One day Harold and his father left Bergen to visit Harold’s cousin Albert who lived in Stockholm, the capital city of Sweden. They traveled for a day and a night on a train.

The train crossed Norway on Norway’s longest railway which passed through the high mountains. The electric train climbed the mountains easily and Harold saw that part of Norway which his storybooks call “the home of the giants.”

Then the train left Norway and crossed Sweden. Harold thought the farms in Sweden looked much like the farms around his home in Minnesota. The fields were large. The houses were far apart. Sometimes the train went for miles before Harold saw a farmhouse.

When Harold reached Stockholm he saw a city which to him looked much like any other city. But his cousin Albert said, “You will get your best view of Stockholm from high above the city.” So he took them to the top of a tall tower and they looked down on the city. “What a queer city it is!” said Harold. “It is spread out over many islands.”

Then Albert told Harold how Stockholm came to be built where it is. Albert had learned about the building of the city at school.

The city was built nearly seven hundred years ago. A rich nobleman planned the city in the days when many pirates sailed on the Baltic Sea, the sea which Stockholm faces. The nobleman wanted to build a fortress for protection from the pirates. All along the sea coast were islands—hundreds of islands. The nobleman chose three small islands back from the sea with many other islands in front of them and built a wall around them. He thought that behind the wall his people would be safe from the pirates.

A town grew up behind the wall. The days of the pirates passed. Stockholm became a city of trade. It grew and grew. Buildings spread over other islands until today the city covers a dozen islands in a large lake which opens into a channel of water which flows to the sea.

And Harold and Albert looked down on that city and watched the boats coming and going on the many waterways.

Albert took his guests to a little home outside the city. “This is where we live in the summer,” he said. Harold thought the place looked like a tiny city of playhouses, but as they came nearer he saw that the playhouses were real homes.

Harold’s aunt met them at the door of one of the cottages. It had two rooms and a porch. Vines and rose bushes grew over the porch. All the other cottages were much like the one where Albert lived.

Around each house was a garden spot. Albert said, “These are our ‘little farms.’” Albert does most of the gardening on his “little farm.”

The summer home though does not belong to Albert. The city owns those garden spots. A few years ago many countries of the world were at war. Sweden could not get the food from other countries that she needed. Stockholm began then the plan of renting garden spots to its citizens, so that they might grow the food that they needed. The plan proved so good that the city kept the garden spots after the war was over. And Albert’s father rents a little farm for Albert each summer. He pays a very small sum for the use of the garden and cottage for the entire summer—a sum equal to about five dollars in American money.

Albert showed Harold the vegetables, fruit, and flowers which he was growing on his farm. “In the fall,” he said, “I’ll take my best specimens to the fair in the city. I’m sure to get a prize for some of them.”

Each day after Albert had hoed his garden, he and Harold went to play with the other boys who also lived on little farms. One day they went to the lake to swim and to ride on the rafts. The boys had made the rafts of logs. Between the two logs at each end of the rafts they had fastened a board for seats. Albert rowed the raft on which he and Harold rode while they rested from their swimming. Harold only laughed and swam away again when Albert tipped the raft and threw him into the water.

One morning the boys went to the city again. They walked through the streets toward the quay—the place where the boats land. Harold noticed that all the buildings were of white stone. He knew that Sweden, like Norway, was a land of many forests. Why then were there so few wooden houses? He asked Albert. His cousin told him, “The first city was built of wood, but fires came and destroyed the homes. People kept building of wood for many years, but again and again fires destroyed the homes. Wood is not Sweden’s only building material. Under the soil around Stockholm is a fine building stone called granite. So the buildings you see in this new city are of granite.”

The boys stopped along the street to visit a flower market. It was bright with many colors. For in that city so far north many flowers grow. In the market place were pinks, violets, sweet peas, roses, asters, dahlias, and long-stemmed gladioli.

About noon the boys got on a boat at the quay to go to the King’s palace. The palace of the King stands in an old part of the city. It is on one of the islands where the old wall stood so long ago. Near the King’s palace are a few streets of old buildings with sharp gabled roofs. That part of Stockholm is called “the city between bridges.” Day and night boats pass under the bridges and move along the water in front of the palace.

The boys reached the palace about noon. Albert wanted Harold to see the changing of the King’s guards. As they neared the palace, they heard sounds of band music. In the courtyard beside the palace, they saw a line of guards dressed in uniform such as guards of the palace have worn for hundreds of years. Then the line of marching men came into sight. The band in uniform marched first, then the guards who were to take the place of those guards now at the palace. They crossed the bridge and entered the courtyard. The guards drilled for a few minutes at the command of the officer. The band played more music. Then the commander told the new guards what their duties were and the old guards marched away, leaving them to protect the king and his property.

The next day Albert was going on a long hike with his Boy Scout troop. The scout leader said that Harold could go with them. Early in the morning the boys gathered near the water front to wait for their leader. Soon Harold felt at home with the group of boys wearing khaki suits and carrying knapsacks even though he could not speak their language. Many of the boys could speak a little English and they talked to Harold in his language.

The scouts hiked several miles that day. They stopped on the grounds of an old, old castle. In a few minutes tents were pitched for the night.

The leader took them into the castle, which had been built hundreds of years ago. They went to the banquet hall of knights of old. Harold had never seen such a beautiful room. The walls were covered with paintings of kings and knights. The ceiling was of gold. The boys stood before the King’s throne and imagined a page kneeling there to be dubbed a knight. They could almost hear the words, “I dub thee knight. Be ever true to your country. Be ever strong; protect the weak; and do good deeds.”

Then outside on the courtyard of that old castle, the scouts took their oath—not unlike the one the knights of old had taken so many years ago. They too pledged obedience to the laws of their country. They promised to be strong and to go forth to do good deeds day by day.