"Now it's our turn to show you some castles, Greta," said Anna, as she and her mother and Greta got in the car. Anna's mother had promised to take the girls on an all-day trip to northern Zealand. This part of Denmark is as full of castles as a plum-cake is full of plums.

After driving about twenty-five miles along the shore, they came to Kronborg Castle, in the town of Elsinore.

"This is the most famous castle in Denmark," said Anna's mother.

"Why?" asked Greta.

"Haven't you ever read 'Hamlet,' Greta?" asked Anna in surprise. "Kronborg Castle is where Hamlet lived. Only Shakespeare called it Elsinore, which is the name of the town instead of the castle."

As she walked across the old drawbridge and entered the outer yard of the castle, Greta thought that Kronborg was the loveliest castle she had ever seen. It was much larger and much more wonderful than Vosborg. When they came to the drawbridge across the second moat, Anna pointed out the high battlement where the ghost of the murdered king once walked.

"Does he still walk there, Anna?" asked Greta.

"Maybe he does, Greta. All we really know about him is what Shakespeare tells us in his play."

When they crossed the last bridge and passed through the last gateway into the inner courtyard of Kronborg, Greta stopped in surprise. "Oh, Anna, it's so large and so beautiful." Then, just to show that she wasn't really afraid of climbing, she asked, "Tante Elsie, do you suppose we could climb to the top of one of the towers?"

"Yes, I think so."

From the little balcony on the tower they looked out over the ocean.

"Is that an island across the water?" asked Greta.

"Oh, no, Greta. That is Sweden, only three miles away. In the olden days, Kronborg was a fortress that guarded the entrance to the Baltic Sea. All the ships that came from the North Sea into the Kattegat and then into the Baltic had to pass this point of land, and every ship that went by here had to pay money to Denmark. Up here in this very tower there were guards who watched all the ships to see that every one stopped and paid for the privilege of going past this point. In those days, Kronborg was the most important castle in Denmark."

"Don't they have to pay this money now?"

"No. About a hundred years ago Denmark stopped asking for this payment. Ships that are going to the Baltic Sea can now go through the Kiel Canal in Germany, instead of going all the way around Denmark," explained Anna's mother.

As they walked down the narrow, winding stairs, Anna suddenly exclaimed, "Oh, Mother, we forgot to tell Greta why Kronborg is still an important castle."

"Maybe she already knows."

"No, I don't. Please tell me, Anna."

"According to an old, old story, Holger the Dane sleeps in the dungeon that is deep below this tower. If Denmark is ever in trouble of any kind, he will awake and come to her rescue."

"I've heard of Holger the Dane, of course," said Greta, "but I thought he was just an imaginary person."

"He's no more imaginary than a Nisse," said Anna, with a twinkle in her eye.

Greta hated to leave Kronborg, but when Anna told her that they were going to see even finer castles than this one, she was willing to go. After driving about fifteen miles, they turned off the main road and drove down a long avenue of beech trees. At the end of this avenue there was a large white building, with a four-cornered tower rising from the center.

"This is Fredensborg Palace, where the King and Queen live in the autumn," said Anna. "The King comes here for the hunting season."

"Can we go inside this palace?" asked Greta. "I would love to see the Queen's own room."

"Of course you would, little Margrete," said Tante Elsie. "We will ask the guide to show us the Queen's apartments."

It seemed to Greta that the guide took them through miles and miles of rooms. Even then, he showed them only a part of the two hundred and seventy rooms. The palace was much larger than it looked from the front, for it was very long.

"Surely this isn't the Queen's room," said Greta, as she stood in the doorway of the large, sunny bedroom.

"Why not, Greta?" asked Anna in surprise.

"Why, I thought it would be a very grand room, with furniture of gold."

Tante Elsie laughed. "Oh, Greta, you forget that the King and Queen of Denmark are people of simple tastes. This is a beautiful room, and it shows that the Queen likes lovely things. But it also shows that she does not spend money just to make a grand display."

"Perhaps the young lady would like to see the ballroom," said the guide. "I think she will find that it is all that she imagined and really fit for a queen."

He led them through several drawing-rooms and then into the ballroom. It was a large, square room, with windows clear up to the ceiling. The walls and ceiling were light blue, so that it seemed as if the room were open to the sky.

"This is what I always thought a royal palace would be like," said Greta in deep contentment.

"The ceiling of this room is eighty-one feet high," explained the guide. "It forms the tower in the middle of the palace."

