work, work
as hard as had the slaves or thralls who were under him.

The old history books, or Sagas, as the Norseman called them, have,
among other songs, this one about the duties of a well-born lad:

"He now learnt
To tame oxen
And till the ground,
To timber houses
And build barns,
To make carts
And form plows."

Indeed, it would have surprised you to see the fierce warriors and
mighty chiefs themselves laying aside their weapons and working in the
fields side by side with their thralls, sowing, reaping, threshing.
Yet this they did.

Even kings were often to be seen in the fields during the busy harvest
season. They would help their men to cut the golden grain, and with
their own royal hands help to fill the barn when the field was reaped.
To king and yeomen alike, work, well done, was an honorable deed.

Long before the Sagas were written down, the stories of the heroes
were sung in halls and on battle-fields by the poets of the nation.
These poets were named skalds, and their rank among the Northmen was
high.

Sometimes the Sagas were sung in prose, at other times in verse.
Sometimes they were tales which had been handed down from father to
son for so many years that it was hard to tell how much of them was
history, how much fable. At other times the Sagas were true accounts
of the deeds of the Norse kings. For the skalds were ofttimes to be
seen on the battle-fields or battleships of the vikings, and then
their songs were of the brave deeds which they had themselves seen
done, of the victories and defeats at which they themselves had been
present.

The battles which the vikings fought were fought on the sea more
frequently than on the land.

Their warships were called long-ships and were half-decked The rowers
sat in the center of the boat, which was low, so that their oars could
reach the water. Sails were used, either red or painted in different
stripes, red, blue, yellow, green. These square, brightly colored
sails gave the boats a gay appearance which was increased by the
round shields which were hung outside the gunwale and which were
also painted red, black, or white. At the prow there was usually a
beautifully carved and gorgeously painted figurehead. The stem and
stern of the ships were high. In the stern there was an upper deck,
but in the forepart of the vessel there was nothing but loose planks
on which the sailors could step. When a storm was raging or a battle
was being