Chapter III: Part 3

Svend was only four years old when he went to Denmark to live. Of course Svend could speak English then. But when he was old enough to go to school, he began speaking Danish all the time. His father wanted him to speak English at home so that he would not forget the English words. Svend said, “Oh, if I speak English, the boys call me a _foreigner_.” Svend was only seven years old when he said that. When he is older he will study English in the schools of Denmark. Then perhaps he will be proud that he can speak English easily.

Svend’s father takes care of a library for the Danish-American Club. In his library are many, many books telling about how Denmark and America work together. Some of the books are written in Danish and some are written in English. Both Danish-American clubs in Denmark and Danish-American clubs in America give money to support the park and the library.

Svend’s father is glad to take Svend to the Danish-American picnic on the Fourth of July each year, for he wants Svend to love America, the land where he was born.

Karl is another boy at the picnic. He is fifteen years old. He speaks English very well from his study in school. Karl’s family go to the Fourth of July picnic because Karl’s uncle lives in America. Karl writes to his cousins in the United States. From them he has learned many things about our country.

Travelers in Denmark sometimes go to the Fourth of July picnic. They cannot feel strange on that picnic ground with the many American flags and the American songs.

Winter Sports in the North Land

1. WITH THE SKI-JUMPERS

No sooner had Olaf entered the room where stood his Yule-tree than his eyes lighted on a big package standing behind the tree. “Skis,” he thought, “surely no other present could make such a huge package. But was _his_ name on that package?”

Finally the moment came when his father called, “For Olaf,” and the big box was in Olaf’s hands. Olaf lost no time in opening the prize package. His eyes shone as he saw the new skis. At last he had a pair of skis fit for any ski-jumper!

Olaf had often watched ski-jumpers leap in the air like a bird and land safely on runners many feet away and go sliding gracefully down a steep hillside. Now he too could learn to be a ski-jumper!

Like most children of Norway and Sweden, Olaf had learned to run on skis when he was very young. By the time he had started to school, he could run very well. On that Christmas morning, Olaf’s little sister, only three years old, got a pair of skis too. Olaf gave her the first pair of skis he had used and she played in the snow on them, while Olaf tried his larger and finer pair.

Skiing is the favorite play of the boys at Olaf’s school. Near the school are skiing grounds where Olaf and his classmates play at recess time. At first, of course, those boys ran on small hills. Then they practised on longer slopes. Olaf’s father had said, “You must know how to handle your skis well before you begin ski-jumping.” Now Olaf did know how to run well on skis and he had the best kind of skis for jumping.

Olaf lives in Norway and nowhere in the world do people have better skiing grounds. The snows come in November and stay until March or April, and the mountain slopes make long skiing tracks. The weather too is good for skiing. Although the weather is cold enough to keep the snow for many months, the cold is not severe enough to keep sport lovers indoors.

Skiing is not merely a child’s sport in Norway. Olaf’s father and mother both ski. Many business men and their wives ski; farmers and their wives ski; the King and Queen ski. Norwegians and the Lapps of the far north often travel on skis. Such travel is easy. With knapsacks filled with food and strapped to their backs, travellers make long excursions in a short time. So Olaf lives in a country which might truly be called, “the home of the skis.”

The first Sunday after that Christmas when Olaf got his new skis, Olaf, his father, and his mother went to a long skiing ground about a five-mile ride from their home in Oslo. They left their home very early in the morning. They stood in line with many other men, women, and children waiting for the train. What a queer crowd it was! Sticking up over each head were the points of skis which looked like stubby trees. No wonder one passer-by said the sight was like “a forest of a thousand trees.”

Then the train came with a special car to carry the skis, and the merry crowd was off for the day. Olaf got his first lesson in ski-jumping.

But it was in February that Olaf got his greatest treat of the year. Oslo is near the bottom of the long narrow country and on the side away from the sea. The land around Oslo is hilly but the slopes are not very steep. One mountain for skiing is about an hour’s ride on an electric car from Oslo. On this mountain the youths of Norway gather in February each year to hold a skiing contest. So in February Olaf and his parents with thousands and thousands of people from all over countries of the north went to see the ski-jumping contest.

The jumpers gathered at the top of the long mountainside. Each contestant wore a number fastened across his chest telling his place in the contest. At a signal from an officer number one ran down the hill to a bank of snow called the “take-off” station. When he got to the “take-off,” he jumped into the air. Olaf watched him breathlessly. Yes, he landed on his feet. The crowd cheered heartily. An officer ran out with a measuring rod to see how far he was from the “take-off” when he landed on his feet again.

Then the other jumpers came in turn. Several failed to land on their feet. But most of them laughed with the people looking on over their failures even though they must have hated badly to lose.

The longest jump that day, and the longest that had ever been made at that time, was two hundred and thirty-five feet. That is a long jump, but, no doubt, some of the schoolboys who were watching the jumpers will beat that record in a few years. Some of Olaf’s playmates were able then to jump eighty feet. They are eagerly waiting to be old enough to enter the big contest.