Greta didn't want to leave this lovely room. She was fascinated by the pictures painted on the walls, the gorgeous hangings at the windows, and the large groups of glass candlesticks that hung from the ceiling and sparkled like icicles as the sun shone on them.

"Do you want to see the Queen's crown?" asked Anna, as they reluctantly left the beautiful ballroom.

"The Queen's crown?" said Greta. "The Queen is in Copenhagen now; surely her crown wouldn't be here at Fredensborg."

"She has a crown here, too. It is really lovelier than the one she wears at court," said Anna.

When they came to the garden behind the palace, Greta saw what Anna meant. In the middle of the sloping green lawn there was a huge bed of pansies, arranged in the shape of a crown. In the lower part of the crown the pansies were all purple, and in the upper part they were all gold.

"You are right, Anna. This is prettier than any crown of real gold."

"Come, girls. We must be on our way now," said Anna's mother. "We have a long ride ahead of us."

"Are we going to see another castle?" asked Greta.

"Yes, the finest one of all."

After a short drive through a large forest of beech trees, they came to Frederiksborg Castle. It was built on three small islands in the center of a lake. The castle itself was so large that it covered the islands completely and seemed to rise up out of the water itself. When King Frederick built the first castle here, nearly four hundred years ago, he purposely chose these islands in the center of a lake because they were the safest place for a castle. Enemies could not easily reach it here. When this old, old castle was destroyed by fire, a much finer one was built on the islands.

As they crossed the bridge to the main part of the castle, Greta saw two women entering the main doorway.

"Look, Anna," she said in great excitement. "Isn't that Princess Ingrid and Princess Louise going into the castle right this minute?"

When Anna looked, the women had disappeared. Greta was now more eager than ever to visit the castle. Maybe she would see her beloved Princess Ingrid again. Would the Princess remember the little girl who had found her handkerchief on the stairs of the Marble Church? Greta wondered. She was anxious to go inside, but Anna stopped in the courtyard to listen to the chimes on the castle tower. Every hour of the day the ringing chimes played a different tune.

"Let's see the Knights' Hall first," suggested Anna, when they went inside.

Greta wanted to say, "Let's follow Princess Ingrid," but she didn't know which way the Princess had gone. So she followed Anna without a word. The Knights' Hall was the largest room Greta had ever seen. The walls were covered with hangings whose colored threads were woven in such a way as to show scenes from Danish history. Greta thought she would like to study history if she could learn it from pictures like these instead of from textbooks. While she was looking at one of the hangings in a far corner of the room, Anna grabbed her arm.

"There they go, Greta. Don't you want to follow them?"

Then Greta remembered that Princess Ingrid was here in the castle. How could she have forgotten? She and Anna and Tante Elsie left the Knights' Hall and entered the long series of drawing-rooms that filled one wing of Frederiksborg. Greta scarcely looked at the paintings that hung on every wall. She wanted to see a real live princess, not a painted lady in a golden frame. They walked slowly through room after room, but not a glimpse of the Princess did they get.

"I guess Princess Ingrid and her sister have left the castle," said Greta, in an unhappy tone. She was ready now to leave it herself, for it held no further interest for her.

"Now for the most wonderful room of all," said Anna, after they had gone through all the drawing-rooms. She almost had to drag Greta to the chapel, which formed an important part of the castle itself. When the royal family lived at Frederiksborg, services were held here every Sunday. This chapel was really as large as a church. As they came in, the organist was playing softly, and Greta sat down to listen to the music, while Anna and her mother went to look at the paintings which were on exhibition in the balcony of the chapel.

Afterwards, Greta never remembered exactly how it happened. She must have closed her eyes for a minute in order to enjoy the music completely. The first thing she remembered was a soft voice saying, "Are you all alone here, my dear?"

When Greta had opened her eyes and recognized the speaker she jumped to her feet. "Why, it's the little girl who found my handkerchief the other day. How very nice to see you again. When we saw you here asleep, we thought you had gotten lost in this great castle."

Greta explained that her aunt and her cousin were up in the balcony. Then her eyes shone like stars and her heart almost skipped a beat as the lovely Princess Ingrid took a rosebud from the bouquet which she carried and held it out to Greta. "Perhaps you would like to wear this little flower," she said in her gentle way. Then, with another smile, she and the Princess Louise went out of the chapel.

Greta stood like one in a dream. Now she knew how the knights of olden times felt when they had been honored by the King. She, little Margrete, had a flower from the hands of the Crown Princess of Denmark. All her life long she would remember this moment.