Translated from the Danish by Hanna Astrup Larsen and Published in Twelve stories as Røverstuen, 1827 IF YOU, dear reader, begin the perusal of a Danish book which, mind you, is not a translation, and if this book should find favor in your sight, then you will certainly propound the reasonable question, "Who has been this author's example and model?" For that a Danish writer--_in specie_ a poet--should have the temerity or self-confidence to venture out on the slippery ice of authorship without foreign guidance is neither conceivable nor advisable. If furthermore you read the critical reviews--_in specie--_the Danish Pasquino--you will be confirmed in your supposition; for in these reviews you will often read: "Our author has evidently formed himself on A. or B. or C.," and--if he is one o