Denmark
In Denmark there is an ancient castle by the name of Kronborg. It stands very close to the Øresund, where hundreds of great ships pass every day, ships from England, from Russia, and from Prussia. They greet the ancient castle with canon salutes: "Boom!" And the castle salutes back with its canons: "Boom!" That is how canons say "Good day!" and "Thank you!"
The ships don't sail there during the winter, for then everything is frozen solid all the way to the Swedish coast, it is just like a country road. The Danish flag and the Swedish flag are waving there, and the Danes and the Swedes say "Good day!" and "Thank you!" to each other, but not with canons, but rather with a friendly handshake. They take wheat bread and pretzels home with them, because foreign food always tastes better. But the grandest thing to be seen there is the ancient Kronborg. And down deep inside, in a dark cellar where no one ever goes, sits Holger Danske. He is dressed in iron and steel, with his head resting on his strong arms. His long beard hangs over a marble table, into which it has grown. The knight sleeps and dreams, and in his dreams he sees everything that is happening above in Denmark.
Every Christmas Eve an Angel of God comes and assures him that what he has dreamed is true, and that he can safely go back to sleep, because Denmark is in no real danger. But if danger ever does come, then old Holger Danske will arise, breaking the table in pieces as he pulls out his beard! And then he will come forward and strike out and be heard in all the lands of the earth.
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Source: Abstracted from H. C. Andersen, Nye Eventyr (1845).
- Link to
"Holger
Danske" på dansk, H. C. Andersen's text, in the original
Danish.
- Kronborg Castle, located at Helsingør, is Hamlet's castle.
- Click here for a photograph of a statue of Holger Danske.
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