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GODFATHER'S PICTURE-BOOK 973
1 " The King has decreed it : Serfdom shall cease ; the agrarian laws shall be set in order and put in force, that the free yeoman may become brave and enlightened, diligent and good, a worthy citizen, and happy I "
' What a day of sunshine ! What '■ a Summer festival" !
' The spirits of light sang : " The good grows ! The beautiful grows ! Soon the stone on Ulfeldt's Place will fall, but Freedom's column shall stand in sunshine, blessed by God, the king, and the people."
We have a highway old and wide And to the ends of earth it goes.
' The open sea, open for friend or foe ; and the foe was there. It sailed up, the mighty English fleet ; a great power came against a little one. The fight was hard, but the people were brave.
Each stood firm with dauntless breath, Stood and fought and met his death.
' They won the admiration of the foe, and inspired the poets of Denmark. That day of battle is still commemorated with waving flags—Denmark's glorious second of April, the battle-day at the Roadstead.
1 Years passed. A fleet was seen in Ore Sound. Was it bound for Russia or Denmark ? No one knew, not even on board.
' There is a legend in the mouth of the people, that that morning in Ore Sound, when the sealed orders were broken open and read, and instructions given to take the Danish fleet, a young captain stepped forward to his chief, a son of Britain, noble in word and deed : "I swore," was his word, " that to my death I would fight for England's flag in open and honourable fight, but not to overpower the weak." And with that he sprang overboard !
And so to Copenhagen sailed the fleet.
While far from where they fought the battle stark, Lay he, the Captain—no one knows his name—
A corpse sea-cold, hidden by waters dark, Until he drifted shorewards, and the Swedes,
Beneath the starry sky who cast their nets. Found him, and bore him in their boat to land,
And—cast the dice to win his epaulettes ! |
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