It was very evident
that Vittskoevle had been erected at a time when wars and robbers made it
unsafe in Skane. All around the castle was a deep trench filled with
water; and across this there had been a bridge in bygone days that could
be hoisted up. Over the gate-arch there is, even to this day, a
watch-tower; and all along the sides of the castle ran sentry-galleries,
and in the corners stood towers with walls a metre thick. Yet the castle
had not been erected in the most savage war time; for Jens Brahe, who
built it, had also studied to make of it a beautiful and decorative
ornament. If they could see the big, solid stone structure at Glimminge,
which had been built only a generation earlier, they would readily see
that Jans Holgersen Ulfstand, the builder, hadn't figured upon anything
else--only to build big and strong and secure, without bestowing a
thought upon making it beautiful and comfortable. If they visited such
castles as Marsvinsholm, Snogeholm and Oevid's Cloister--which were
erected a hundred years or so later--they would find that the times had
become less warlike. The gentlemen who built these places, had not
furnished them with fortifications; but had only taken pains to provide
themselves with great, splendid dwelling houses.
The teacher talked at length--and in detail; and the boy who lay shut up
in the box was pretty impatient; but he must have lain very still, for
the owner of the box hadn't the least suspicion that he was carrying him
along.
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