A man must fight his way, but humility
becomes a woman."
Then the fight, and the return with victory; the impatient ride that
left all the rest behind as they neared home, the unspoken prayer
of the knight as he bent his head over the saddle-bow, riding up
the hill over the edge of which the church must presently appear,
that it might be a tower; and his "sly laugh" when it comes into view
with two towers for one. Well might he laugh. Those twin brothers
became the makers of Danish history in its heroic age; the one a
mighty captain, the other a great bishop, King Valdemar's friend
and counsellor, who fought when there was need "as well with sword
as with book." Absalon left the country Christian to the core. It
was his clerk, Saxo, surnamed Grammaticus because of his learning,
who gave to the world the collection of chronicles and traditionary
lore to which we owe our Hamlet.
[Illustration: Sir Asker Ryg's church at FJennesloevlille ]
The church stands there with its two towers. They made haste to
restore them when they read in the long-hidden paintings the story
of Sir Asker's return and gratitude, just as tradition had handed
it down from the twelfth century.
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