Knaeckebroed

Vividly do Swedes recall a day a few months ago when the Principe Alfonso slid swiftly out of Stockholm harbor. Aboard was King Alfonso XIII, the first King of Spain ever to visit Sweden (TIME, Sept. 24). But what was the tiny speedboat that darted like a water flea after the large ship? Swedes recall that the speedboat drew alongside the Principe Alfonso which, churning the water to soapy froth, stopped. A box was lifted aboard with pulleys. The Principe Alfonso moved on. The impertinent little speedboat shot back toward Stockholm. What did it all mean?

Spinners of tales said that King Alfonso had left behind him portentous letters fit only for royal eyes. Others had it that Queen Victoria of Sweden had rejected his gift of a ruby necklace as too costly. Last week came truth.

In Sweden, King Alfonso had greatly (perhaps politely) praised a thin, hard, and nearly tasteless rye bread or biscuit, famed in Sweden as knaeckebroed. Shrewdly a Swedish baker approached the admiral of the Principe Alfonso. "Might not His Majesty like a box of knaeckebroed to take home with him?" The Admiral thought he might.

In the hurlyburly attendant on the departure of a royal visitor the knaeckebroed was forgotten. But the baker took speedboat, pursued, delivered a package of the famed, though nearly tasteless, knaeckebroed.

So passionate is the fondness of Scandinavians for knaeckebroed that recently a travel bureau in offering a conducted tour of Italy and France to Swedes, Norwegians and Danes advertised a special inducement:

Throughout the tour knaeckebroed, and smorbroed will be served, together with all the best Scandinavian cheeses and renowned tinned fish.

Smorbroed--the famed Scandinavian hors d'oeuvre--consists of pieces of buttered bread, on which are laid a bit of fish, a piece of cheese, a slice of egg, or almost any handy edibles, either separately or in combination.