Frithjof's and Ingeborg's childhood in Hilding's house
are obviously personal reminiscences:

"No bird's nest found so high a spot
That he for her could find it not;
The eagle's nest from clouds he sundered,
And eggs and young he deftly plundered.

"However swift, there ran no brook,
But o'er it Ingeborg he took;
How sweet, when roaring torrents frighten,
To feel her soft arms round him tighten.

"The first spring flowers by sunshine fed,
The earliest strawberries turning red,
The first of autumn's golden treasure
He proffered her with eager pleasure."[26]

[26] Translation of Thomas A. E. and Martha A. L. Holcomb, Chicago,
1877. I have taken the liberty to substitute "strawberries," which
is the correct translation of "Smultron," for berries.

At the age of seventeen Tegner entered the University of Lund,
accompanied by three young Myhrmans, whose father had generously
promised to share with Assessor Branting the expenses of his academic
education. His playmate, familiarly called Achilles, had to share his
room, and thus it came to pass that Hector and his deadly foe became
bedfellows. In fact the bed in question, being intended for but one,
afforded the scantiest possible accommodations for two, and often
threatened to collapse under their united weight. Aching in every joint
from the discomfort of their cramped position, they would then get up
and spend the remainder of the night in playing chess.

At the University Tegner soon made his mark, and two years later took
his degree of _Magister Artium_ with great distinction, being, according
to the extraordinary custom of the country, laurel-crowned in the
cathedral as the first of twenty-four candidates. The Swede loves pomp
and ceremonious display, and rarely misses an opportunity for a fine
stage effect. I do not mean to insinuate, of course, that Esaias Tegner
was unworthy of the honor which was conferred upon him; but it seems a
terrible cheapening of the laurel to place it annually upon the brows of
a herd of deedless striplings, standing upon the threshold of their
careers. Tegner was but nineteen years of age when the Muse, contrary to
her habit, gave him the crown without the dust, generously rewarding him
in advance of performance. But he came very near forfeiting the fruits
of all his fair fame by participating in a hostile demonstration in
front of the house of the University's rector, who