it was Eskimos
that Thorfinn saw in Wineland.
FOOTNOTES:
[16] See note about Valkyrias on page 198.
Suggestions _to_ Teachers
Possibly this book seems made up of four or five disconnected stories.
They are, however, strung upon one thread,--the westward emigration from
Norway. The story of Harald is intended to serve in two ways towards the
working out of this plot. It gives the general setting that continues
throughout the book in costume, houses, ideals, habits. It explains the
cause of the emigration from the mother country. It is really an
introductory chapter. As for the other stories, they are distinctly
steps in the progress of the plot. A chain of islands loosely connects
Norway with America,--Orkneys and Shetlands, Faroes, Iceland, Greenland.
It was from link to link of this chain that the Norsemen sailed in
search of home and adventure. Discoveries were made by accident. Ships
were driven by the wind from known island to unknown. These two
points,--the island connection that made possible the long voyage from
Norway to America, and the contribution of storm to discovery,--I have
stated in the book only dramatically. I emphasize them here, hoping that
the teacher will make sure that the children see them, and possibly that
they state them abstractly.
Let me speak as to the proper imaging of the stories. I have not often
interrupted incident with special description, not because I do not
consider the getting of vivid and detailed images most necessary to full
enjoyment and to proper intellectual habits, but because I trusted to
the pictures of this book and to the teacher to do what seemed to me
inartistic to do in the story. Some of these descriptions and
explanations I have introduced into the book in the form of notes,
hoping that the children in turning to them might form a habit of
insisting upon full understanding of a point, and might possibly, with
the teacher's encouragement, begin the habit of reference reading.
The landscape of Norway, Iceland, and Greenland is wonderful and will
greatly assist in giving reality and definiteness to the stories.
Materials for this study are not difficult of access. Foreign colored
photographs of Norwegian landscape are becoming common in our art
stores. There are good illustrations in the geographical works referred
to in the book list. These could be copied upon the blackboard. There
are three books beautifully illustrated in color that it will
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