The story of my life

Front matter

Class

Book__ m- m

THE

CHAPTER I. April, 1805 — September, 1819

PAGE

Birth in Odense. — Description of Birth-room. — My Father. — A Family Festival at the House of Correction. — Odense Sights. — The Spaniards in Funen. — My Father's Mother. — The Lunatic Asylum. — My Weak-minded Grandfather. — My Introduction to Learning at an A B C School. — My Teacher, Mr. Carsten. — Gleaning in the Harvest-field. — My First Visit to the Theatre. — My Father's Reading His Enlistment in the Army. — His Death.

— My Introduction to Madame Bunkeflod. — My' First Dramatic Work. — I try to learn a Trade. — My Mother's Second Marriage. ■— Our House by the Monk-mill's Gate. — I am noticed for my Voice and Dramatic Action. — Introduction to Prince Christian. — My Confirmation. — " The Red Shoes." — I wish to seek my Fortune.

— The Printer Iversen gives me a Letter to a Copenhagen Celebrity whom he does not know. — I leave Odense and set out for the Capital 1-24

CHAPTER II. September, 1819 — October, 1822

Arrival at Copenhagen. — My First Ramble to the Theatre. — I call upon Madame Schall. — Then upon the Manager of the Theatre. — " Paul and Virginia-" — In Search of Employment. — A Call upon Siboni, and upon Weyse. — Siboni's Character. — A Patron is found in the Poet Guldberg. — I lodge innocently in a Suspicious House.

— My First Appearance on the Stage. — New Year's Day and an Omen. — At the Singing-school. — The Colbjornsons. — Professor Thiele's Encouragement. — Urban Jiirgensen's Mother- — My First Tragedy, " Afsol." — Admiral Wulff. — Conference Councilor Collin. — I am to be sent to School 25-44

CHAPTER III. October, 1822 — December, 1828

School Life at Slagelse. — The Rector. — Mr. Bastholm's Good Advice. — My Grandfather's Death. — His Riches with Wings. — A

VI CONTENTS.

PAGE

Visit to Odense. — School-days. — Antvorskov and its Legends. — Soro and Ingemann's House. — Petit and Carl Bagger. — An Execution at Skjelskjor. — My Diary. — I remove with the Rector to Helsingor. — The Rector's Secret Commendation of me. — My Vacations in Copenhagen.— Poetic Efforts. — Adam Oehlenschlåger. — I remove to Copenhagen. — My Little Garret-room. — Parodies on my Former Poetry. — Heiberg's " Flying Post." — Examination for Title of Student. — My First Book, " A Journey on Foot." — Paludan Muller. — My First Vaudeville. — My Second Academical Examination. — H. C. Orsted. — My First Volume of Poems 45-66

Chapter IV

Travelling in Jutland. — A Visit to Iversen's Widow. — A L6ve Affair.

— A Morbid Turn to my Thoughts. — My Sensitiveness. — A Trip into Germany. — Tieck. — Chamisso. — " Shadow Pictures." — Criticism. — Texts for Operas. — Acquaintance made with J. P. E. Hartmann. — The "Bride of Lammermoor." — " Kenilworth," for Weyse. — Molbech and the " Monthly Review." — Henrik Hertz.

— "Letters from the Dead." — I ask a Stipend from King Frederick VI. — I receive a Stipend for travelling. — Madame Lassoe.

— Edward Collin 67-82

CHAPTER V. April — September, 1833

Hamburg. — Cassel. — Spohr. — Frankfort. — The Rhine. — Arrival at Paris. — The Italian Opera. — Adolph Nourrit. — Mademoiselle Mars. — Danish Comrades. — Versailles. — Paul Duport, the Vaudeville-poet.— Cherubini. — Henrik Heine introduces himself to me. — Victor Hugo. — Letters from Home. — The Unveiling of Napoleon's Statue in the Place Vendome. — Louis Philippe. — The Festival. — P. A. Heiberg. — Brondsted. — I set out for Switzerland. — Purari at Geneva. — Chillon. — Le Locle. — The Jiirgensen Family and my Home with them. — My New Poem, " Agnete and the Merman." — Departure from Le Locle . . . 83-98

