O. T., A Danish Romance

O. T., A Danish Romance

Project Gutenberg's O. T., A Danish Romance, by Hans Christian
Andersen #3 in our series by Hans Christian Andersen
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Title: O. T., A Danish Romance
Author: Hans Christian Andersen
Release Date: February, 2005 [EBook #7513] [Yes, we are more than
one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on May 13,

2003]
Edition: 10
Language: English
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DANISH ROMANCE ***

Produced by Nicole Apostola

O. T. A Danish Romance
by Hans Christian Andersen Author of the "Improvisatore" and the
"Two Baronesses"
CHAPTER I
"Quod felix faustumque sit!"
There is a happiness which no poet has yet properly sung, which no
lady-reader, let her be ever so amiable, has experienced or ever will
experience in this world. This is a condition of happiness which alone
belongs to the male sex, and even then alone to the elect. It is a moment
of life which seizes upon our feelings, our minds, our whole being.
Tears have been shed by the innocent, sleepless nights been passed,
during which the pious mother, the loving sister, have put up prayers to
God for this critical moment in the life of the son or the brother.
Happy moment, which no woman, let her be ever so good, so beautiful,
or intellectual, can experience--that of becoming a student, or, to
describe it by a more usual term, the passing of the first examination!
The cadet who becomes an officer, the scholar who becomes an

academical burgher, the apprentice who becomes a journeyman, all
know, in a greater or less degree, this loosening of the wings, this
bounding over the limits of maturity into the lists of philosophy. We all
strive after a wider field, and rush thither like the stream which at
length loses itself in the ocean.
Then for the first time does the youthful soul rightly feel her freedom,
and, therefore, feels it doubly; the soul struggles for activity, she
comprehends her individuality; it has been proved and not found too
light; she is still in possession of the dreams of childhood, which have
not yet proved delusive. Not even the joy of love, not the enthusiasm
for art and science, so thrills through all the nerves as the words, "Now
am I a student!"
This spring-day of life, on which the ice-covering of the school is
broken, when the tree of Hope puts forth its buds and the sun of
Freedom shines, falls with us, as is well known, in the month of
October, just when Nature loses her foliage, when the evenings begin to
grow darker, and when heavy winter-clouds draw together, as though
they would say to youth,--"Your spring, the birth of the examination, is
only a dream! even now does your life become earnest!" But our happy
youths think not of these things, neither will we be joyous with the gay,
and pay a visit to their circle. In such a one our story takes its
commencement.
CHAPTER II
"At last we separate: To Jutland one, to Fünen others go; And still the
quick thought comes, --A day so bright, so full of fun, Never again on
us shall rise."--CARL BAGGER.
It was in October of the year 1829. Examen artium had been passed
through. Several young students were assembled in the evening at the
abode of one of their comrades, a young Copenhagener of eighteen,
whose parents were giving him and his new friends a banquet in honor
of the examination. The mother and sister had arranged everything in
the nicest manner, the father had given excellent wine out of the cellar,

and the student himself, here the rex convivii, had provided tobacco,
genuine Oronoko-canaster. With regard to Latin, the invitation--which
was, of course, composed in Latin--informed the guests that each
should bring his own.
The company, consisting of one and twenty persons--and these were
only the