The boys learned much by watching expert ski-jumpers. One of their favorite jumpers is the King’s son, Prince Olaf. Prince Olaf was in the big contest several times when he was a young man. The boys often saw Prince Olaf on skis. One day the Prince stopped where Olaf and his playmates were practising and told them how to hold their feet to make a safe landing. Olaf never forgot what the Prince said. And he was glad too that his mother had named him _Olaf_.

2. WITH THE SKATERS

A line of skaters on a waterway of Sweden was set for a race. The skaters looked more like huge white birds than the young boys they were. Each skater wore heavy skates and held tightly to a frame of a large white sail.

Away they flew over the smooth ice! The strong wind which blows over the lands carried them along swiftly. Most of the boys were skillful in guiding their course with the wind and keeping on the clear ice. But here and there a skater had trouble. One skater was tossed to the bank; another was sent sprawling on the hard ice, for the wind does not deal too gently with those who cannot follow its path.

When the race was over, the winner was hoisted in the air and cheered. The skaters went their way to try again another day.

Skaters in Denmark use sails too. The flat lands have such strong winds that sail skating is great sport for Danish children. But even in the flat lands of Denmark there are days when the sail skaters are disappointed. They gather for a race to find no wind that day; and, of course, no wind means no race.

But sail skating is only a part of the skating fun in those northern lands. Children all over Norway, Sweden, and Denmark skate during the winter months. In many places playgrounds are flooded to make safe skating grounds for the girls and boys. On the safe ice even the tiny girls and boys slide on the ice and ride on the chair-like sleds which are pushed along by the larger girls and boys.

The children of those northern lands learn early that outdoor sports help to build strong and healthy bodies.

At School in the Far North

As the clocks struck eight one Monday late in August the big gates to the school grounds swung open. With a shout waiting boys ran through one gate to a playground which they had not seen for several weeks. Crowds of girls ran through a gate to another playground on the other side of that same schoolhouse.

That August day was the first day of school for girls and boys in nearly every city and town in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark.

Girls and boys who live in those countries do not have such long summer vacations as have American girls and boys. Many of them go to school until the first of July and come back to school again in the last week of August. They go to school more days each week, too, than do American children. They go to school on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

They start to school each morning after a very early breakfast. In winter all the children of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark must dress and eat their breakfast by electric lights, and go along the streets to school while the street lights are still burning. Of course, those girls and boys in the far northern part of Norway and Sweden work by electric light in their classrooms all the winter days.

With such an early breakfast, the pupils are hungry by the middle of the morning. They are given a lunch time around ten thirty or eleven o’clock each day. Many girls and boys eat a lunch at the schoolhouse, but others go home for a lunch which they call “breakfast” even though they had eaten an earlier meal. The younger pupils go home from school about one o’clock and the older pupils leave school each day about three o’clock.

Schoolhouses in the lands far to the north look much like American schoolhouses. Of course all the schoolhouses in those countries do not look alike any more than do the school buildings in America.

1. AT SCHOOL IN NORWAY

Harold lives in Oslo, Norway. He is in the third grade. All the pupils in his room are boys and the teacher is a man.

The first day of school was a busy one for Harold. When the boys were in the room the teacher said, “Write your name on the paper which I shall give you.” Harold wrote his name in clear letters.

After the teacher got the names of all the boys he said, “Now I shall tell you what lessons you will have each day. You may write them down on a time plan.”

Harold and his classmates knew what a “time plan” is. The storekeepers in the bookstores had given them pretty picture cards with blank places on them where the pupils could write the names of the subjects and the time at which each would recite. So when the teacher told them the lessons they would have each day they wrote them on their time plans. Harold’s time plan looked like the one shown here.

Most of the subjects the Norwegian girls and boys study in the third grade are the same as those which American pupils study in the third grade. American girls and boys study English; but on Harold’s time plan instead of English is _Norsk_. Norsk is the name for the language of Norway.

In one of the reading texts which many children read the first picture is a flag of Norway. Across the page from the picture is a poem about Norway. The poem is in Norsk of course. Children in Norway learn that poem so that they can say it without looking at the words.

Ja, vi elsker dette landet,
som det stiger frem,
furet, værbitt, over vannet,
med de tusen hjem;
elsker, elsker det og tenker
på vår far og mor
og den saganatt som senker
drømme på vår jord!

(Yes, we love with fond devotion
Norway’s mountain domes,
Rising stormlashed o’er the ocean,
With their thousand homes;
Love our country while we’re bending
Thoughts to fathers grand,
And to saga night that’s sending
Dreams upon our land,
And to saga night that’s sending,
Sending dreams upon our land.)

