FACING PAGE OUR COUNTRY _Otto Hesselbom_ 9 A SWEDISH SHEPHERDESS _Anders Zorn_ 16 SUMMER EVENING ON THE WEST COAST OF SWEDEN _Oscar Hullgren_ 25 GUSTAVUS VASA’S ENTRY INTO STOCKHOLM, MIDSUMMER, 1523 _Carl Larsson_ 32 A SUMMER DAY IN NORTH SWEDEN _Carl Johansson_ 41 A SKI-RUNNER _Hallström_ 48 “BRASKULLA,” A PEASANT GIRL FROM MORA _Anders Zorn_ 57 IN DAYS OF OLD _Ankarcrona_ 64 A GIRL WITH “KICKER” _Carl Larsson_ 73 DANCE ON MIDSUMMER’S EVE _Anders Zorn_ 80 A GIRL FROM RÄTTVIK “ _on the cover_ _Sketch-Map of Sweden on p. viii._ [Illustration: SKETCH-MAP OF SWEDEN.] SWEDEN CHAPTER I SWEDISH HISTORY In one of the most beautiful and romantic districts of Sweden there is one of the oldest copper-mines in the world. It is situated at Falun in Dalecarlia. About 400 years ago a young man might have been seen looking into the open mine. He was full of thought and anxiety, for was not his country in the hands of the Danish King, Christian II., a cruel tyrant? and was not he himself being pursued and driven to seek concealment, as he was a direct descendant of the ancient Kings of Sweden? He had suffered much, but had never given up hope. He stood there thinking of his country’s down-trodden condition, hopeful, trustful, and resolute, resolving to deliver his native land from the foreign yoke. He remembered how the miners had fought in days of old for their country. He would rouse them so that they would do it again. He donned the peasant costume, and became as one of themselves. He worked alongside them in the mines, and soon became a great favourite because of his bright, winning manner. He took every opportunity of speaking to them of the subject that lay nearest to his heart--the freedom of their native land. He told them of the massacre of many nobles at Stockholm, of ladies of rank being thrown into the sea, of boys being whipped to death, and of peasants hanged for the slightest offence at the order of King Christian, the Nero of the North.