passed without; yet whenever the moment for action has come, they
have been found alert and prepared.

"At the commencement of the fifteenth century, Eric XIII., known
also as the Pomeranian, ascended the Swedish throne. His own
disposition was neither bad nor good, but he had too little
knowledge of the country he was called upon to reign over; and his
governors and vice-gerents, for the most part foreigners,
tyrannized unsparingly over the nation. The oppressed people
stretched out their hands imploringly to the king; but he, who was
continually requiring fresh supplies of money for the prosecution
of objectless wars, paid no attention to their complaints. Of all
his Voegte, or governors, not one was so bad and cruel as Jesse
Ericson, who dwelt at Westeraes, and ruled over Dalarna. He laid
enormous imposts on the peasantry, and when they were unable to
pay, he took every thing from them, to their last horse, and
harnessed themselves to the plough. Pregnant matrons were compelled
at his command to draw heavy hay-waggons, women and girls were
shamefully outraged by him, and persons possessing property
unjustly condemned, in order that he might take possession of their
goods. When the peasants came to him to complain, he had them
driven away with stripes, or else cut off their ears, or hung them
up in the smoke till they were suffocated.

"Then the men of Dalarna murmured; they assembled in their valleys,
and held counsel together. An insurrection was decided upon, and
Engelbrecht of Falun was chosen to head it, because, although small
of stature, he had a courageous heart, and knew how to talk or to
fight, as occasion required. He repaired to Copenhagen, laid the
just complaints of his countrymen before the king, and pledged his
head to prove their truth. Eric gave him a letter to the
counsellors of state, some of whom accompanied him back to Dalarna,
and convinced themselves that the distress of the province was
inconceivably great. They exposed this state of things to the king
in a letter, with which Engelbrecht returned to Copenhagen. But, on
seeking audience of Eric, the latter cried out angrily, 'You do
nothing but complain! Go your ways, and appear no more before me.'
So Engelbrecht departed, but he murmured as he went, 'Yet once more