Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XXXVII - Voergaard
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
Below is the raw OCR text
from the above scanned image.
Do you see an error? Proofread the page now!
Här nedan syns maskintolkade texten från faksimilbilden ovan.
Ser du något fel? Korrekturläs sidan nu!
This page has never been proofread. / Denna sida har aldrig korrekturlästs.
Chap. XXXVII. THE “ROSODONTEN.” 121
courtyard among the milk-pails—for we have here
300 cows, each morning some ton and a half of butter
made before breakfast*—I could not help thinking
how well one of our water-colour artists might have
limned this out. It is a wonder they never travel in
Jutland; they would find living cheap and a new
subject for their pencils.
■ The intendante came out with her keys, and asked us
if we should like to visit the rooms: one, hung with
splendid embossed Flemish leather, alone attests the
former magnificence of the building. The oak and
walnut carved doors still remaining show that Frue
Ingeborg knew what she was about. As for the loft,
you might lodge a regiment therein, and the timber
walls are constructed with a solidity only to be
accomplished by those who do not pay their reckonings.
Ingeborg, too, had no idea of being defenceless. In
the cellars at the basement of her octagonal towers
were placed cannons, ready to sweep the neighbouring
country at a moment’s notice. As for her prisons,
the “ Rosodonten,”—with its iron hooks for hanging and
torture, her own invention,—without window, door, or
opening, in which human bones were lately discovered,
is one of the most horrible that can be imagined. In
the year 1841 several murders were committed in the
Vendsyssel, and the people suspected lodged in the
prison of the Rosodonten. One night was sufficient;
terrified, they declared, by the menaces of Frue Ingeborg
Skeel, they one after another confessed their crime,
declaring they would rather be hanged or lose their
* Calculating the Danish ton at 118 lbs. English, nearly 180 per diem.
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
