Scandinavian American. [volume] (Seattle, Wash.) 1945-1958, 1952-07-17

torted human figures, striving up
ward, men and women and chill
dren, struggling to get to the top.
That's me. Who gets on top first?
The treacherous Williams? Glory to
Vigeland. He put the children
highest, this Nordic race is striv-
ing to keep them on top, up high,
for all the blessings of life, and
there they bask in the sun. It's
beautiful!
Mrs. Paul Skjonberg, my guide.
was the best ever. Readers may
remember her as Elizabeth Bang,
who visited Seattle early this year.
She's an actress, busy now with
a play for Norway's Radio System.
We went to restaurant nearby.
There an old lady happened to be
in a predicament. She was sup
posed to be at a hospital at this
time. She was i'll. She voiced it.
Some men heard it in the restaur-
L.
call a taxicab. Mrs. Skjonberg did.
WE'LL what's the moral of this ?
Those staid, self-sufficient Europ-
can men, is that it? How would
American men have reacted?
Anyway, it took a woman to help
woman; it may be characterize
ic of morals and manners here
You see, the man is simply more
self-sufficient, even though Henrik
Ibsen wrote of the rise of modern
woman in "A Dolls House."
Mr.. and Mrs. Skjonberg-he's an
actor, too, at Norske Teater-
took me along with relatives for
trip to Thyrifjorden, mountain
Gus country, in two cars. At one
point, we rode a ski lift to great
heights. We also visited an 800
year-old church, Nordrehov kyrke.
Germans fired on it in the last
war. But there's more to it's his
tory. One minister's wife Anna
kolbjornsdotter, is now legendary
for having stopped the advance of
the Swedish Army led by Charles
XII, in early 100 right here. How?
Huh, here's woman for you.
She got them drunk, and the men
were having the time of their life,
when at a given signal a band of
Norwegian soldiers attacked and
drove them off. Let's step inside
Here we learned Anna and her
husband were lying in state, so to
say, in a cellar, embalmed, so you
could actually see their facial ex-
pressions. Our guide opened a lid
in the floor. 1 was the first to step
down, while the others chatted up
above. Here 1 was alone in this
dark gloomy cellar, dimly lit by
lamps. There were the bodies. /
stretched over, took a peek. What
CHASTITY experience. Bang! The
lid slammed tight. Dark and lone
ly. What's the big idea? Kind of
chilly down here. Er-uh-let's get
out of here. Well it was just an
accident, and others joined me a
minute later.
We rode back around Thyri-
fjOrden, stopped at an inn to have
refreshments. Maybe we We're
sorry-looking bunch, Elizabeth
with her Indian jacket, the rest of
us in sporty garb, no ties, no white
col 8. The h ovmes ter(?)
wouldn't let us in. No sir, We had
to leave. Weren't dressed right.
Sense of propriety.
Back in Oslo, Mr.. SIX jOnberg, a
likeable man, showed me around
at Folkemuseum with it's old Vik-
ing boats and huts, took me over to
large tennis hall, in the vicinity,
for look at the filming of Nor
ways only movie in production at
present, wi Viii Skilles," a ESQ.,
600 kr. affair, starring his brother
Espen Skjonberg. That and our sub
sequent trip to Bergen over the
mountains can be read elsewhere.
so a6io Ar fbic u,rifino Tin, IN