One thing a Swede is never without, and that is his coffee. You may not always get good tea, but you will always get good coffee. The peasants will drink it as often as five times a day. They are also fond of sugar. They have a strange custom of putting a piece of sugar between the teeth, and sweetening the coffee as it passes through the sugar into their mouths. They call this _dricka på bit_. They seem to think they get more enjoyment from the sugar in this way than if it were dissolved in the coffee. There is one other custom that people in England would like to know about. It is the festival of Santa Lucia. There are several stories as to its origin. Some say that it refers to the shortest day, though it falls on December 13. Lucia night, according to the peasants, is so long that the ox from hunger bites the crib. “Lucia night is mortal long,” said the cow. “It’s as good as two,” replied the ram. “That’s true,” put in the goat; “it’s a pity it exists.” Some speak of a beautiful virgin named Lucia, who was about to be married. She had given all her dowry to the Christians because of their courage. When her lover heard of this, he informed against her. She was condemned in the end to death by burning. When the fire was placed around her, she remained unhurt, and did not die until a sword was thrust into her throat. The day is observed in a very quaint fashion. At a very early hour in the morning, perhaps as early as three or four, the sleeper is awakened, to find a maiden dressed in white standing by the bedside. Her hair is streaming down her back. On her head, which is encircled with a wreath of green leaves, are a number of lighted tapers. In her hands are a salver with coffee and cakes, which must be partaken of in bed. After this, in some houses, all get out of bed and sit down to a big feast. Afterwards they shoot a fish by the aid of a torch composed of slips of dry and resinous wood. CHAPTER XII THE ISLAND OF GOTHLAND AND TOWN OF VISBY “In the days of old,” says the saga, “a fair and beautiful island, low and dim, floated on the sea by night, and the people beheld it as they sailed to and fro; but each morning at sunrise it disappeared beneath the waves, until the waning twilight had come again, when it would rise and float over the surface of the Östersjön (Baltic) as before.” No one dared to land upon it, though the belief was general that it would become fixed if a fire was lighted there. Thjelvar, with his men, finally landed in a little bay of the floating island, and lighted a fire, and the island became stationary. The name of this daring man, Thjelvar, means “the Industrious.”