Other editions of book Viking Tales: Large Print

Hall has captured the true spirit of the ancient age through her vibrant portrayal of voyage in this book. It includes historical explorations of unknown Islands. These adventurous tales, including the discovery of America (named Vinland) by the Norse, are a gripping chronicle of the human desire for exploration and a tantalizing glimpse of what would many centuries later become the New World.

Hall has captured the true spirit of the ancient age through her vibrant portrayal of voyage in this book. It includes historical explorations of unknown Islands. These adventurous tales, including the discovery of America (named Vinland) by the Norse, are a gripping chronicle of the human desire for exploration and a tantalizing glimpse of what would many centuries later become the New World.

This scarce antiquarian book is a facsimile reprint of the original. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment for protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature in affordable, high quality, modern editions that are true to the original work.

Hall has captured the true spirit of the ancient age through her vibrant portrayal of voyage in this book. It includes historical explorations of unknown Islands. These adventurous tales, including the discovery of America (named Vinland) by the Norse, are a gripping chronicle of the human desire for exploration and a tantalizing glimpse of what would many centuries later become the New World.

Hall has captured the true spirit of the ancient age through her vibrant portrayal of voyage in this book. It includes historical explorations of unknown Islands. These adventurous tales, including the discovery of America (named Vinland) by the Norse, are a gripping chronicle of the human desire for exploration and a tantalizing glimpse of what would many centuries later become the New World.

Viking Tales The Baby King Halfdan lived in Norway long ago. One morning his queen said to him: "I had a strange dream last night. I thought that I stood in the grass before my bower. I pulled a thorn from my dress. As I held it in my fingers, it grew into a tall tree. The trunk was thick and red as blood, but the lower limbs were fair and green, and the highest ones were white. I thought that the branches of this great tree spread so far that they covered all Norway and even more." "A strange dream," said King Halfdan. "Dreams are the messengers of the gods. I wonder what they would tell us," and he stroked his beard in thought. Some time after that a serving-woman came into the feast hall where King Halfdan was. She carried a little white bundle in her arms. "My lord," she said, "a little son is just born to you." "Ha!" cried the king, and he jumped up from the high seat and hastened forward until he stood before the woman. "Show him to me!" he shouted, and there was joy in his voice. The serving-woman put down her bundle on the ground and turned back the cloth. There was a little naked baby. The king looked at it carefully. "It is a goodly youngster," he said, and smiled. "Bring Ivar and Thorstein." They were captains of the king's soldiers. Soon they came. "Stand as witnesses," Halfdan said. Then he lifted the baby in his arms, while the old serving-woman brought a silver bowl of water. The king dipped his hand into it and sprinkled the baby, saying: "I own this baby for my son. He shall be called Harald. My naming gift to him is ten pounds of gold."

Nights were long in Iceland winters of long ago. 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 of 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. As the family worked in the red fire-light, the father told of the kings of Norway, of long voyages to strange lands, of good fights. And in farmhouses all through Iceland these old tales were told over and over until everybody knew them and loved them. Men who could sing and play the harp were called "skalds," and they called their songs "sagas." Eventually these stories were written down on sheepskin or vellum so that we can enjoy them today. We follow the fortunes of Harald from the time he is acknowledged by his father as a baby and given his own thrall at the cutting of his first tooth, through his exploits as a viking adventurer, to his crowning as King of Norway. It is when Harald is King of Norway that population pressures at home and eagerness for adventure and booty from other lands combine to drive some of the bolder Vikings to set forth from their native land. Sailing ever westward across the Atlantic, they hop along the chain of islands that loosely connects Norway with America-Orkneys and Shetlands, Faeroes, Iceland, and Greenland. It is from link to link of this chain that the characters in our story sail in search of home and adventure. Discoveries are made by accident. Ships are driven by the wind into unknown ports, resulting in landings and settlements in Iceland, Greenland, and America. The crude courage of these men and strangeness of their adventures appeal strongly to children, while their love of truth, hardy endurance, and faithfulness to the promised word make them characters to emulate. Suitable for children ages 9 and up to read to themselves and for children as young as 6 as a read-aloud.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

"Viking Tales" book has a glossy cover and a blank page for the dedication. Many men in Iceland spent their winters in writing books. They wrote on sheepskin; vellum, we call it. Many of these old vellum books have been saved for hundreds of years, and are now in museums in Norway. Some leaves are lost, some are torn, all are yellow and crumpled. But they are precious. They tell us all that we know about that olden time. There are the very words that the men of Iceland wrote so long ago - stories of kings and of battles and of ship-sailing. Some of those old stories I have told in this book.

For those wanting an interesting peek into the lifestyle of the vikings and an insight into their mindset, this will be a worthwhile read. Find out how slaves (or thralls) were used and treated by the privileged of society. Get a glimpse into the clothing worn and foods eaten. Most importantly, this text will help explain the worldview of these mysterious people. They worshiped strange gods, and felt their life after death would be humiliating if they didn't die courageously in battle. To die any other way would've been shameful. The sense of extreme entitlement struck me strongly as I read, seeing these men take what they wanted, whenever they felt the need, killing persons standing in their way. You'll gain insight into some more famous men and vikings from history and lore: Harald, King of Norway, as well as Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky. Stories are told in a straight-forward manner with little building of tension or drama. Includes vintage illustration!