On the seventeenth of May each year the Norwegian girls and boys march through the streets carrying flags and singing “Ja, vi elsker dette landet.” The seventeenth of May to them is what the Fourth of July is to us. It is their Independence Day.

For many, many years Norway, Sweden, and Denmark were governed by one king. But in 1905 Norwegians became free to govern themselves. They chose a king for their country. On the seventeenth of May each year school children of Oslo and towns near Oslo parade past the palace of the King. The King watches their parade. The children stand very quietly then while the King speaks to them about Norway, their country.

Harold’s sister is in the seventh grade. Her time plan is shown on page 137.

Many pupils in the seventh grade find English to be their hardest subject. Only a few English words are like Norsk words which they speak. On the time plan you see the names of the days of the week—Mandag (Monday), Tirsdag (Tuesday), Onsdag (Wednesday), Torsdag (Thursday), Fredag (Friday), Lørdag (Saturday), Søndag (Sunday). They are much like English names for the days of the week.

Norwegian pupils soon learn the English word “summer,” for the Norsk word is “sommer.” They soon can say “come,” for in Norsk they say “komme,” and “Many thanks” which in Norsk is “Mange takke.”

The Norwegians did not get words from the English, however. The English got words from the Norwegians. Long, long ago some people from these northern lands went to live in the land of the English people. From them the English learned to use some of the old Norsk words and they have kept some of those words in their language. English settlers brought the English language to America, so Americans too use those old Norsk words.

The Norwegian pupils have a hard time learning to pronounce words which have the letter “w,” for “w” is not used in the Norsk language. The English word “warm” is “varme,” “work” is “verke,” “wash” is “vaske,” “window” is “vindue,” “west” is “vest,” and “well” is “vel.”

But, of course, many, many other English words are not at all like Norsk words.

2. IN SWEDISH SCHOOLS

Greda was very happy one morning as she went to school. She carried a small bundle in her hand as she hurried along. When she entered her classroom she whispered to the teacher, “Today is my birthday.” Then the teacher brought out a small stand just big enough to hold the little Swedish flag which Greda took out of her bundle. As Greda put the flag into the flag holder, her classmates said, “Happy birthday, Greda,” and sang a song to the flag.

In that Swedish school girls and boys study almost the same subjects as the Norwegian girls and boys study. When winter comes and snow covers the hills, the skiing teacher comes to school every day. Now skiing sounds like play, but it is a school study for girls and boys in those North lands.

Girls and boys of Norway and Sweden want to be good ski runners and ski jumpers. They begin to ski when they are very young. The young children run only on small hills near the school. The older girls and boys go out to longer mountainsides for their practice.

Of course many pupils get tumbles in the snow as they learn to run on skis. The teacher says, “To be a good ski runner, you must have courage to try, and if you fail, you must laugh and try again.”

Some children of the North lands go to school in the summer too. But the summer school is very different from the regular school. “Summer school is much more fun,” Martha, a Swedish girl, said after she had spent a summer in a camp and had studied with a camp teacher. Her brother Nils likes camp school too.

Martha and Nils are twins. They were nine years old when they went to the summer camp.

That summer Martha picked gooseberries. She learned to make gooseberry pie, gooseberry jelly, and gooseberry preserves. Nils only helped to take the stems off the berries, but he thought that was fun when he worked with the other girls and boys of the camp.

Nils helped to repair the roof on one of the summerhouses. That roof was of red tile. Nils carefully measured and fitted each piece of tile into its proper place.

Nils helped some of the older boys to build a boat. He had his first lesson in rowing in that very boat too.

But both Martha and Nils liked best the foot races which the girls and boys of the camp ran every day. Martha was the best runner of the girls and Nils had a good record too even though he ran with boys larger than himself.

3. AT SCHOOL IN DENMARK

If you were to see a group of school children in a Danish town you would find that they look very much like the Norwegian children and the Swedish children. They look much like girls and boys in America too.

Those children study about the same subjects that the Norwegian and Swedish girls and boys study. They study from books written in Danish. Danish words and Norwegian words are alike in print, but the Danes and the Norwegians do not pronounce them alike.

Since an island is a small body of land with water all around it, and Denmark has so many islands, many girls and boys in Denmark live near water. Since there is so much water in Denmark almost all Danish pupils learn to swim at school. They begin swimming lessons when they first enter school.

In Copenhagen, which is Denmark’s largest city, the schools have swimming contests. On the day of the contests classes from different schools gather at the water front. A high board wall has been built around a part of the water so that the place for the contests looks much like a pool. Mothers and fathers sit on the platform near the walls and watch the contests. Danish flags fly in the breeze. Everybody is excited when the contest begins.

The older girls and boys in the schools in Copenhagen, like those in Oslo, study English. One day each month a librarian visits each school in the city to take books to the pupils. She takes story books written in Danish to the younger pupils. But to the older pupils she takes books written in other languages which they have studied. Some of the books are written in French, some in German, and some in English. Those Danish pupils read some of the same stories that American pupils read in their libraries.

