Full resolution (JPEG) - On this page / på denna sida - XLVII - Odense
<< 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.
24G
ODENSE.
Chap. XLVII.
those most oprør-ious of all subjects the Vendel boers.
On his journey none succoured him, save one, and that
one a granite boulder. The weary king, on his way
from Middelfart to Odense, sank down from sheer
fatigue on the rock which lay by the wayside. Touched,
says tradition, by the sorrows of the unlucky monarch,
the hard granite softened, and the king enjoyed an
undisturbed repose, as on a bed of down, till the morning
dawned, and he continued his journey.
Among his suite was Earl Esbern, called Blakke, or
the “ red-haired,” from his shining locks. Knud loved
him much, but he proved a traitor. He assured the
king there was no danger; that instead of passing across
the Great Belt he might repose at Odense. When the
king was in the sanctuary of St. Alban’s church—English
St. Alban’s, a favourite saint of our own Great Canute
and founder of the edifice—Blakke persuaded him the
Vendels had returned to Jutland, so he slept quietly
together with his two brothers. Blakke then called to
the peasants, “ Go round and shoot the king through
the window.” They did so. Knud was kneeling before
the high altar, with his brother Benedict, when a
javelin, hurled through the window, laid him low.
The king, feeling his end was nigh, prepared, his
arms folded, to meet his death with dignity. He
prayed for his enemies ; but he was very thirsty, and
demanded to drink; thereon a young man ran to the
fountain in the market-place, and, filling an earthen
pot with water, gave it to the dying king, passing it
through the window on his spear; but an old peasant
with his axe struck it down. The king looked up;
their eyes met, and a few moments after the king
expired. That man was never again tranquil; the dying
<< prev. page << föreg. sida << >> nästa sida >> next page >>
