AND EDUCATION IN DENMARK. 231 
his designation. For this once at least, the miserable monastery fell 
entirely under the deyil’s dominion. The choir was abandoned ; nei- 
ther prayer nor holy chant were now heard in the church: brother 
Ruus over-ruled the abbot, and brother Ruus governed the monks 
also: he tippled by day, and he played the rake by night: he experi- 
enced a particular pleasure in exhibiting the cowl and the cassock 
where they ought never to be seen. When he performed excursions 
through the country, his presence proved a great misfortune to every 
house he visited, and to the peasants with whom he stopped to talk. 
His envenomed breath dispread a moral poison around him, and he 
rarely entered a hamlet without exciting a quarrel or committing a 
cruel theft. One day, however, brother Ruus fell a victim to his own 
knavishness. He stole a cow from a poor peasant who had no other 
property in the world. For a whole day, the unfortunate man vainly 
sought for his cow every where, in the valleys and on the hills. At 
night, on finding himself wildered in the mazes of a forest, he took 
shelter in the hollow trunk of a tree. At his feet, with surprise, he 
perceived a subterranean passage: he descended the mysterious way : 
and, after wandering onwards for many a weary hour, he arrived at 
the gates of hell. The time was a day of solemn audience. Satan 
was then seated on his throne, and his emissaries to earth were then 
assembled to render an account of their proceedings. Some of them 
had stirred up a civil war: some had created discord in families : 
others had fostered a delight in robbery, encouraged blasphemy, pro- 
moted sacrilege. At these tidings, the king of Pandemonium some- 
times grinned a smile most horrible, and sometimes he coaxed his 
minions with an approving nod. Anon, a jolly demon made his ap- 
pearance attired in the reverend guise of a monk: this was brother 
Ruus. His homage done, he proceeds to relate the incidents of his 
monastic life: the crew of devils envy him his occupation, and Satan 
himself applauds the villain’s cozenage. With the report of Ruus, 
the council terminated ; and the peasant, overwhelmed with dismay, 
retraced his steps through the hollow oak. Next day, he hastened to 
the abbey, and described the dreadful scene he had witnessed. The 
abbot’s eyes are opened, and he becomes sensible of his guiltiness : 
he assembles the penitent brotherhood : and, altogether, they fall on 
their knees, devoutly imploring the forgiveness of Heaven. Ruus is 
driven with disgrace from their society ; and the purified austerity of 
their monastic functions is resumed. 
This grotesque fiction represents the prominent features of imagi- 
native literature in Denmark, during the middle age. It appears 