In an Open-Air Museum

Girls and boys always listen when grandfather begins a tale with, “When I was a boy.” But many times the girls and boys who listen to grandfather’s tales find it hard to make pictures in their minds of the houses grandfather tells about, of the games he played, or of the dances he and grandmother danced. And it is much, much harder to understand when grandfather and grandmother tell the tales that their grandfathers and grandmothers have told them!

Many Swedish children go to a museum each year to see how their great-great-great-grandparents actually lived. For in that northern country—and in Norway too—people have built museums which are different from America’s big buildings with their many showcases filled with things of long ago. They have built what they call open-air museums.

A Swedish man got the idea for such a museum. One day more than sixty years ago that man, a doctor, was far out in the country districts of Sweden. There he saw old, old buildings with furniture like the furniture used long, long ago. He saw people dressed in costumes like those worn by their great-great-great-grandparents. The doctor said to himself, “Why not buy some of those old, old houses, their furnishings, and the costumes of the people, and put them where many people can see them?”

Very soon after, the doctor began carrying out his idea. Other people helped him. What a big task it was! They brought together old houses, old churches, old schoolhouses, old windmills, and other farm buildings from all over Sweden. On a large piece of wooded land outside Stockholm they rebuilt homes and constructed whole farms as nearly as possible like homes and farms of the long, long ago. That is the way they made an open-air museum.

One day a class of Swedish school children visited an open-air museum. Very soon after they entered the gate they saw a group of buildings. The buildings were made of rude logs which have turned dark brown with age in the sun and rain. The teacher said that the group of houses belonged to one family. The pupils asked, “Why did a family build a group of houses so close together like this?”

The teacher told them that in the early days a family in Sweden usually had several houses. They had a house with thick walls and thick roofs where they lived in the winter. They had another house with lighter walls and roofs where they lived in the summer. They had a storehouse in which to keep their food and fuel. They also had a guest house, for in those days the people in Sweden gave their guests a whole house to themselves.

The pupils went inside one old, old house which had been built about seven hundred years ago. It is a one-story house with a sod roof. Inside the children found furniture placed about the rooms as it had been placed in those early days. But, of course, there was little furniture. And strangest of all there were no windows in the house. The light the people could get from the sun came into the living room through a hole in the roof above the center of the room. That hole was just above an open fireplace. Through it the smoke from the fire could escape. A long pole hung from the hole into the room below. On that pole was a thin skin which could be pulled into place over the hole when the rains came.

But the children saw other houses more like those in which their grandfathers and grandmothers had lived. In those houses the fireplace was built in the corner of the room. They saw some fireplaces with kettles hanging just as they had hung in the days when a fire had blazed on the fireplace. In the room were rude chairs cut from large tree trunks. On the ceilings pictures had been carved and painted. The children knew the stories which those pictures told, for the stories were Bible stories which they had read many times.

Some of the boys found an old bed which amused them very much. It had three stories. The first story stood out into the room about a foot farther than the second story, and the second story stood out about a foot farther than the top story. In that way there were two steps up to the upper bed. The girls and boys laughed, then the teacher lifted the lid into the lowest bed and said, “This is where the cats and dogs slept.” Then he showed them the inside of the middle bed and said, “This is where the children slept.” The children then guessed that the top bed was for the mother and father.

That afternoon the pupils went to see the folk-dances. Some of their older brothers and sisters were in the dances. They wore costumes such as Swedish people long ago wore, they danced the dances that were danced in those days.

When the school children got back to their school the next day, they wanted to dance some of the old Swedish dances. The gymnasium teacher helped them learn the steps, and the sewing teacher helped them make their costumes. Then one day they danced for their mothers and fathers and their grandmothers and grandfathers.

When the teacher of those children told them about the man who had made the gift of the museum to Sweden, the pupils agreed that the man who built the open-air museum was a citizen of whom Sweden may be proud.

A Tale of a Wandering Story-Teller

“Suppose we pretend that we are in the feast hall of one of the old guest houses of the Norsemen long, long ago,” said one teacher to her children after they had visited an open-air museum.

Then as the teacher told the children about an evening in a guest house such as they had seen at the museum, they imagined people seated around the long table eating from the rude bowls and drinking from an old drinking horn, while they listened to a tale told by a wandering story-teller.

A story-teller in those northlands was an important person in the old days before stories had been written in books for people to read for themselves. In those days, story-tellers went about from place to place telling tales. They were always welcome guests in any home, for people had little entertainment.

In the very earliest days, people knew little about why things happen as they do on the earth. They did not know why we have day and night, or summer and winter. They did not know why the rains fall, or the lightning and thunder come. Since they did not know the true reasons for these things, they made up stories to tell why they happen as they do. They said that many gods ruled over the earth. One god, called Wodin, caused the day. Since day has but one sun, Wodin had but one eye. The god Thor caused the lightning and thunder. Another god ruled over the summer, bringing the warm days when plants could grow. He was called Frey. And the god Tye ruled over war and brought victory in battle.