CHAPTER VI. September, 1833 — August, 1834

By the Simplon into Italy. — Milan. —Genoa. — The Arsenal. — The Journey from Genoa to Carrara. — Pisa. — Our Small-minded Guide. — Florence and its Galleries. — The Miseries of Travelling in Italy. — The Water-fall at Terni. — Rome. — The Second Funeral of Raphael. — Thorwaldsen. — Albert Kiichler A Ram-

CONTENTS.

Vil ble among the Mountains. — Dulcamara and Bandits. — Anotner Excursion to Tivoli. — Artist-life in Rome. — Christmas Eve and its Festival. — Home Opinions of " Agnete." — Hertz and I become Friends. — I travel with him to Naples. — Excursion up Vesuvius.

— Suggestion of " The Improvisatore." — Easter at Rome. — Wieusseux. — Venice. — I recross the Alps. — Munich.— S chelling.

— Passport Experience. — Salzburg. — Golling Fall. — Molk Monastery. — Vienna. — Strauss. — Madame Von Weissenthiirn. — Castelli. — Journey to Prague. — A Bohemian Library vanishes. —

" The Improvisatore," its origin, composition, and publication 99-13 1

Chapter VII. 1835 — 1838

A Change in Public Opinion of my Work. — Hauch the Poet. — I present my Book to Prince Christian. — German Appreciation. — English Translation by Mary Howitt. — Other Translations in Various Languages. — I bring out the First Part of my " Wonder Stories."

— "O. T." — " Only a Fiddler." — Soren Kierkegaard. — Hauch's Criticism. — My First Visit to Sweden. — Meeting with Fredrika Bremer. — Stockholm — Scandinavian Fellowship. — Increased Productiveness in Literature. — The Collins. — Insignificant Returns for Literary Work in Denmark. — Count Rantzau-Breitenburg.

— I receive a Pension from Government .... 132-145

Chapter VIII. 1839— 1841

New Confidence. — The Part played by the Theatre in Danish Life.

— My Success and Disappointment. — " The Invisible at Sprogo."

— " The Mulatto." — Death of Frederick VI. — A Swedish Ovation. — " The Picture-book without Pictures." — I discover Friends when I am about to leave Denmark. — En route for Home. — Mendelssohn at Leipsic. — At Munich with Hoist. — Kaulbach. — Once more in Rome. — Satire at Home. — With Hoist to Naples. — The Fontane del Trevi. — On the Mediterranean. — A Month at Athens.

— " Ahasuerus." — In the Archipelago. — Smyrna. — Constantinople.—The Voyage up the Danube. — The Return Home. — "A Poet's Bazaar." — The Spirit of the Criticism directed against me.

— Misunderstanding and Envy . . . . . 146-176

Chapter IX

Politics and Poetry. — Life in Manor-houses. — Winter Life in Copenhagen. — The Collin Family. — Oehlenschlåger. — Thorwaldsen 177-185

Vlll CONTENTS.

Chapter X. 1842 — 1843

PAGB

" The Bird in the Pear-tree." — Weyse. — Journey to Paris. — Rantzau- Breitenburg. — With Speckter at Hamburg. — Cologne. — Brussels.

— Paris. — Marmier. — Victor Hugo. — Martinez de la Rosa. — Lamartine. — Dumas. — Rachel. — Alfred de Vigny. — David. — Madame Reybaud. — Balzac. — Heine. — " Only a Fiddler " in Real Life. — The Rhine. — Frieligrath. — Bonn. — Moritz Arndt. — Geibel. — Foreign Appreciation of my Writings. — Mr. Boas. — My Wonder Stories, their origin and reception . . . 186-206

CHAPTER XL

1840 — 1844.

