Part 6

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.