all the works of this king of
northern poets, are greatly loved by all Scandinavians. Every young Dane
delights in Oehlenschlaeger as we do in Shakespeare, and by reading his
works the youths of Denmark lay the foundation of their education in
poetry. This bard was crowned Laureate in Lund (Sweden) by the greatest
of Swedish poets, Esaias Tegner, 1829. Buried by his own request at his
birth-place, Frederiksberg, two Danish miles (which means eight English
miles) from Copenhagen, his loving countrymen insisted on carrying him
the whole distance, so great was their admiration for this King of
dramatists.

Niels Ryberg Finsen, whose name I am sure you have heard because his
scientific research gave us the "light-cure"--which has been established
at the London Hospital by our Queen Alexandra, who generously gave the
costly apparatus required for the cure in order to benefit afflicted
English people--was born at Thorshavn, the capital of the Faroe Islands.
These islands are under Denmark, and lie north of the Shetlands. His
father was magistrate there. His parents were Icelanders. At twelve
years of age Niels was sent to school in Denmark, and after a few years
at the Grammar School of Herlufholm, he returned to his parents, who
were now stationed in their native town, Reykjavik, the capital of
Iceland. Niels continued his studies there, and when old enough returned
to Denmark to commence his medical work at the University of Copenhagen.

Hitherto he had shown no particular aptitude, but in his medical work he
soon distinguished himself, and his skill gained him a place in the
laboratory. He now began to study the effect of light as a curative
remedy. All his life Finsen thought the sunlight the most beautiful
thing in the world--perhaps because he saw so little of it in his
childhood. He had watched its wonderful effect on all living things,
being much impressed by the transformation caused in nature by the warm
life-giving rays. With observations on lizards, which he found
charmingly responsive to sun effects, he accidentally made his
discovery, and gave to the world this famous remedy for diseases of the
skin, which has relieved thousands of sufferers of all nations.

CHAPTER V

LEGENDARY LORE AND FOLK DANCES

The legend of Holger Danske, who is to be Denmark's deliverer when heavy
troubles come upon her, is one which has its counterpart in other
countries, resembling that of our own King Arthur and the Germa