The 9th of March 1940
King Haakon VII of Norway had failed to arrive at the daily meeting and, while many were secretly relieved at this, he was still King and probably should have been present. Prime Minister Nygaardsvold had been despatched to get him. Nygaardsvold walked into the royal bedchamber and saw a slumbering Haakon slowly awaken at the sound of his footsteps.
"Dark have been my dreams of late," the King said, "but I feel as one new-awakened to fresh herring. I would now that you had come before, Nygaardsvold. For I fear that already you have come too late, only to see the last days of the House of Haakon."
"Dark dreams your majesty?" Nygaardsvold asked.
"Yes. I saw before me six large, fat, Herring, but they were then boxed up in five sheets of particularly poor quality plywood and the whole lot shipped off to the UK. What can it mean?" The King asked.
"That you should lay of the Gjetost cheese before bed." Nygaardsvold suggested.
"Yes that will be it, it's very unlikely to be a metaphor for the course of Norway's involvement in the war." The King agreed.
Nygaardsvold gave his monarch a very long stare before continuing.
"You must come to a cabinet meeting." He said.
"A cabinet meeting, what is it?" Haakon asked.
"It's a meeting of the senior members of a country's government to discuss the issues of the day and agree a course of action. That is important right now so lets get there."
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Does King Haakon need the services of a modern day Joseph? What does his dream really mean? What happens to the Herring once shipped to the UK? What port are the shipped to? Is it Hull? Is there ever any excuse for Hull? Can you even get good quality plywood? Some of these questions, or less, may be answered next time on, For King Haakon and the Fjords!