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xviii
INTRODUCTION
incidents in Evangeline could easily be cited which might
well have a Scandinavian origin,—the brewing and
drinking of ale (mentioned several times), the game of draughts,
the praise of the blacksmith’s craft, the sledding, and so on.
The description of the outdoor betrothal feast alone would
suggest Scandinavia to one who has read of similar scenes.
To heap up these lesser parallels would only cloud the
issue. It seems clear that Swedish life and scenery were in
Longfellow’s memory when he composed the beginning of
Evangeline.
Four years after the poet had written his important
review of Frithiof he began the translation of the
Natt-vardsbarnen in the original metre, the hexameter. His friend
Samuel Ward, who had sent him a copy of the poem, had
urged him to translate this work. " How strange!"
Longfellow writes him, October 24,1841, "while you are
urging me to translate Nattvardsbarnen comes a letter [the
one quoted above] from Bishop Tegner himself, saying
that of all the translations he has seen of Frithiof my
fragments are the only attempts ’ that have fully satisfied him.’
. . . After this kind letter, can I do less than over-set the
Nattvardsbarnen?" In a postscript Longfellow remarked:
"This evening I have added twenty-six lines to the nine
I translated for you." *
The copy of Tegner that Longfellow used in his
translations is still preserved in Craigie House. On the inside of
the cover is pasted Tegner’s autograph, probably cut from
a letter. Underneath is Longfellow’s own simple
bookplate, and on the opposite fly-leaf the signature " Henry
W. Longfellow, 1835." Evidently, the copy was bought
’Samuel Longfellow, of. cit., I, 401 ff.
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