How much is an English shilling in our money?  Is a dollar and a half a pair too much to expect for good chickens?  Is eighty-seven and a half cents too small a price for a pair?  Is twenty pounds too much or too little for twenty-five pairs of chickens at three shillings and sixpence per pair?

If she could get twenty pounds for her chickens, could she buy a cow, thirty geese, two turkeys and a sow with a litter of eight pigs for the money?

HOLGER DANSKE

By Hans Christian Andersen

Note.—­The first paragraphs of this story contain an old Danish legend which Hans Christian Andersen uses very skilfully.  We can imagine that the story would mean a great deal more to boys of Denmark than it does to us, for they would be a great deal more familiar with the people referred to than we are; but there is so much in the story that is not confined to Denmark, and it is told in such a fascinating way, that even the boys of the United States will find it interesting.

In Denmark there lies a castle named Kronenburgh.  It lies close by the Oer Sound, where the ships pass through by hundreds every day—­English, Russian, and likewise Prussian ships.  And they salute the old castle with cannons—­’Boom!’ And the castle answers with a ‘Boom!’ for that’s what the cannons say instead of ‘Good day’ and ‘Thank you!’ In winter no ships sail there, for the whole sea is covered with ice quite across to the Swedish coast; but it has quite the look of a highroad.  There wave the Danish flag and the Swedish flag, and Danes and Swedes say ’Good day’ and ‘Thank you!’ to each other, not with cannons, but with a friendly grasp of the hand; and one gets white bread and biscuits from the other—­for strange fare tastes best.

“But the most beautiful of all is the old Kronenburgh; and here it is that Holger Danske sits in the deep, dark cellar, where nobody goes.  He is clad in iron and steel, and leans his head on his strong arm; his long beard hangs down over the marble table, and has grown into it.  He sleeps and dreams, but in his dreams he sees everything that happens up there in Denmark.  Every Christmas Eve comes an angel, and tells him that what he has dreamed is right, and that he may go to sleep in quiet, for that Denmark is not yet in any real danger; but when once such a danger comes, then old Holger Danske will rouse himself, so that the table shall burst when he draws out his beard!  Then he will come forth and strike, so that it shall be heard in all the countries in the world.”

An old grandfather sat and told his little grandson all this about Holger Danske; and the little boy knew that what his grandfather told him was true.  And while the old man sat and told his story, he carved an image which was to represent Holger Danske, and to be fastened to the prow of a ship; for the old grandfather was a carver of figureheads, that is, one who cuts out the figures fastened to the front of ships, from which every ship is named.  And here he had cut out Holger Danske, who stood there proudly with his long beard, and held the broad battle-sword in one hand, while with the other he leaned upon the Danish arms.