We use the names of the four gods, Tye, Wodin, Thor, and Frey, even today. From them we got the names for four of the days of the week: Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday—Tye’s day, Wodin’s day, Thor’s day, and Frey’s day.

Those early people believed, too, that huge giants lived on the mountaintops and tiny dwarfs lived under the ground. The old story-tellers told many tales about fights between the gods and the giants. One of the favorite tales was about Thor, the god of thunder and lightning. The tale that Norwegian teacher told her pupils was about Thor and his Hammer. Her pupils listened almost as eagerly as those old Viking families had listened around the feast table hundreds of years ago.

THOR AND HIS HAMMER

Thor lived in a beautiful palace in the valley of the gods which lay between two mountains. Thor had a beautiful wife with long golden hair. She was called Sif.

One day when Sif was sitting in the sunshine with her long hair hanging down over her shoulders she fell asleep. Loke, the god of mischief, passed by and saw her. Now Loke liked to play tricks on Thor, and when he saw Sif asleep, he thought, “Thor loves Sif’s beautiful hair. He will be very angry if anything happens to it.” Then he stole up, cut off Sif’s hair, and carried it away with him.

When Sif awoke, she was very unhappy. She ran and hid herself. She did not want Thor to see her without her hair.

Soon Thor came. Sif was not there to meet him. The strong god’s heart was filled with fear. What was wrong with Sif? He ran quickly about the palace to look for her. He found her weeping bitterly. When he saw what had happened he was very angry. Fire, like lightning, flashed from his eyes. The floors of the palace trembled under his angry footsteps.

“This is the work of that rascal, Loke,” he cried. Then, like a thundercloud, he strode away from the palace.

He soon found Loke, and, no doubt, would have choked him had not Loke promised to give back Sif’s hair as beautiful as it had ever been.

Now Loke knew some skillful dwarfs who lived far underground. They made wonderful things of gold. He hurried away to find them.

When he came to their smithy, he asked, “Can you make me a crown of golden hair which will grow just as any natural hair grows?”

These dwarfs were very clever. Of course they could make such a crown. They set their fire ablaze and began pounding with their hammers. In a short time they had Loke’s treasure ready for him. But that was not all they gave him. Two other gifts were his. One was a magical spear; and the other a ship that was more wonderful than any other ship the dwarfs ever had made.

Loke went back to the land of the gods carrying his three gifts. When he reached that valley he began bragging about the fine work the dwarfs had done. “No other dwarfs can do such wonderful work,” he said. “All other dwarfs are stupid compared with these.”

A dwarf named Brok heard Loke’s boasts. Now Brok had a brother who was a clever workman too. Many of the gods thought him the best workman of all the dwarfs. Brok was angry when he heard Loke’s bragging. He said, “My brother can make more wonderful things of gold and iron and brass than your dwarfs have made.”

At that Loke laughed and laughed. “Go to your brother,” he said; “if he can make three such precious gifts as the golden hair, the spear, and the ship, I will give him my head.”

Brok at once went down to the underworld where his brother lived. He declared that he would get Loke’s head if any magic could be worked. He told his brother what Loke had said. Soon that dwarf was hard at work. In a few hours Brok started off with a golden boar, a shining ring, and a mighty hammer as his three gifts to the gods.

When he reached the land of the gods he found all the gods waiting to see what his gifts would be. The gods appointed three judges to decide whether Loke or Brok had the more wonderful gifts.

Loke brought forth the golden hair and gave it to Thor. Thor placed the hair upon Sif’s head. Behold it began to grow, and again Sif was the beautiful maiden she had been. Then Loke brought out the spear and gave it to the judges. It was a spear that never missed its mark. Then he gave the gods the wonderful ship which would sail wherever its master wished to go no matter which way the water ran or what direction the wind blew.

Loke was very proud of his gifts. Brok would not have any treasures so fine.

Then Brok came before the judges. He brought out the shining ring. “This ring,” he said, “will throw off many other rings as bright and shiny as this one.” Next he brought out the boar, saying, “This animal can run faster than the fastest horse. On dark nights its bristles will shine so that the night will be as light as day.” Then he gave Thor the hammer. “This hammer,” he said, “will crush whatever it strikes, and it will never fail to come back to your hand no matter where you throw it.”

Thor took the hammer and swung it round his head. Lightning flashed through the skies and peals of thunder filled the air. The gods gathered round to see the hammer. Surely such a hammer would be the greatest protection against the giants. So they said that the hammer was the greatest gift of all. Brok had won.

But how was Brok to get Loke’s head! He started toward that young braggart. Loke growled, “I will give you whatever you want, but not my head.”

“You promised your head, and your head I will have,” answered the angry dwarf.

