A Viking Story

July 1, 2014 by

viking story

A Viking Story…

The rain drops hit Viking’s forehead, and roll down into her eyes.  They sting, but soothe the burning from her own tears.

She doesn’t wipe them away.  They just fall with the rain drops to the sand color wooden deck at her feet.  Viking looks out towards the crashing waves and rain in the black color night, and doesn’t look back.

As she points her ship into the black, she remembers the time she sailed out with her father and the other Vikings to fish as a young girl.  She was the only girl on the ship.  All of the other girls had to stay back in the village with the rest of the Vikings, but Viking’s Dad had a soft spot for her requests.

She begged him to fish with him and the other boys.  She knew she could so just as well, and saw no point in the idle chit chat she endured daily with the other village Viking girls.

Why those girls had to make fun of a Viking and all Vikings who passed with their hair or dress, she never knew, but it bored her so.

She loved to be on the water, and down in the waves to swim every chance she got, and she knew that if she could show her Dad she could fish with the boys, her next request could be to fight like Vikings with a sword and shield!

Now, a Viking leaves into the black color night…alone and sad, but she knows she must go.

Story Excerpt from Book II: The Viking and the hermit: The Grabbas Are Coming

viking story

Get to know Viking in our story better!

She is confident and strong, and has many adventures learning many things from Hermit on his Island. This Viking Story from above is the beginning of Viking’s story adventure to sail off, and find Hermit Island.

Viking has more of her story to share, and you can find out why she had to leave her Viking village alone and sad in the story series.

More Viking Story will be told.

Courtney & Betina

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Lost Vikings: A Viking Story

October 28, 2013 by

lost vikings

A Viking  Story About Lost Vikings…

Here is Viking walking through her favorite flower field on Hermit Island, over the path, and across the river past the meadow.  She likes to go there to pick flowers to bring back to Clam House Clearing.  They look so lovely on the center table in the stone vase Hermit made.

When Viking walks through this happy field, she remembers the story her father told of the lost Vikings from her village.

The Story of The Lost Vikings…

The lost Vikings left on a regular fishing trip, and took their longship out past the cresting waves into the deeper waters of the sea.  These lost Vikings took their ship to a place well-known, and fished many times by many ancestors before them.

After many days passed, the Viking villagers grew concerned over their absence, and feared these Vikings were lost at sea.

It was strange that the Vikings were lost, as it was a common place to fish, and even Viking had been there with her father many times before.

One of the village Viking girls waited for her love to come back to her, and he sadly never returned.  Each night, she stood out on the cold sand, and looked over the waters under the moonlight, hoping to see his ship appear in the distance.

She spent many nights waiting, and returned to the village only when she could no longer stand with exhaustion.  She sometimes said she could hear the ship horn blowing over the wind, and carrying the sound toward her, and that the lost Vikings and her love were just around the bend of the rocks.

Each time nothing.

This Viking girl eventually stopped waiting on the beach, but would walk through the marketplace, with her clothes dirty, her hair uncombed, and mumbling to herself.  She didn’t even wear her Viking helmet anymore out in public.

This girl was the same village girl Viking saw often in that marketplace, and she never knew why she acted the way she did, until her father told her the story of the lost Vikings and her broken heart.

The other Viking girls would laugh at this girl, and tease her, and were so mean.

One time, Viking became so angry at the constant taunting and teasing, that she drew her sword and shield, pointed her sharp blade at the throat of the tallest mean girl, even taller than Viking, and said…

“If only I get the chance some day to bear the burden of this girl, but I shall not bear your words one moment more!”

Viking held her sword steady, squinted her eyes, pursed her lips, and readied her movements.

The taller Viking girl stepped back away.  Her face was red with embarrassment, and she looked around the marketplace to see who was watching. She left with the other mean girls, but oh how they gave Viking such looks.

Viking knew that was the day she made enemies.

As she picks the purple flower, and places it behind her ear, she wonders if her father is waiting on the beach each night…looking out over the water for the lost Vikings and his lost Viking?

lost vikings

 

She smiles thinking of her father, and the love story he told her of the Lost Vikings.

~Courtney & Betina

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Viking Games: Hermipedia

October 5, 2013 by

viking games

Welcome to Our Hermipedia Feature: Viking Games

Hermipedia is our part fiction, part fact presentation of everything you want or need to know about the characters, setting and things on Hermit Island, where our children’s book series, The Viking and the hermit takes place.

