Introductory material
Reading edition
LEIF ERICSON:
THE FIRST EUROPEAN TO EXPLORE, AND SETTLE IN, AMERICA.
“From Greenland’s icy mountains; from Iceland’s rocky shore,
We sailed the ship which forged ahead and ruddy oarsmen bore;
We found the wild grape growing; we scoured the river’s bed,
And chased the moose whose horns were broad, whose blood was rich and red.
Our axes felled the wild-wood, our spears the Skraelings slew,
We sank their round skin-barges as the cutting North Winds blew,
Over the wild waves rolling, back to the fiords of home,
We safely came to anchor,—but we’ll never cease to roam.”
Saga of the Vikings, 1000 a.d.
FAMOUS DISCOVERERS AND EXPLORERS OF AMERICA.