Jenny Lind. — At Breitenburg. — Goethe's Family. — Weimar. — The Birthday of the Grand Duke. — Chancellor von Miiller. — Leipsic. — The Schumanns. — Dresden. — Retsch. — The Serres at Maxen. — The Countess Hahn-Hahn. — Berlin. — Savigny. — Bettina. — Tieck. — I am invited by the King and Queen of Denmark to visit them at Fohr. — The Journey. — The Reception at Wyck.— The Halligs. — The King's Kindness. — My Stipend increased.— The Duchess of Augustenburg .... 207-227

CHAPTER XII. 1844 — July, 1846. "Fortune's Flower." — Heiberg's Criticism. — "The King dreams."

— "The New Lying-in Room." — A Mystification. — Death of Collin's Wife. — The Festival at Skanderborg. — Aarhuus. — Travelling. — A New Journey. — At Glorup. — Odense. — Henriette Hauck. — Gravenstein. — At Hamburg with Speckter. — The Living Fairy Tale. — At Oldenburg. — Mosen. — Mayer. — I read my Stories in the Grand Duke's Circle. — Berlin. — Rauch. — The Brothers Grimm. — Tieck. — A Christmas-tree with Jenny Lind.

— Madame Birch Pfeiffer. — The Royal Family. — I read my Stories to them. — At Weimar. — Richter. — Jenny Lind. — Auerbach. — With Beaulieu to Jena. — Hase. — Leipsic. — Brockhaus. — Gade.

— At Dresden. — The Royal Family. — At Prague. — Vienna. — Castelli. — To Trieste. — Ancona. — The Road to Rome. — In Rome for the Third Time. — New Love for Sculpture. — Jerichau.

— Kolberg. — At Naples. — The Heat drives me to Sorrento. — I write " Das Marchen meines Lebens." — Josephsen. — At Naples again. — To Marseilles. — Ole Bull. — Reboul at Nismes. — Journey toward the Pyrenees. — The Terrible Heat. — Perpignan.

— The Baths of Vernet. — The Close of this Section of my Life , 228-274

CONTENTS. IX

CHAPTER XIII. July, 1846 — December, 1847

PAGE

From Vernet to Switzerland. — Avignon, — By Diligence to Lyons.

— Freiburg. — Berne. — Basle, — Home by Strasburg and Hambtfrg. — Hartmann's Opera with my Text, "Little Christine." — Orsted's Words respecting Poetry. — Interview with the King. — I set out for England. — To Holland. — Amsterdam. — Hospitable Reception. — Harlem. — Leyden. — The Hague. — Fanny Hensel's Widowed Husband. — A Reception at the Hague. — To England by Rotterdam. — Arrival. — First Impressions of London. — I enter Society at Lord Palmerston's. — Chevalier Bunsen. — Etiquette in London. — A Visit to Jenny Lind. — " La Somnambula." — Taglioni. — Lady Morgan. — At Lady Blessington's. — Count d'Orsay.

— Charles Dickens. — Mary Howitt. — Frieligrath. — To the Howitt's at Clapton — High Life and Low Life in London. — Westminster Abbey. — A London Election. — To Edinburgh by York. — Rambles in Edinburgh. — Dr. Simpson. — Heriot's Hospital — Lord Jeffrey. — With Baron Hambro on an Excursion. — Loch Katrine. — Loch Lomond. — Dumbarton. — I reluctantly cut short my Trip. — The Travels of a Cane. — Return to London. — A Visit to Charles Dickens. — Return Home by Ostend and Hamburg. — Malice at Home. — I dedicate some Stories to Dickens. — " Ahasuerus."

— Oehlenschlager's Criticism 275—335

CHAPTER XIV. January, 1848 — March, 1851

Death of King Christian VIII. — Schleswick- Holstein War. — Letter to the London ** Literary Gazette " in Defense of Denmark. — The Enthusiasm of Young Soldiers. — At Glorup in Camp. — The Swedes in Funen. — Intervention for a Prisoner. — " The Two Baronesses." — Centennial Anniversary of the Danish Theatre. — Fredrika Bremer's Visit to Copenhagen. — Lieutenant Ulrich. — A Visit to Sweden. — Gothaborg. — Trolhåtta. — Stockholm. — The " Literary Society." — Introduction to King Oscar. — Visit to the Royal Family. — Madame Carlen. — To Dalarne. — Travelling in Sweden. — Fahlun. — The Prophecy of the Straws. — Upsala. — Return to Stockholm. — The Romance of Count Sakza. — At Linkoping. — Motala. — By Gothaborg to Denmark. — Publication of "In Sweden." — English Criticism. — Death of Oehlenschlåger.