“Come and get it,” shouted Loke as he ran away. But when Brok told Thor what had happened, Thor went and brought Loke back, for Thor always saw to it that the gods did as they promised.

“Cut off my head if you will,” said Loke, “but you must not touch my neck. I did not promise you any of my neck.”

Then Brok saw that he could not take Loke’s head after all. For how could he get the head without touching the neck! But still he was determined to punish the rascally Loke. So he sewed his lips together, saying, “I cannot have your head, but I can close your mouth so that you can no longer go about boasting.”

From that day on the gods felt safe from the frost-giants who were always trying to get into the valley of the gods. Those giants for more than half of the year kept the world covered with ice and snow. They hushed the flowing of the waters and the singing of the birds. They hated the warm sunshine which made the flowers bloom, and covered the mountains with grass, and brought the songs from the birds. They hated the god of the sun. They hated Thor, for it was Thor’s hammer that kept them from the land of the gods.

Then a morning came when Thor awoke to find that his hammer was gone. He searched and searched, but the hammer could not be found. Then in great fear he thought, “The giants have stolen the hammer while I slept.” At that thought he was very angry. Fire flashed from his eyes and the earth trembled under his angry voice. “Come, Loke,” he called, “we must be off at once to the land of the giants. The gods can never be safe if the hammer is in the hands of our enemies.”

Loke thought of a way to get into the home of the giants. He dressed himself like a huge bird and on its magical wings flew straight to that high mountaintop where the giants lived.

The giants were surprised to see Loke, but they gave him welcome. Loke soon learned that the giants did have the hammer, but search as he would, he could not find it. At last the mighty giant who was greatest of all the giants said, “Thor may have his hammer when the gods bring me a beautiful goddess to be my wife.”

Loke returned to tell Thor what he had heard. Thor was puzzled, for what goddess would ever consent to be the bride of a giant? Then Thor thought of a plan to outwit the giant. He would dress as a maiden and go to the land of the giants with Loke. Perhaps he could trick the giants.

Soon the broad wings of the huge bird were again carrying Loke to the home of the giants. With Loke, this time, rode Thor dressed as a maiden, wearing a heavy veil over his face.

They entered the land of the giants and were greeted by the mighty giant, who was pleased that a goddess had come to be his wife. He said to his servants, “Make a great feast and invite all the giants to come to see my bride.”

The giants came and the feast was spread. But all the time, the maiden kept the veil over her face. The mighty giant begged to look upon the face of his bride. Then Loke said, “The hammer must be ours before I can take the veil from the maiden’s face.”

So the mighty giant brought the hammer and placed it on the maiden’s lap. At that moment, Loke took the veil from the face and the giants saw before them the mighty Thor with the powerful hammer in his hands. They ran away in fear, as Thor whirled the hammer round and round and balls of fire flashed through the sky and peals of thunder filled the air.

Thor and Loke lost no time in getting back to the land of the gods. All the gods were out to greet them, and great was their joy to see the wonderful hammer. Once more the gods were safe from the wicked giants.

Buried Treasures of the Old Sea Kings

Many secrets of the long, long ago lie buried deep under the ground. In every land there are people who dig for such buried treasures. Only a few years ago some men in Norway dug down to a most wonderful treasure. What do you suppose they found? It was an old, old ship that the early sailors of that northland had sailed upon the seas more than two thousand years ago.

You can imagine how eagerly they worked to get every piece of the old ship out of the ground and to patch the pieces together to rebuild the old craft. And what a beautiful ship they finally had!

That ship, called the Oseborg Ship, stands today in a shed in an open-air museum near Oslo. School girls and boys go there with their teachers to see the old ship. They almost always look the longest at the big dragon’s head that rode on the front of the boat, or at the _prow_ of the boat as sailors call it.

How many, many questions those pupils ask about the old ship and about the old kings of the seas, who were called _Vikings_. And you can imagine how eagerly they listen to the tales of those daring sailors who ventured far, far out into the unknown seas in their long, black boats, each of which looked like a huge animal with its head sticking up out of the water.

Other treasures have been dug from the earth in Sweden too. One old chest had in it many queer things. One object from that old chest which interests Swedish girls and boys is a large gold ring with eight small rings upon it. Those rings of gold had been used for money long ago before people made coins. In those early days a man buying something would break off a piece of gold from one of the rings to pay for his purchase.

Tales of the Old Sea Kings

A long black boat, floating a red flag with a large black raven upon it, glided through the fjords and out to the open sea. At its prow stood a dragon’s head; at its stern was the animal’s tail. Along its sides, which looked like the body of a huge beast, were rows of big round shields painted red, black, and white. Behind those shields, on each side of the long boat, sheltered from the sprays of water, sat forty men who rowed the boat.

So the old ship of the sea kings which now stands in the museum had glided in the long, long ago.

