It was built on three small islands in the center\nof a lake. The castle itself was so large that it covered the islands\ncompletely and seemed to rise up out of the water itself. When King\nFrederick built the first castle here, nearly four hundred years ago, he\npurposely chose these islands in the center of a lake because they were\nthe safest place for a castle. Enemies could not easily reach it here.\nWhen this old, old castle was destroyed by fire, a much finer one was\nbuilt on the islands.\n\n[Illustration: FREDENSBORG PALACE]\n\nAs they crossed the bridge to the main part of the castle, Greta saw two\nwomen entering the main doorway.\n\n\"Look, Anna,\" she said in great excitement. \"Isn't that Princess Ingrid\nand Princess Louise going into the castle right this minute?\"\n\nWhen Anna looked, the women had disappeared. Greta was now more eager\nthan ever to visit the castle. Maybe she would see her beloved Princess\nIngrid again. Would the Princess remember the little girl who had found\nher handkerchief on the stairs of the Marble Church? Greta wondered. She\nwas anxious to go inside, but Anna stopped in the courtyard to listen to\nthe chimes on the castle tower. Every hour of the day the ringing chimes\nplayed a different tune.\n\n\"Let's see the Knights' Hall first,\" suggested Anna, when they went\ninside.\n\nGreta wanted to say, \"Let's follow Princess Ingrid,\" but she didn't know\nwhich way the Princess had gone. So she followed Anna without a word.\nThe Knights' Hall was the largest room Greta had ever seen. The walls\nwere covered with hangings whose colored threads were woven in such a\nway as to show scenes from Danish history. Greta thought she would like\nto study history if she could learn it from pictures like these instead\nof from textbooks. While she was looking at one of the hangings in a far\ncorner of the room, Anna grabbed her arm.\n\n\"There they go, Greta. Don't you want to follow them?\"\n\nThen Greta remembered that Princess Ingrid was here in the castle. How\ncould she have forgotten? She and Anna and Tante Elsie left the Knights'\nHall and entered the long series of drawing-rooms that filled one wing\nof Frederiksborg. Greta scarcely looked at the paintings that hung on\nevery wall. She wanted to see a real live princess, not a painted lady\nin a golden frame. They walked slowly through room after room, but not a\nglimpse of the Princess did they get.\n\n\"I guess Princess Ingrid and her sister have left the castle,\" said\nGreta, in an unhappy tone. She was ready now to leave it herself, for it\nheld no further interest for her.\n\n\"Now for the most wonderful room of all,\" said Anna, after they had gone\nthrough all the drawing-rooms. She almost had to drag Greta to the\nchapel, which formed an important part of the castle itself. When the\nroyal family lived at Frederiksborg, services were held here every\nSunday. This chapel was really as large as a church. As they came in,\nthe organist was playing softly, and Greta sat down to listen to the\nmusic, while Anna and her mother went to look at the paintings which\nwere on exhibition in the balcony of the chapel.\n\nAfterwards, Greta never remembered exactly how it happened. She must\nhave closed her eyes for a minute in order to enjoy the music\ncompletely. The first thing she remembered was a soft voice saying, \"Are\nyou all alone here, my dear?\"\n\nWhen Greta had opened her eyes and recognized the speaker she jumped to\nher feet. \"Why, it's the little girl who found my handkerchief the other\nday. How very nice to see you again. When we saw you here asleep, we\nthought you had gotten lost in this great castle.\"\n\nGreta explained that her aunt and her cousin were up in the balcony.\nThen her eyes shone like stars and her heart almost skipped a beat as\nthe lovely Princess Ingrid took a rosebud from the bouquet which she\ncarried and held it out to Greta. \"Perhaps you would like to wear this\nlittle flower,\" she said in her gentle way. Then, with another smile,\nshe and the Princess Louise went out of the chapel.\n\nGreta stood like one in a dream. Now she knew how the knights of olden\ntimes felt when they had been honored by the King. She, little Margrete,\nhad a flower from the hands of the Crown Princess of Denmark. All her\nlife long she would remember this moment.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nCHOUSE IS HOMESICK\n\n\n\"Chouse, will you promise to be a _really_ good dog if we take you with\nus?\"\n\nChouse answered Greta by barking three times, which meant, \"Yes, I\nwill.\"\n\nChouse had not been allowed to go with the girls since the evening at\nTivoli. Greta didn't want to send home any _more_ bad reports about him.\nEven now, she was almost afraid to open her father's letters, for each\nday she expected him to write that he had found a new home for Chouse.\nSometimes Greta wished that her visit in Copenhagen could go on forever.\nThen she would never have to part with her pet.