SOME YEARS AGO I came upon the historical story of the discovery of America by Leif Ericsson in A (11 page)

HAKI Ay, sir, we ken that.

LEIF I am very glad to have you, because you are clever people, and you run better than anybody I have ever heard of. The King says I am to take you to the country that I live in when I go home in the spring, so that you can run over parts we have not visited and tell us what is there. Will you like doing that?

HAKI Ay, sir.

LEIF The place I come from is a long way from here. We shall go there in a ship.

HAKI Ay.

HAEKIA Will they laugh at us there?

LEIF No. Why should they?

HAKI The people in this town make fun of us because we do not understand their ways, and they laugh at our clothes. We do not like this place. When first we came to Norway we were on a farm to herd the sheep. We were happy there. Are there farms in your country?

LEIF We all live on farms in my country; there are no towns. In my country nobody will laugh at you. Do you come with me willingly?

HAKI Ay, sir.

HAEKIA They say you are a kind master. We would like that fine.

LEIF All right. I see that town life doesn't suit you two. I will ask King Olaf if you may go back onto the farm till it is time for us to start.

[FADE TO:

The Quayside

(
The camera opens on a field of blue and white hepatica in the sun to show the lapse of time; it lifts and shows
Leif's
ship at the quayside; the ship is fully loaded and about to leave. She is deeply loaded with a cargo of timber and iron goods, so that the space left for the crew is small.
Haki
and
Haeki
are on board, standing very close together and staring with wonder at everything they see; near them is the priest, who has clearly taken the two
Scots
under his care.
)

(
On the quay there is a crowd of men to see them off.
Leif
is there, talking to
King Olaf.
)

LEIF We are ready to go now, sir. With this fair wind we shall be over the horizon before noon, even with all this cargo you have given us.

KING OLAF Go then, with my goodwill and with the blessing of God. Remember all that I have told you. Push on and find new countries to the southwards of your Greenland if you can; I don't think you'll do much good where you are. Take my greetings to your father, and tell him that he's not an outlaw any longer. Let the good priest do his good work amongst your people, and let him teach them writing. Send a written letter to me each year by the ship.

LEIF Sir, I will do all these things.

(
He bows to the
King
and goes down to the ship. Shot of the ship leaving land.)

[DISSOLVE TO:

The Ship at Sea

(The ship is sailing in sunshine with a fair wind. In the cramped space on board the
Priest
is seated with a cross in his hand; he is talking earnestly to
Haki
and
Haekia
who are listening to him intently. In the background members of the crew are looking on curiously. This conversion scene requires no dialogue; it should be possible to make it clear that the
Priest
is starting off upon the easiest people in the ship, the humblest people. In a following shot
Haki
and
Haekia
may be seen crouched together like children, very intent on private business of their own;
Haki
is whittling a little wooden cross. In later scenes throughout the film they may be seen wearing these little crosses slung round their necks by a rawhide thong.
)

(In all these ship scenes
Leif
and
Tyrker
should be shown working at the steering oar, preoccupied with the sailing of the ship. The life of the ship goes on at their feet unnoticed.
)

[ DISSOLVE TO:

The Classroom

(
Callender
is at the map, indicating.)

CALLENDER They probably went direct from Norway to Greenland in the early summer of that year—like this. The saga does not say that they put in to any port between. They had the notch for Greenland carved upon their thwart, of course, so they probably got straight onto their latitude as soon as they could and went all the way with a fair easterly wind. So they got back to Ericsfirth in Greenland.

[DISSOLVE TO:

The Ship at Ericsfirth

(
This is an evening scene. In a short opening shot the ship is seen sailing into the fiord. She beaches at Brattahlid; there is a crowd on the shore to meet them headed by
Eric,
now an old man. As the ship grounds or comes to a quay—whichever is most suitable—all these people come on board; the ship is crowded with wives greeting husbands, children, etc. In this noisy confusion the
Priest
stands apart with the two
Scots
by him; they are all wearing crosses.
)

(
Leif
shows his father the cargo of the ship.)

LEIF They gave us everything I asked for, Father; they were terribly good to us. I had to stay the winter, but I'm glad I did; I learned a lot about shipbuilding and I had some long talks with the King. All this timber is in twenty-foot lengths. These are the iron nails. This case has thirty iron ploughshares in it, already made up for us, Father; we shall not have to forge them up ourselves. This is the brass, and they gave us these copper sheets for cooking vessels, too. I have so much to tell you it will take all winter.

