day, good day," said the soldier, stretching out his hand.

"Good day to you," said the giant, giving him the red-hot iron bar.

Cask took the iron and pressed it so hard that it hissed.

"You have got very warm hands, I must say," he said. "What's your name?"

"I'm the giant Swede," said the troll.

"That was a Swedish hand-shake of yours, anyhow, and now I realise that
I am in the Alleberg. Are the golden helmets still asleep?"

"Will you be quiet!" exclaimed the giant, threatening him with the
red-hot bar.

"You shall see them, because you belong to the Vaestgotadal regiment, but
first of all you must solve my riddle," he continued.

"If you want to fight one of your own countrymen, well and good. But
first of all, put that fiery thing away!"

"Very well, Cask, you shall recite the history of Sweden while I smoke
my pipe. Then I will show you the golden helmets. The whole history of
Sweden, please."

"I can easily do that, although I was not one of the top dogs at the
military school. Let me try and recall it to memory."

"There is one condition: you must not mention the name of a single king;
for if you do, those inside will get angry; and when they get angry,
then, you know...."

"It will be awfully difficult. But light your pipe and I'll begin.
Here's a match!"

The soldier scratched his head and began:

"One--two--three! In the year 1161, or thereabouts, Sweden first came
into existence; a kingdom, a king, and an archbishop--is that enough?"

"No," said Swede, "not at all. Begin again."

"Very well, then! In the year 1359 the Swedish people became a nation,
for then the Parliament of the four estates first met, and it continued
to meet, with interruptions, until 1866."

"Well, but you're a soldier," said Swede, "surely you'll have a few
words to say about wars."

"There are only two wars of any importance, and they ended, the first
with the peace of Broemsebro in 1645, when we got Herjedalen, Jaemtland,
and Gottland, and the second with the peace of Roeskilde in 1658, when we
got Schonen, Halland, Blekinge, and Bohuslaen. And that is all there is
of the history of Sweden."

"But you forget the constitutions?"

"Well, we had an autocracy from 1680 to 1718 then there followed
a period of freedom until 1789, and this was followed again by an
autocracy. Then came Adlersparre's revolution in 1809, and he got Hans
Jaerke to draw up the constitution which is still surviving. That is all
you nee