Viking Tales

ICELAND is a little country far north in the cold sea. Men found it and went there to live more than a thousand years ago. During the ,varm season they used to fish and make fish-oil and hunt sea-birds and gath~r feathers and tend their sheep and ID{lke hay. But the 'winters vere long and dark and cold. Men and' women and children stayed in the house and carded and spun and wove and knit. 'A vhole family sat for hours around the fire in the middle of the room. Tha t fire gave the only light. Shadovs flitted in the dark corners. Smoke curled along the high beams in the ceiling. The children sat on the dirt floor close by the fire. The grown people were on a lo~g narrow bench that they had pulled up to the light and warmth .. Everybody's hands were busv with wool. The work left their minds free to think and their lips to talk. What vas there to talk about? The summer's fishing, the killing of a fox, a voyage to Norway. But 9

Table of Contents

A List of the Illustrations; Wlzat tile Sagas Were ; PART I; IN NORTtVAY; The Baby; The Tooth-thrall ; Olaf's Farm ; Olaf's Fight with Havard; Foes' -fear ; Harald is K;ing; Harald's Battle; Gyda's Saucy 1fessagc; The Sea Fight ; King Harald's Vedding; King Harald Goes West-aver-Seas; PART II -; 117EST-OVER-SEAS; Homes in Iceland ; Eric the Red ; Leif and His New Land ; Wineland the Good ; Descriptive Notes; Suggestions to Teachers; A Reading Lt'st ; A Pronouncing Index

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