Silence being proclaimed, the Chancellor Oxenstiern arose.
"We desire to know," said he, "whether the people of Sweden will take the daughter of our dead king, Gustavus Adolphus, to be their queen." When the chancellor had spoken, an old man, with white hair and in coarse apparel, stood up in the midst of the assembly.

He was a peasant, Lars Larrson by name, and had spent most of his life in laboring on a farm.
"Who is this daughter of Gustavus ?" asked the old man.

"We do not know her.

Let her be shown to us." Then Christina was brought into the hall and placed before the old peasant.

It was strange, no doubt, to see a child--a little girl of six years old--offered to the Swedes as their ruler instead of the brave king, her father, who had led then to victory so many times.