— The Copenhagen Theatre. — The Casino. — Ole Luckoie. — H. C. Orsted and "Spirit in Nature." — Peace. — Death of Madame Hartmann. — Death of H. C. Orsted .... 332-382

X CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XV. 1851 — April 18^5. PAGE

A Longing for the Country. — To Prague. — A Summer at Glorup. — A Soldier Festival. — A Visit to the Seat of the Late War. — To the Serres at Maxen. — The Bourbons for Travelling Companions.*

— The Title of Professor. — At Weimar. — Liszt and Wagner. — Munich. — With the Royal Family at their Country-seat. — To Switzerland. — Return Home. — "The Elder Mother." — A Visit to Ingemann's. — At Glorup. — With Michael Drewsen at Silkeborg.— A Collected Edition of my Writings. — I work at this Book for an Introduction. — A Feast given me by Students. — New Journeyings. — With Jenny Lind and her Husband in Vienna.

— To Italy. — Another Visit to the Bavarian King Max. — Home by Way of Eisenach. — At Work upon my Collected Writings. — " A Village Story." — " Eventyr " and " Historier." — Conclusion

of " The Story of my Life " at this Date .... 383-409

CONTINUATION.

April, 1855, to December, 1867.

1855. — Greeting to American Readers. — A Visit to Ingemann and his Wife. — The Nis Story. — Visit at Maxen. — Letter to Ingemann. — At Munich. — Miss Seebach. — How I obtain Means for travelling. — Edgar Collin. — In Switzerland. — Auf Der Mauer.

— Wagner in Zurich. — Spohr at Cassel. — At Weimar. — "A Village Story " 410-418

1856. — Correspondence with Ingemann. — " To be or not to be " 418-420

1857. — A Visit to the Queen Dowager. — A Visit to England at Dickens's Invitation. — To Gadshill. — Dramatic Performance for Douglas Jerrold's Family. — Dickens's Unfailing Good-nature. — Leave-taking. — To Maxen. — A Letter to Dickens The Unveiling of Goethe's and Schiller's Statues at Weimar. — Liszt's Music.

— Home by Hamburg. — Letter from Ingemann , . 420-429

jgijg. _ 1 read my Stories before the Mechanics' Association. — " The Marsh King's Daughter." — Letter from Ingemann. — Death of Henriette Wulff. — Verses on her Death .... 429-435

^59. — "Little Christine." — A Visit at Frederick Castle. — I read a New Story to the King. — A Visit to Old North Wosborg. — Hamlet's Grave. — From Aalborg to Skagen. — The Bishop of Borglum. — A Haunted House. — Two Ghostly Experiences. — Skagen. — Jutland Hospitality. — At Ingemann's — My Pension is increased. — Christmas Eve at Basnos .... 436-451

CONTENTS. xi

PAGH

i860. — A Statue to H. C. Orsted. — Spring Travels. — In Holstein.

— On my Way to Rome. — At Munich. — The Passion Play at Oberammergau. — To Le Locle. — Watchmaking. — In Geneva. — Heiberg's Death. — I give up Rome and spend my Christmas at Basnos . . . . . • . . . 451-459

1861. — Travelling again with Jonas Collin. — To Nice and Genoa. — At Rome. — A Visit to Kiichler. — Bjornstjerne Bjornson. — I make his Acquaintance. — A Festival. — Bjornson's Verses to me. — The Sculptor Story. — Mrs. Browning. — Her Verses in my Honor.

