Nights were long in Iceland winters of long ago.
Suitable for children ages 9 and up to read to themselves and for children as young as 6 as a read-aloud..
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.
Ships are driven by the wind into unknown ports, resulting in landings and settlements in Iceland, Greenland, and America.
Discoveries are made by accident.
It is from link to link of this chain that the characters in our story sail in search of home and adventure.
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 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.
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.
Eventually these stories were written down on sheepskin or vellum so that we can enjoy them today.
Men who could sing and play the harp were called skalds, and they called their songs sagas.
And in farmhouses all through Iceland these old Tales were told over and over until everybody knew them and loved them.
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.
Everybody\'s hands were busy with wool.
The grown people were on a long narrow bench that they had pulled up to the light and warmth.
The children sat on the dirt floor close by the fire.
Smoke curled along the high beams of the ceiling.
Shadows flitted in the dark corners.
That fire gave the only light.
A whole family sat for hours around the fire in the middle of the room.
Nights were long in Iceland winters of long ago