Those old kings of the seas who sailed such boats are sometimes called Vikings. They got that name from the waterways which are now called fjords, but which were called _viks_ in the early days. The Northmen who kept their boats along the viks were called _Vikings_.

Nearly every Northman in those early days had a boat. They needed boats to go about on the fjords, but they also loved the open sea and sailed out upon it. Finding the material with which to make a boat was an easy task, for many great trees grew on the mountainsides of their lands.

Some of the ships that sailed on the seas reached the shores of other lands. In those lands the Vikings saw shining gold and silver and sharp weapons of bronze. The Northmen had no such treasures in their land. After hearing about such riches, the Vikings were not content without them. Some of the braver ones said, “We will sail our boats to those lands and take the rich treasures for ourselves.”

So the Vikings became sea rovers, or pirates, as sea robbers are often called. Those early Vikings believed that the riches of the world belonged rightly to the people who were strong enough to take them for themselves.

During the long winters, the Vikings stayed at home. In the daytime, they mended their boats, or built new boats. In the evenings they gathered around the feast table and listened to tales of adventures at sea. But when the warm days of sunshine came, they hastened to plant their crops and then to sail away to rob their neighbors.

The Vikings had no instrument with which to tell the direction they were sailing. They had no glasses through which to sight land. They took big birds, called ravens, with them on their boats to help them. When they wanted to find land, they would turn loose one of the birds. The raven would fly to land. By following the bird, the seamen too found land.

When one of the dragon-like ships came near the shores of another land, the people on the shores were filled with fear. Sometimes they tried to keep the robbers from landing on their shores. Then the Vikings would get their battle axes and their shields and fight their way into the land. They were cruel fighters. Often they left whole towns in ruin—people dying, and homes and crops in flames. For years the Vikings kept up their life as sea robbers.

After a time, some of the Vikings thought, “We will take our families and build new homes for ourselves in the rich lands we have visited.”

So Viking boats sailed away from the northland carrying whole families. Some went to nearby lands where the English live. Others went to live on lands that belong to the French. But many others sailed farther away and built homes on an island which is called Iceland. Other families followed them to Iceland. Before many years there were more than a thousand Vikings living on the island.

Some of the Vikings who had gone to live in Iceland still liked to sail the seas. Stories say that one of them, a very daring seaman called Lief Ericsson, sailed and sailed a very long way from his home. He found a land with many green trees and green grass and grapevines loaded with fruit. Lief called the land Vinland because of the grapes. But now people believe that the shores which Lief Ericsson found were really the shores of our land, America. Lief’s voyage to Vinland was made about five hundred years before Columbus found the new world.

Some people have said, “The story that Lief Ericsson found America cannot be true. A Viking ship could not have crossed the big ocean.”

But there was still a “Viking” living in Norway. He was a young Captain Andersen. He believed that the old Viking ships could cross the ocean. Even as a boy he had dreamed of how fine it would be to cross the ocean in a real Viking ship like those of the old Viking days.

About the time Captain Andersen was dreaming his dream, one of the old Viking ships which now stands in the museum was found buried deep under ground. Captain Andersen saw that ship. A few years later, the young captain heard of a World’s Fair to be held in Chicago, a city in America. Then he got an idea. He thought, “I’ll build a ship that will be a true copy of the old Viking ship—I’ll build it the same size as that old ship and will sail it with the same equipment across the Atlantic Ocean to America. I’ll sail the ship through the waters of North America to Chicago and show it to the visitors at the World’s Fair.”

And the young captain set about the task of building the ship. Of course he had difficulties. He had to have money, but he got it. Finally the ship was built. It was named the _Viking_ and Captain Andersen was made its commander.

The _Viking_ set sail on April 30, 1893, with a crew of twelve men. On June 13, it reached America. Captain Andersen’s dream had come true.

The _Viking_ was taken to Chicago. Thousands and thousands of visitors at the World’s Fair saw the old ship.

The _Viking_ was left in Chicago. It still stands under a shelter in Lincoln Park. On the old ship is a message which says that the ship came across the ocean under its own sails. It came to carry a message of good-will to the people of the United States of America.

Ivar, a Viking Boy

In the days of the Vikings, a son was born to the noble and bold Hjorvard and his wife Sigrlin. A feast day was set on which the babe was to be named. This was the custom for “name fastening” in Viking homes.

On the day for the “name fastening,” people for miles about gathered at Hjorvard’s home. Hjorvard took his son on his lap. A vessel filled with water was brought in and Hjorvard poured water on the child. Then he said in a loud voice so that all the people could hear him,

“Ivar, the boy shall be named after his grandfather. He will fight many battles. He shall be fair like his mother, and be called his father’s son, for he will wage war from an early age and wander far and wide.”

Hjorvard placed a sprig of garlic around his son’s neck, as a “name fastening,” meaning that as the garlic stood high among the grasses so would little Ivar stand among men. Then he placed by Ivar’s side a double-edged sword and a coat of mail, a shield, and a helmet of silver. Every animal born on Hjorvard’s farm on the day of the birth of little Ivar was to belong to the child.

