



Produced by Bryan Ness, Stephen Blundell and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This
file was produced from images generously made available
by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)









VIKING TALES


[Decoration]


[Illustration: _A map showing the journeys of the Vikings_]




          VIKING TALES
              _by_
          JENNIE HALL
 _The Francis W. Parker School_
          _Chicago_


         [Illustration]


          ILLUSTRATED
              _by_
           VICTOR R.
            LAMBDIN


       RAND McNALLY & CO

      _Chicago_ _New York_
            _London_




 _Copyright, 1902,_
   By JENNIE HALL

      [Device]
   Made in U.S.A.




Transcriber's Note:

    Minor typographical errors have been corrected without note.
    Diacritical marks, found in the _Pronouncing Index_, are represented
    as follows:

      [=x] any character with upper macron
      [)x]... with upper breve
      [.x]... with upper dot
      [x:]... with lower diaeresis
      [~x]... with upper tilde
      [+x]... with upper up tack




_The_ Table _of_ Contents


                                     PAGE
 _A List of the Illustrations_          8
 _What the Sagas Were_                  9


PART I.

_IN NORWAY_

 The Baby                              15
 The Tooth Thrall                      19
 Olaf's Farm                           27
 Olaf's Fight with Havard              40
 Foes'-fear                            47
 Harald is King                        53
 Harald's Battle                       62
 Gyda's Saucy Message                  71
 The Sea Fight                         81
 King Harald's Wedding                 89
 King Harald Goes West-Over-Seas       95


PART II.

_WEST-OVER-SEAS_

 Homes in Iceland                     103
 Eric the Red                         143
 Leif and His New Land                161
 Wineland the Good                    174

 _Descriptive Notes_                  194
 _Suggestions to Teachers_            200
 _A Reading List_                     204
 _A Pronouncing Index_                207




A List of the Illustrations


                                                                    PAGE

 _A map showing the journeys of the Vikings_                Frontispiece

 "_I own this baby for my son. He shall be called Harald_"            17

 "_He threw back his cape and drew a little dagger from his
     belt_"                                                           22

 "_I struck my shield against the door so that it made a
     great clanging_"                                                 31

 "_Then he turned to the shore and sang out loudly_"                  45

 "_He drove it into the wolf's neck_"                                 51

 "_I vow that I will grind my father's foes under my heel_"           59

 "_King Haki fell dead under 'Foes'-fear'_"                           68

 "_I will not be his wife unless he puts all of Norway
     under him for my sake_"                                          73

 "_Then he leaped into King Arnvid's boat_"                           87

 "_I, Harald, King of Norway, take you, Gyda, for my wife_"           91

 "_In Norway they left burning houses and weeping women_"             97

 "_Then he saw that Leif's ship was being driven afar off_"          125

 "_Those Icelanders clapped them on the shoulders_"                  137

 "_He looked straight ahead of him and scowled_"                     145

 "_More than half the men in the hall jumped to their feet_"         147

 "_It is a bigger boat than I ever saw before_"                      153

 "_He pointed to the woods and laughed and rolled his eyes_"         167

 "_The chief held them out to Thorfinn and hugged the cloak
     to him_"                                                        187




What _the_ Sagas Were


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 warm
season they used to fish and make fish-oil and hunt sea-birds and gather
feathers and tend their sheep and make hay. But the winters were long
and dark and cold. Men and women and children stayed in the house and
carded and spun and wove and knit. A whole family sat for hours around
the fire in the middle of the room. That fire gave the only light.
Shadows 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 long narrow bench that they had pulled up to
the light and warmth. Everybody's hands were busy with wool. The work
left their minds free to think and their lips to