— The Journey Northward. — At Cavour's Funeral in Turin. — Milan. — In Switzerland. — A Festival at Einsiedeln. — At Home.

— News of Old Collin's Death. — The Funeral. — A New Volume

of Stories 459-468

1862. — Letters from Ingemann, the King, and Bjornstjerne Bjornson.

— The Four-leaved Clover. — Death of Ingemann. — Letter to his Widow. — The Funeral. — My Parting Words. — A Visit to Soro.

— Christian Molbech. — The Celebration at Flensborg. — In Switzerland at Brunnen. — Montreux. — A Poem suggested by the Place. — Jonas Collin and I set out for Spain. — A Flood at Barcelona. — Valencia- — Cartagena. — To Malaga. — The Cemetery at Malaga. — A Strange Misunderstanding. — Granada. — The Queen's Entrance. — The Alhambra. — At Gibraltar. — A Visit to Sir Drummond Hay at Tangiers. — Cadiz. — Seville. — Cordova. — To Madrid. — The Spanish Capital. — Burgos. — Biarritz. — New Year's Eve in Bordeaux . . . . . . . . 468-489

1863. — Gounod's " Faust." — Poictiers. — To Paris. — A Scandinavian Festival at Bjornson's Suggestion. — At Home again writing out my Notes for " In Spain." — Death of King Frederick VII. — The Funeral Obsequies. — War breaks out. — "A Song of Trust " 489-497

1864. — The War Enthusiasm. — The Prussian Successes. — A Dreary Time. — Depression, and work to throw it off. — A Visit to Madame Ingemann 497-503

1865. — " The Spaniards were here." — Summer Journeying amongst Friends. — Journey to Sweden. — Stockholm. — The Henriques- — Visit to the Royal Family's Country-seat. — "Thou." — Fredrika Bremer. — Beskow's Party. — At the University Town of Lund. — A Welcome. — Return Home. — With the Royal Family at Fredensborg. — Bournonville. — Waiting for the Time to visit Portugal 503-5M

1866. — An Invitation to Amsterdam. — Journey to Holland. — The Brothers Brandt at Amsterdam. — The Theatre. — The Zoological

Xll CONTENTS.

PAGE

Gardens. — Verhulst. — Gade's Works. — Social Distinctions. — Miss Kleine Gartmann. — Ten Kate. — Leyden. — A Drive to the Mouth of the Rhine. — The Hague. : — By Brussels to Paris. — The Danish Crown Prince. — To Yincennes with him. — My Birthday and the Souvenirs sent me. — Christine Nilsson. — Rossini. — A Perilous Journey across a Street. — Frolich. — I receive the Order of Notre Dame de Gaudeloupe. — In Bordeaux. — Ristori. — En route for Lisbon. — Reception by the O'Neills. — Castilho. — At Carlos O'Neill's Villa. — Setubal. — Coimbra. — Return to Lisbon.

— An Experience at Sea. — In Bordeaux. — To Hamburg. — At Odense. — Carl Bloch. — Madame Ingemann. — My Home in Copenhagen. — The Seven Days of the Week with my Friends. 514-544

1867. — Readings of my Stories. — My Birthday. — To Paris for the Great Exhibition. — The Danish Representation — Robert Wall. — In Le Locle. — At Home. — A Second Visit to Paris to study for " The Dryad." — French Editors' Excursion to Copenhagen. — Home by Baden Baden. — In Odense. — I am invited by the Town to receive an Honorary Citizenship. — The Celebration. — The Speeches and Scenes in the Town Hall. — A fulfillment of Prophecy.