Pictures have been found cut into rocks in Norway and Sweden.
This is an old rock picture of a Viking ship, made many, many
years ago. It shows a Viking defending his ship against two
smaller ones.

Ivar grew well. There was great joy in the family when he cut his first tooth. His father, as was the Viking custom, gave him a “tooth fee.” The gift was a knife in a gold sheath. This was fastened to a leather belt sewn with gold thread. He gave him also a large farm where he would live when he became a man.

As time went on Ivar grew to be a beautiful child; he was fair and had blue eyes. Like all boys of his age he loved to play. Nothing pleased him more than to put in the water a toy boat with a sail and watch it go out to sea.

When Ivar was six years old his parents began to think of sending him to be fostered. Boys who were to be great warriors were not brought up at home but sent to some friend who was wise and brave, to be educated. Ivar’s father and mother chose a brave man named Gudbrand to educate Ivar.

Ivar’s father made ready to send a messenger to Gudbrand. On the day when the messenger was to sail, a fleet of fifteen boats was seen coming towards the shore. Each ship carried a white shield on its mast. This meant that they were friendly and peaceful.

As the vessels came nearer shore they made a beautiful sight. Along the sides of the boats were the colored shields of the warriors. The sails, too, were striped in bright colors. Ahead of the other ships was a dragon ship flying a flag with an eagle on it. By this flag every one knew that this was Gudbrand’s ship.

Hjorvard and Sigrlin were glad to see Gudbrand’s ship coming at this time. Hjorvard went out to meet the great warrior. There were great feasts that day.

The next day when Gudbrand was talking to some of the warriors, Hjorvard came up to him with Ivar in his arms. He put Ivar on Gudbrand’s knees. It was an old custom that the man upon whose knee a child was seated was bound to become his “fosterer.” Hjorvard’s men shouted with joy to see Ivar seated upon the knees of Gudbrand, who was known for his wisdom and bravery.

At last the day came when Ivar was to leave his mother. Sigrlin was sad to see him go for he was to be away for long years. Ivar walked down to the shore between his parents, chatting merrily. As the ship left the shore Sigrlin stood on the headland watching it go. Then, with a deep sigh, she went homeward.

The wind was fair and after a sail of three days Gudbrand’s ships reached home. Sigrid, his wife, was well pleased when she saw Ivar. She prepared a room for him close to her own.

For a few days Ivar was homesick. He missed his father and mother and his playmates. Everything was new and strange. Soon, however, he grew to love his new home and his foster parents.

Gudbrand and Sigrid had a son named Hjalmar. He was a year older than Ivar. The two boys became good friends and learned together. As they grew older they were taught gymnastic exercises, games of ball, running, wrestling, jumping, and swimming. They learned how to steer and sail a boat. They learned how to ride. They even learned ship building and worked in the ship yards. Both boys were taught how to write on birch bark and to engrave letters on stone, gold, and silver.

Ivar and Hjalmar were better at sports than any other boys of their age. They could swim like eels and could shoot straight.

When Ivar was fifteen years old Gudbrand gave him a beautiful ship called _Stallion of the Surf_. Hjalmar also received a beautiful ship called _Deer of the Surf_. Gudbrand took the two boys sailing with him and trained them to build camp and to cook for themselves.

Ivar began to wish to see his own people again. Then the two boys sailed to the home of Ivar’s father and mother. They were greeted with great joy by Hjorvard and Sigrlin, who treated Hjalmar as kindly as if he were their own son.

After three years Ivar and Hjalmar were ready to sail the seas on expeditions of their own. They were Vikings, brave and bold.

Adapted from Ivar the Viking,
Paul du Chaillu.

Planting the Flag of Norway at the Bottom of the Earth

Crowds of people stood on the banks of the fjord at Oslo in Norway. Bands were playing and flags were waving. Cheer after cheer arose from the crowd as the boat, the _Fram_, came into sight. On the _Fram_ was a brave Norwegian named Nansen who was returning from adventures in Eskimo land.

In the crowd which cheered Nansen was a lad seventeen years old who also dreamed dreams of adventure. That lad was Roald Amundsen. “Some day,” said Roald, “I’ll travel as far north as I can go. I’ll stand at the North Pole—the spot at the very top of the world.”

People had known for a long time then that the earth is a big ball. The spot at the very top of the big ball is called the North Pole and the spot at the very bottom of the ball is called the South Pole. No matter which way a person standing at the North Pole looked he would be looking south toward the other end of the ball. If he stood at the South Pole, no matter which way he looked, he would be looking north towards the top of the ball. But when Roald was dreaming his dreams no one had stood at either the North Pole or the South Pole. Roald thought, “Perhaps I can be the first to visit the North Pole.”