And alone in her chamber swoons Thora, the fairest of women.”
These were hard old times. But the influence of a few noble kings like Haakon the Good and Olaf the Saint wrought in time a great change on these brave Norsemen. They were of too fine a stock to be permanently satisfied with a god who delighted in bloodshed and deceit. Christianity eventually gave them higher ideals without robbing them of their indomitable courage.
I will tell you in my next letter a little about the better days of Norway, particularly in connection with this old city. Of course I can only skim along, picking out a bit here and there. The reading of Boyesen’s Story of Norway has left me with a tremendous respect for the caliber of the Norwegians, from the days of Hasting the Pirate to the days of King Haakon VII, who was crowned in Trondhjem Cathedral in 1905.
Good-by. As ever,
Aylmer.
SIXTH LETTER
The “thermometer of Norway”; the Reformation in Norway; the caliber of the early Reformation pastors; the register of the “Hospitset”; “fladbröd” and “mysost”; a type of Norwegian gentleman.
Trondhjem, February 23.