\n\n\"We'll climb up in the Round Tower first of all,\" said Anna, as she and\nGreta and Chouse started off gaily for a day's wandering. \"Then you can\nlook over the city and decide what you want to see next.\"\n\nAs they walked through the winding streets of the business district of\nCopenhagen, Anna told Greta the story of the famous Round Tower.\n\n\"It was built more than three hundred years ago by King Christian the\nFourth,\" she explained. \"He wanted to do something that would make the\npeople remember him always, so he built this high tower as an\nobservatory, where scientists could study the stars.\"\n\nThe Round Tower stood in the very heart of the city. At the time it was\nbuilt it was the tallest building in Copenhagen, but now the Marble\nChurch rose high above it.\n\n[Illustration: THE ROUND TOWER]\n\nJust before they reached the tower, Anna surprised Greta by saying,\n\"This Tower is over a hundred feet high, but you won't have to climb a\nsingle step to reach the top.\"\n\n\"But how do we get to the top?\"\n\n\"You'll see in just a minute, Greta.\"\n\n\"Come, Chouse,\" called Greta, as the girls reached the door of the Round\nTower. The dog had started down the street ahead of them. He seemed to\nbe looking for something, but he ran back quickly when his little\nmistress called.\n\nOnce inside the tower, the children started up a sloping walk that went\nup and up and up. At the same time it went round and round and round,\nlike a corkscrew. Every little while Chouse dashed on ahead and then\ncame running back, barking joyously.\n\n\"This is the funniest tower I have ever seen,\" said Greta. \"Does this\nwalk go to the very top?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" answered Anna. \"They say that a long time ago, when Peter the\nGreat, the Czar of Russia, visited Denmark he rode up here on\nhorseback, and at another time the Empress Catherine drove her coach and\nfour up to the very top of the Round Tower.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE MARBLE CHURCH, AS SEEN FROM THE TOP OF THE ROUND\nTOWER]\n\nGreta stopped a moment to look at the winding, sloping walk. \"I guess\none really _could_ drive a coach up here. It seems to be wide enough.\"\n\nFrom the platform on the top of the tower, the girls could look out over\nthe city and the harbor. Wherever they looked, they saw towers and\nspires--on the Parliament Building, on the Stock Exchange, on the\ncastles, on the churches. Some of them were gilded and they gleamed\nbrightly in the sunshine. Some of them were shiny green, like the dome\nof the Marble Church.\n\n\"What is that building whose tower has a crown at the top?\" asked Greta.\n\n\"That is Christiansborg Castle, where the Parliament meets,\" explained\nAnna. \"Would you like to visit it?\"\n\n\"Yes. Let's go there next, if it isn't too far away,\" said Greta.\n\nAs they walked to Christiansborg, Anna told Greta a funny story about\nthe Round Tower.\n\n\"Once upon a time a Norwegian was visiting Copenhagen. The people he\nvisited were eager to show him all the wonderful and beautiful things in\nthe city. The Norwegians are very proud of their own country, you know,\nand they like to boast about it. When they came to the Round Tower, the\nDanish people said, 'I'm sure you haven't anything like the Round Tower\nin Norway.' The Norwegian looked at it a minute and then answered, 'No,\nbut if we had, it would be bigger and rounder.'\"\n\nGreta laughed. \"But it _couldn't_ be rounder, could it, Anna?\"\n\n\"No, of course not. If a thing is round, it's round; you can't make it\nmore or less round.\"\n\nWhen they came to the entrance of Christiansborg, the guard told them\nthat dogs were not allowed inside the castle.\n\n\"What will we do with him, Greta?\" asked Anna.\n\n\"He will have to wait here at the door for us,\" said Greta. Turning to\nthe dog she spoke to him very sternly, \"Chouse, you must be a good dog\nand stay right here until Anna and I come out.\"\n\nChouse barked twice, as if to say, \"All right,\" and then he lay down on\nthe floor beside the guard.\n\n\"There has been a castle on this spot for eight hundred years,\" said\nAnna, as they walked through the long hall.\n\n\"But this castle looks quite new.\"\n\n\"Oh, there have been three or four castles here. When one burned down,\nthey built another one. This one is about forty years old. It was really\nbuilt as a home for the King, but he has never lived here. He likes\nAmalienborg better.\"\n\n\"I think I would, too,\" said Greta. \"These rooms are so large and the\nceilings are so high that it wouldn't seem like a home at all.\"\n\n[Illustration: CHRISTIANSBORG CASTLE]\n\nIn one part of the castle there were two large halls, where the\nParliament meets. One hall was for the House of Commons and the other\nwas for the Upper House. Parliament did not meet during the summer, so\nGreta and Anna were allowed to visit both these stately halls. Greta\nthought they had seen everything in Christiansborg, when Anna suddenly\nannounced, \"We're going downstairs now, Greta. The most interesting\npart of Christiansborg is under the ground.