— Lahn's Institution. — Conclusion ' 544-5^9

Chapter I

MY life is a lovely story, happy and full of incident. If, when I was a boy, and went forth into the world poor and friendless, a good fairy had met me and said, " Choose now thy own course through life, and the object for which thou wilt strive, and then, according to the development of thy mind, and as reason requires, I will guide and defend thee to its attainment," my fate could not, even then, have been directed more happily, more prudently, or better. The history of my life will say to the world what it says to me, — There is a loving God, who directs all things for the best. ^

In the year 1805 there lived at Odense, in a small mean room, a young married couple, who were extremely attached to each other ; he was a shoemaker, scarcely twenty-two years old, a man of a richly gifted and truly poetical mind. His wife, a few years older than himself, was ignorant of life and of the world, but possessed a heart full of love. The young man had himself made his shoemaking bench, and the bedstead with which he began housekeeping ; this bedstead he had made out of the wooden frame which had borne only a short time before the coffin of the deceased Count Trampe, as he lay in state, and the remnants of the black cloth on the wood-work kept the fact still in remembrance.

Instead of a noble corpse, surrounded by crape and waxlights, here lay, on the second of April, 1805, a living and weeping child, — that was myself, Hans Christian Andersen. During the first day of my existence my father is said to have sat by the bed and read aloud in Holberg, but I cried all the

2 THE STORY CF MY LIFE.

time. " Wilt thou go to sleep, or listen quietly ? " it is re ported that my father asked in joke \ but I still cried on ; and even in the church, when I was taken to be baptized, I cried so loudly that the preacher, who was a passionate man, said, " The young one screams like a cat ! " which words my mother never forgot. A poor emigrant, Gomar, who stood as godfather, consoled her in the mean time by saying that the louder I cried as a child, all the more beautifully should I sing when I grew older.

Our little room, which was almost filled with the shoemaker's bench, the bed, and my crib, was the abode of my childhood ; the walls, however, were covered with pictures, and over the work-bench was a cupboard containing books and songs ; the little kitchen was full of shining plates and metal pans, and by means of a ladder it was • possible to go out on the roof, where, in the gutters between it and the neighbor's house, there stood a great chest filled with soil, my mother's sole garden, and where she grew her vegetables. In my story of the " Snow Queen " that garden still blooms.

I was the only child, and was extremely spoiled, but I continually heard from my mother how very much happier I was than she had been, and that I was brought up like a nobleman's child. She, as a child, had been driven out by her parents to beg, and once when she was not able to do it, she had sat for a whole day under a bridge and wept. I have drawn her character in two different aspects, — in old Dominica, in the " Improvisatore," and in the mother of Christian, in " Only a Fiddler."

My father gratified me in all my wishes. I possessed his whole heart ; he lived for me. On Sundays he made me perspective glasses, theatres, and pictures which could be changed ; he read to me from Holberg's plays and the " Arabian Tales ; " it was only in such moments as these that I can remember to have seen him really cheerful, for he never felt himself happy in his life and as a handicraftsman. His parents had been country people in good circumstances, but upon whom many misfortunes had fallen : the cattle had died ; the farm-house had been burned down ; and lastly, the husband had lost his reason. On this the wife had removed with him to Odense, and there put her son, whose mind was full of intelligence, apprentice to a shoemaker ; it could not be otherwise, although it was his ardent wish to attend the grammar school, where he might learn Latin. A few well-to-do citizens had at one time spoken of this, of clubbing together to raise a sufficient sum to pay for his board and education, and thus giving him a start in life ; but it never went beyond words. My poor father saw his dearest wish unfulfilled ; and he never lost the remembrance of it. I recollect that once, as a child? I saw tears in his eyes, and it was when a youth from the grammar school came to our house to be measured for a new pair of boots, and showed us his books and told us what he learned.

" That was the path upon which I ought to have gone ! " said my father, kissed me passionately, and was silent the whole evening.

He very seldom associated with his equals. He went out into the woods on Sundays, when he took me with him ; he did not talk much when he was out, but would sit silently, sunk in deep thought, whilst I ran about and strung strawberries on a bent, or bound garlands. Only twice in the year, and that in the month of May, when the woods were arrayed in their earliest green, did my mother go with us, and then she wore a cotton gown, which she put on only on these occasions and when she partook of the Lord's Supper, and which, as long as I can remember, was her holiday gown. She always took home with her from the wood a great many fresh beech boughs, which were then planted behind the polished stone. Later in the year sprigs of St. John's wort were stuck into the chinks of the beams, and we considered their growth as omens whether our lives would be long or short. Green branches and pictures ornamented our little room, which my mother always kept neat and clean ; she took great pride in always having the bed linen and the curtains very white.

