be a province
of Denmark, being treated like a conquered land; yet there was not a man
to protest against the humiliation. The loss of national standing had
come on so gradually that the people, widely scattered over their
mountain land and absorbed in their occupations, scarcely noticed it,
though they were quick enough to resent any encroachment upon their
personal liberty and rights. There were outbreaks, indeed, from time to
time, but these were soon put down and the Danish rule held good.

This was not the case with Sweden, a more thickly settled and civilized
land. The struggle of the Swedes for freedom continued for some
seventy-five years and was finally accomplished in 1523. How this was
done will be told in other tales. As for Norway, it was ceded by Denmark
to Sweden in 1814, and the people of that mountain land regained their
national rights, with a free constitution, though ruled by the Swedish
king. This union held good until 1905, when it was peacefully broken and
Norway gained a king of its own again, after being kingless for more than
five hundred years.

_HOW SIR TORD FOUGHT FOR CHARLES OF SWEDEN._

In the year 1450 and the succeeding period there was great disorder in
the Scandinavian kingdoms. The Calmar Union was no longer satisfactory to
the people of Sweden, who were bitterly opposed to being ruled by a
Danish king. There were wars and intrigues and plots and plans, with
plenty of murder and outrage, as there is sure to be in such troublous
times. There was king after king, none of them pleasing to the people.
King Erik behaved so badly that neither Sweden nor Denmark would have
anything to do with him, and he became a pirate, living by plunder. Then
Duke Christopher of Bavaria was elected king of Scandinavia, but he also
acted in a way that made every one glad when he died. In those days there
was a great nobleman in Sweden, named Karl Knutsson, who had a hand in
everything that was going on. One thing especially made him very popular
at that time, when a new king was to be elected. The spring had been very
dry and there was danger of a complete failure of the crops, but on the
day when Karl landed in Stockholm, May 23, 1450, there came plentiful
rains and the people rejoiced, fancying that in some way he had brought
about the change of weather. So, when the lords assembled to elect a new
king, Karl received sixty-two out of seventy votes, while the people
shouted that they would have