\"\n\nThey went down a narrow stairway and carefully made their way through a\ndark, underground passage. Soon they came to a scattered heap of stones\nthat marked the outlines of an old, old castle.\n\n\"This is the very first castle that was built here,\" explained Anna. \"It\nwas built by Bishop Absalon in 1167, when Copenhagen was just a little\nfishing village. Here is the old well that has been used for hundreds of\nyears,\" she said as they walked on farther, \"and here is a part of the\nBlue Tower where Princess Leonora Christina was kept a prisoner for many\nyears.\"\n\n\"Oh, how could they keep anyone in such a terrible dungeon?\" asked\nGreta, who shivered at the thought of spending even an hour in this\ngloomy place. \"Let's go upstairs, Anna.\"\n\n\"All right,\" agreed Anna. \"I wonder how Chouse and the guard have been\ngetting along.\"\n\n[Illustration: THE MARKET PLACE IN COPENHAGEN]\n\nThe guard looked extremely worried when the girls appeared. Chouse was\nnowhere in sight.\n\n\"I turned my back for just a minute,\" he said, \"but when I turned around\nagain your little dog was gone. He must have run outside, for you can\nsee that he isn't here in the entrance hall.\"\n\nGreta was so upset that she couldn't say a word.\n\n\"Come on, Greta. We shall have to go and hunt for him,\" said the\npractical Anna. \"You go in one direction and I'll go in the other, and\nwe'll meet here at Christiansborg in one hour.\"\n\nThere wasn't anything for Greta to do but to start looking. There was no\nuse in telling Anna that she didn't know one street from another. There\nwas no use in saying that she didn't have the faintest idea of where to\nlook. Anna had already started in the other direction and Greta heard\nher calling, every now and then, \"Here, Chouse. Come, Chouse.\"\n\nSo Greta started off bravely by herself. Christiansborg was built on a\nsmall island, so she crossed the Marble Bridge to the mainland and began\nwalking slowly along the street by the side of the water. The shore was\nlined with fishing boats and on the sidewalk there were hundreds of\nlittle stands where the women were selling fresh fish which they took\nright out of the boats. Now and then Greta stopped to ask one of them\nif she had seen a little black and white dog. Not a one of them had seen\nhim.\n\n[Illustration: FRESH FISH FOR SALE]\n\n[Illustration: WEIGHING A LOAD OF FISH]\n\nGreta decided that Chouse had not come along this street, so she walked\nback to the bridge and started down another street. Soon she came into a\nlarge open square filled with fruit and vegetable stands. The housewives\nof Copenhagen came here every morning during the summer to get the\nfinest of fresh foods. Greta went from one stand to another, asking if\nthey had seen her dog. Surely _someone_ had seen him. Finally she came\nto the very last stand, where a pretty girl was selling flowers. By this\ntime tears had filled Greta's eyes and there was such a lump in her\nthroat that she could hardly speak.\n\n\"Why, yes,\" said the pretty girl. \"I did see a little black and white\ndog not very long ago, but I don't know which way he went from here.\"\n\nGreta smiled happily at this news. At last she was on the right trail.\nShe left the market and took one of the narrow, winding streets that led\nthrough the main business district. Every little while she called,\n\"Here, Chouse. Come, Chouse.\" But no little dog came in answer to her\ncall. Maybe she had taken the wrong street after all.\n\nHalf blinded with tears she started across one of the large open\nsquares. When part way across she saw Chouse trotting down the street\nahead of her. Greta started to run and almost bumped into a bicycle. She\nwas not used to city streets, crowded with bicycles and automobiles. By\nthe time she had crossed the square, Chouse had disappeared.\n\n[Illustration: FISHING BOATS CROWD THE CANALS]\n\nGreta was tired and hungry, but she didn't stop to think about that. She\nwas very much afraid that she couldn't find her way back to\nChristiansborg, but she didn't dare to think about that. Chouse was\nsomewhere on the street in front of her, and she must find him. So the\nlittle girl kept on walking. The street had many curves, like all the\nolder streets in Copenhagen. In some places the sidewalk was so narrow\nthat Greta had to step out in the street to pass the people who stood\nlooking in the shop windows.\n\nSuddenly a terrible fear came over Greta. What if she _never_ found\nChouse? But she simply _must_ find him--and keep him. She knew now just\nhow dear he was to her. As she walked along, the tears which filled her\neyes spilled over on her cheeks. She had never been in this part of the\ncity before, and now she was lost just as completely as Chouse was. Oh,\nif only she could find him, nothing else would matter. In some way she\nwould get back to Christiansborg and Anna. In some way she would\npersuade her father not to send Chouse away. She looked at her watch.\nGoodness, she had already been walking an hour and a half! Anna would be\nworried about her. But Greta felt that she must keep on looking for\nher dog. She knew now that she was on the right street, at least.