One of my first recollections, although very slight in itself, had for me a good deal of importance, from the power by which the fancy of a child impressed it upon my soul ; it was a family festival, and can you guess where ? In that very place in Odense, in that house which I had always looked on with fear and trembling, just as boys in Paris may have looked at the Bastile — in the Odense house of correction.

My parents were acquainted with the jailer, who invited them to a family dinner, and I was to go with them. I was at that time still so small that I was carried when we returned home.

The House of Correction was for me a great store-house of siories about robbers and thieves : often I had stood, but always at a safe distance, and listened to the singing of the men within and of the women spinning at their wheels.

I went with my parents to the jailer's ; the heavy ironbolted gate was opened and again locked with the key from the rattling bunch ; we mounted a steep staircase — we ate and drank, and two of the prisoners waited at the table ; they could not induce me to taste of anything, the sweetest things I pushed away ; my mother told them I was sick, and I was laid on a bed, where I heard the spinning-wheels humming near by and merry singing, whether in my own fancy or in reality, I cannot tell ; but I know that I was afraid, and was kept on the stretch all the time ; and yet I was in a pleasant humor, making up stories of how I had entered a castle full of robbers. Late in the night my parents went home, carrying me, the rain, for it was rough weather, dashing against my face.

Odense was in my childhood quite another town from what it is now, when it has shot ahead of Copenhagen, with its water carried through the town and I know not what else ! Then it was a hundred years behind the times ; many customs and manners prevailed which long since disappeared from the capital. When the guilds removed their signs, they went in procession with flying banners and with lemons dressed in ribbons stuck on their swords. A harlequin with bells and a wooden sword ran at the head ; one of them, an old fellow, Hans Struh, made a great hit by his merry chatter and his face, which was painted black, except the nose, that kept its genuine red color. My mother was so pleased with him that she tried to find out if he was in any way related to us, but I remember very well that I, with all the pride of an aristocrat, protested against any relationship with the " fool."

The first Monday in Lent the butchers used to lead through the streets a fat ox, adorned with wreaths of flowers and ridden by a boy in a white shirt and wearing wings.

The sailors also passed through the streets with music and flags and streamers flying • two of the boldest ended by wrestling on a plank placed between two boats, and the one that did not tumble into the water was the hero.

But what especially was fixed in my memory, and is very often revived by being spoken about, was the stay of the Spaniards in Funen in 1808. Denmark was in alliance with Napoleon, who had declared war against Sweden, and before anybody was aware of it, a French army and Spanish auxiliary troops, under command of Marshal Bernadotte, Prince of Pontecorvo, entered Funen in order to pass over into Sweden. I was at that time not more than three years old, but I remember very well those dark-brown men bustling in the streets, and the cannon that were fired in the market-place and before the bishop's residence ; I saw the foreign soldiers stretching themselves on the sidewalks and on bundles of straw in the halfburned St. John's Church. The castle of Kolding was burnt, and Pontecorvo came to Odense, where his wife and his son Oscar were staying. The school-houses all about were changed into guard-rooms, and the mass was celebrated under the large trees in the fields and on the road. The French soldiers were said to be haughty and arrogant, the Spanish good-natured and friendly ; a fierce hatred existed between them ; the poor Spaniards excited most interest.

A Spanish soldier one day took me up in his arms and pressed against my lips a silvery image, which he carried on his breast. I remember that my mother became angry because, as she said, it was something Catholic, but I was pleased with the image, and the foreign soldier danced with me, kissed me, and shed tears ; he had, perhaps, children himself at home. I saw one of his comrades carried to execution for having killed a Frenchman. Many years afterward, in remembrance of that, I wrote my little poem, " The Soldier," which, translated into German by Chamisso, has become popular, and is found in German " Soldier Songs " as an original German song.