If you’d like to read all of our Hermipedia, just click on it at the bottom of this post, and it will give you the entire series to read and learn with your kids, and to just have fun…of course!

Now on to learning more about Viking Games!

Vikings would play a variety of games from swimming, running and racing, horse fighting, wrestling, skiing, curling, and a number of board games similar to chess.

Viking Games: Curling

The curling game was similar to shuffleboard with Scottish origins, where to play, you slide stones over a sheet of ice to reach a target area of four rings. Curling game has a nickname of  “Chess on Ice”, and the vikings likely adopted these same style games with specific movements of game pieces to specific target game areas either on a board or on a sheet of ice, as a type of game of strategy they liked to play.

Viking Games: Board Games

The Viking Games on boards, usually had a King piece in the center of the board, that was trying to reach the outer edges of the board, and the larger number of pieces were trying to capture the King piece in the process.

This board game was called “Tafl”, and it spread everywhere the Vikings travelled, including Northern Europe, Ireland and England from earlier than 400 AD.  It wasn’t until the 12th century that it was rivaled by the game of chess.

More Viking Games:

Since Vikings liked to battle, they valued athletic skills, and in particular needed great strength to handle a battle axe, sword and shield.  They also needed to have endurance to run, and to swim well, since they spent much of their time on the water in Viking ships.

Viking’s Favorite Game in Our Story

Viking from our Viking and the hermit story, is an accomplished swimmer, and upon earning her place among the Viking men on Viking fishing trips, she then convinced her father to teach her to use a sword and shield.

Viking’s favorite game will always be swimming in the water, where she is most comfortable, very fast, and able to hold her breath under water for a very long time.

Being so comfortable in the water helps Viking to learn to spear fish with Hermit at Hermit Island Bay, where she must ride Sasha over the water and away from the uggies to catch her fish…

viking games

What’s your favorite Viking Game?

Viking Games: Hermipedia

Courtney & Betina

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About the Vikings-Hermipedia: The Viking and the Hermit

July 25, 2013 by

about the vikings

 

Hermipedia Feature: About the Vikings

If you’re new here, Hermipedia is a made up encyclopedia mix of fact and fiction to explore and explain all characters, wild life, activity, flora and fauna of Hermit Island, where our Illustrated Children’s Book Series Adventure, The Viking and the hermit takes place.

Today we are learning some Viking’s History and about the Vikings!

The Meaning of the Word, “Viking”

The word “viking” is an Old Norse(Icelandic language) noun which refers to an expedition overseas usually by ship. In other expressions, “to go on a viking” meant to go on a raid or participate in piracy, but could also simply have meant to have a seaborne mission of trade or commerce.

Viking Revival Age

Much of what we know about the Viking’s history today is based on the 19th Century Viking Revival Age, which was a rediscovery of the Viking past for Norwegians.  At this time, Norwegians  saw a rise in nationalism, and began to look to their Viking history and ancestry more.  With the discovery and excavation of the first Viking ship there, it gave Norwegians new knowledge about the Vikings, their history and their culture.

This Viking ship was built around 900 A.D., and in a ship or boat burial mound of dirt. We also know that the only complete Viking helmet ever found was in Norway.

The Viking Revival Age also marked when Norway and Sweden came together in history under one Swedish King.  Norway was previously united with Denmark until a Declaration of Independence, war and Treaty agreement resulted in the official United Kingdoms of  Sweden and Norway between 1814 and 1905.

During this Viking’s Age, the theory that Vikings explored North America centuries before Christopher Columbus were published and discussed. Today in America, Leif Erikson Day is celebrated on October 9th, in honor of the first Europeans or Vikings to set foot in North America, and discover the New World.

Columbus Day is still celebrated on October 12th as his arrival in the Americas in 1492.

The Viking and the hermit:

Although much of Viking’s past remains a mystery to Hermit, and he knows that she is sensitive talking of it, Viking and Hermit both find great comfort in each other’s company, and feel connected, as if they know each other from a time before.

Each day on Hermit Island, Viking learns something new, and she grows more confident in her skills and place there.  Each task proves she can learn more, and she likes the way that makes her feel.  She left her Viking village and family lost and alone, but she now has Hermit and his Island as her new friends.

At night, she lies in her guest home-clam house bed, and looks at her beautiful Viking helmet gift from her father, resting on the shelf above.  The pain of not seeing him subsides slightly, as she thinks of waking up to be ready to spear fish with Hermit.

Courtney & Betina

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