\n\n[Illustration: SAILBOATS IN THE HEART OF COPENHAGEN]\n\nSuddenly Greta came into a large open square that seemed familiar. She\nstopped a minute to look around. Maybe she wasn't really lost, after\nall. What was that large building over to the left? Then the tears\nstopped and her face broke into a happy smile. Why, it was the railroad\nstation, where she had first come into Copenhagen. She lost all her\nfears about being lost, but a great wave of homesickness came over the\nlittle girl. Without quite knowing why, she crossed the busy square and\nwent into the station.\n\nShe would sit down in the station and rest a little bit before going on\nwith her search. Just as she found a seat on one of the long benches a\nfamiliar little black and white figure caught her eye. Tired as she was,\nGreta ran down the long station. Everyone turned to watch the excited\nlittle girl who was running so desperately. At last she reached him, and\nit really was her beloved Chouse.\n\n[Illustration: A BUSY SQUARE IN COPENHAGEN]\n\nHe jumped up at her and barked joyously. \"Oh, Chouse, _why_ did you run\naway?\" Greta took him in her arms and hugged him close. Then all of a\nsudden she understood why he had gone away. Right in front of her was\nthe gate to the very train that she would take back home. Chouse was\nhomesick, too. That was why he had come straight to the railroad\nstation.\n\n\"Everything is all right, Chouse. We will be going home soon,\" said\nGreta, as a single happy tear fell on his black and white fur.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\n\"GOODBYE\"\n\n\nThat evening at dinner the two girls told all about their adventures.\n\n\"How did you finally get back to Christiansborg, Greta?\" asked her aunt.\n\n\"I asked a policeman to show me the way, and he was kind enough to go\nall the way back there with me. I don't think I could ever have found it\nby myself.\"\n\n\"Oh, Greta, I almost forgot,\" said her aunt. \"Here is a letter that came\nfor you today.\"\n\nIt was a letter from Hans, and Greta opened it eagerly.\n\n _\"Dear Greta:_\n\n _I have some very good news for you. Father has decided that you\n may keep Chouse after all. He found that it was the rabbits, and\n not Chouse, who had been killing the chickens. Every time we saw\n Chouse running after chickens he was really trying to get the\n rabbits._\n\n _We all miss you, Greta, and I think the kittens miss you as much\n as we do. They are getting so fat that you won't know them unless\n you come home pretty soon. Give Chouse three pats for me._\n\n _Your loving brother,\n Hans.\"_\n\nGreta showed the letter to Anna, saying, \"I think it's time for me to go\nhome, Anna. The kittens need me, and you can see that Chouse is very\nhomesick.\"\n\n\"I'm afraid that Chouse isn't the only one who is homesick,\" teased\nTante Elsie. \"But we do understand, Greta. We want you to stay as long\nas you can, but if you should be at home with your pets, then you do\nwhat you think is best.\"\n\n[Illustration: GRETA AND ANNA]\n\n\"Thank you, Tante Elsie. You have all been so wonderful to me and you\nhave given me such a very good time. I shall never forget it.\"\n\nGreta decided that she would go home the next day, so her uncle sent a\ntelegram to her father. Anna helped her to pack, while Chouse stood by\nand watched.\n\n\"Of course it is really Chouse who is homesick, Anna,\" insisted Greta.\n\"I could stay away all summer.\"\n\n\"Certainly you could,\" agreed Anna. \"But I expect the kittens really do\nneed you to look after them.\"\n\nWhen Anna and Tante Elsie put Greta on the train the next day she was\nvery brave. She had never before been on the train by herself, but she\nwas not going to let anyone know that she was just a wee bit frightened.\nAfter all, Chouse was with her, and this time he would not get away from\nher. He seemed just as happy as she was to be going back home.\n\nGreta kissed Anna and Tante Elsie goodbye. \"This has been such a lovely\nsummer,\" she said. \"I hope Anna can come to visit me again next\nsummer.\"\n\n\"And we want you to come back to Copenhagen next year,\" said Anna.\n\nGreta waved to them until she could no longer see their handkerchiefs\nwaving to her in answer. Then she leaned back in her seat, with Chouse\non her lap.\n\n\"Chouse, this _has_ been the grandest summer we have ever had,\" said\nGreta, giving her pet a loving hug. Then she took a withered rosebud\nfrom her purse and looked at it dreamily. \"And I know that I am the\nhappiest girl in all Denmark.\"\n\n\n\n\nTranscriber's Note\n\n\nPunctuation and formatting markup have been normalized.\n\n\"_\" surrounding text represents italics.\n\nApparent printer's errors have been retained, unless stated below.\n\nPage 136, \"It's\" changed to \"Its\". (Its real name is Frederick's Church,\nbecause it was built by King Frederick the Fifth.)","title":"Little Greta of Denmark","tradition":"myth-cosmogony","translated_text":null,"word_count":20709}