The 8-year-old girl who made sensational headlines after finding a pre-Viking sword in a Swedish lake has given her side of the story to the Guardian. In a first-person take, Saga Vanecek says she was in search of rocks to skim from the bottom of Lake Vidostern in the southern part of the country when she hit upon something that felt like a stick. “Daddy, I’ve found a sword!” she recalls saying as she raised it like a warrior, making her the first to touch the weapon in some 1,500 years. Saga says she was forced to keep the historic find a secret while local officials investigated and sought to find other relics without interference from other treasure hunters. Even worse, she couldn't keep the sword!
"I had to give the sword to the local museum–Daddy explained that it’s part of history and important to share it with others," she laments. Meanwhile, Saga says she raising money in a bid to have a replica of the sword made. The BBC notes the water level in the lake was low due to drought, which made it easier for Saga to find the sword. An expert from a local museum says the "exceptionally preserved" sword is about 33 inches long and came in a wood-and-leather sheath. A brooch was also found in the lake, but how the weapon came to be there remains a mystery. What's clear is that the major find has made Saga a star and, perhaps, even a monarch. "People on the internet are saying I am the queen of Sweden," Saga says. (An even older, and controversial, find was made in Switzerland last year.)
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