HE FALLS IN LOVE. 137 



in their tents. " Blow," said the gallant Ake, turning to his 

 trumpeter, " and wake them up." But the man hesitated, 

 and remarked that as the Danes were at their mercy, then 

 was the time to revenge themselves. " No," said the noble- 

 minded Swede, " let us have a fair fight. It would be 

 disgraceful to murder a King's son and so many noble 

 gentlemen in their deepest sleep." The man still delaying 

 to obey his order, Ake exclaimed with an oath : " Blow, 

 I say, or I will send my spear through your body !" 

 At this threat the trumpeter sounded his bugle, on which 

 the knight dashed forward with his cavalry, and committed 

 great slaughter amongst the enemy. But fortune deserted 

 him after a time, and the infantry not coming to his assist- 

 ance, he and his people were at last driven out of the 

 encampment with considerable loss. 



In the early part of his reign, Christian, so far from 

 showing the ferocity and cruelty generally laid to his 

 charge, took many steps in the right direction. Among 

 other beneficial measures, he greatly ameliorated the con- 

 dition of the peasantry, who previously had been little better 

 than slaves to the nobles. By this course he won their 

 regard. Historians, however, say this was done for the 

 purpose of crushing the powers of the great seigneurs, so 

 that he alone might rule supreme. 



When on his Norwegian expedition, he fell desperately in 

 love with a young girl of Dutch extraction, named Dyvika, 

 the handsomest woman, by every account, in all the north. 

 On the death of his father in 1513, he sent for her to 

 Copenhagen ; and as she was of a mild and affectionate 

 disposition, it was supposed that the alteration observable 

 in his behaviour originated in great part from the harmo- 



