SKETCH-MAP OF SWEDEN.
SWEDEN
CHAPTER I
SWEDISH HISTORY
In one of the most beautiful and romantic districts of Sweden there is one of the oldest copper-mines in the world. It is situated at Falun in Dalecarlia. About 400 years ago a young man might have been seen looking into the open mine. He was full of thought and anxiety, for was not his country in the hands of the Danish King, Christian II., a cruel tyrant? and was not he himself being pursued and driven to seek concealment, as he was a direct descendant of the ancient Kings of Sweden? He had suffered much, but had never given up hope. He stood there thinking of his country’s down-trodden condition, hopeful, trustful, and resolute, resolving to deliver his native land from the foreign yoke. He remembered how the miners had fought in days of old for their country. He would rouse them so that they would do it again. He donned the peasant costume, and became as one of themselves. He worked alongside them in the mines, and soon became a great favourite because of his bright, winning manner. He took every opportunity of speaking to them of the subject that lay nearest to his heart—the freedom of their native land. He told them of the massacre of many nobles at Stockholm, of ladies of rank being thrown into the sea, of boys being whipped to death, and of peasants hanged for the slightest offence at the order of King Christian, the Nero of the North.
After working in the mine for some time, he was recognized. He then took service with an old college friend, Anders Persson, of Rankhytta, who sympathized with him, but was unable to help him. He sent him to Squire Arendt Persson, who, eager to win the reward offered for Gustavus Vasa’s capture, betrayed him to the Danish soldiers. Arendt’s wife suspected treachery, and let the young man down with a towel from a window in the loft to the snow-covered ground outside, where a trusty servant was waiting with a sledge to convey him to a place of safety. When Persson arrived next morning with soldiers, he found the bird flown.