ERIC
{Very pleased, stroking the wood)
Such beautiful, straight pieces! I had almost forgotten that there was wood like this in the world. (
Turns to
Bjarni,
who is near
) Bjarni, look at all this beautiful straight wood that Leif has brought from Norway. Pity you didn't do as well.

BJARNI
(Resentful)
Nobody ever told me that you needed wood. I could have brought you better wood than this, but nobody ever tells me anything.

LEIF What's all this about?

ERIC When Bjarni was on his way here from Iceland he got over to the west a bit and saw another land on which there were tall trees. And if you please, he came here with an empty ship!

BJARNI Well, how was I to know you wanted wood? Every decent country has a lot of wood. You can't build ships without it.

(Eric
turns from him in disgust and examines the other materials.
)

LEIF
(Keenly)
Where was this country, Bjarni? Was it south from here?

BJARNI I did not come direct. Yes, I suppose the place with the timber would have been about southwest from here, or maybe further south than that.

LEIF What sort of country was it, Bjarni? Was it beautiful?

BJARNI I don't know about that. I didn't go too near it, because I didn't know the coast.

LEIF Was it fertile country? Was there pasture on it, and streams of water?

BJARNI I suppose there might have been. I didn't notice specially.

LEIF Was there any snow?

BJARNI Oh, no, there wasn't any snow. It was quite warm.

LEIF Would flowers grow there, and fruit?

BJARNI You do ask a lot of fool questions. I don't go for fruit much, myself. I like meat, or fish.

LEIF But would fruit grow there—would it ripen in the summer?

BJARNI It was pretty hot the day that we were there.

(It is sunset now.
Leif
turns and looks towards the west, where the sunset colours glow and fade across the sky. He is standing at the prow of the ship by the carved dragon of the figurehead, silhouetted against the sunset.
)

(Thorgunna's
voice is heard.)

THORGUNNA Past the horizon and beyond those rosy clouds there lies the Happy Land, which this man called Hy Breasail. No thief, no robber, and no enemy pursues one there; there is no violence, and no winter snow. In that place it is always spring. No flower or lily is wanting, no rose or violet but you will find them there. There apple trees bear flowers and fruit on the same branch, all the year round. There young men live in quiet happiness with their girls; there is no old age, and no sickness and no sorrow there. All is full of joy ...

(The fade comes slowly on the sunset scene, with
Leif
silhouetted against the sky.)

[FADE TO:

Hall of Eric's Farmhouse

(
This is a fairly large room, not so big as the hall of the King in the Hebrides, but big enough to contain most of the characters in Greenland named so far in the story.
Eric's
wife,
Thorhild,
is seated at the head of a long table, with
Eric
beside her. It is a feast scene at which all the characters are seated. There is a large fire, and the room is lit by torches. Everybody is drinking heavily.)

(
Eric's
wife is a stern-faced woman who holds great authority in the community,
Eric
is shown as a good-humoured, stout man, still fairly vigorous but growing old and much addicted to drink, the fireside, and a quiet life.
)

BJARNI I've told you all I know. We saw the place, and there was wood on it. Lots of countries have woods on them—all decent countries do. I don't know why you are all so excited about it.

LEIF We can always use more wood.

BJARNI Well, I'll sail to Norway and get you some more. I'd like to go to Norway, anyway.

LEIF This other place is closer.

BJARNI You're just reckless. You might run into all sorts of trouble, going off to a new place you don't know anything about. You'll end up by getting yourself bewitched and turned into a rabbit or a deer. I've heard of that.

ERIC That's right—Wotan did that to Sigurd. If anybody's going to those places he should make blood sacrifice to Wotan first.

THORHILD Be quiet, you old pagan. How many times have I got to tell you that we will not have that sort of talk? We are all good Christians here. What will the good priest think?

(
The
Priest
makes a deprecating gesture of tolerance.)

ERIC Speak for yourself, woman. I'm not a good Christian, I don't want to be a good Christian, and I'm not going to be a good Christian, and that's all about it. I think a voyage to the land that Bjarni saw to get a cargo of that wood would be a good thing. We've used half of the stuff Leif brought back from Norway already. But if I have anything to do with it there'll be blood sacrifice before we start. It's just tempting Wotan to show what he can do, to start without a sacrifice.

THORHILD Quiet, man. To say such things before the priest!

ERIC Priest! He's an impostor, that's what he is. He breaks up marriages, that's what he does. Breaks up a man's happy marriage. (
He weeps a little.)

THORHILD If I've told you once I've told you twenty times. I'll sleep with you again when you become a Christian and not before. It's not lawful for a Christian to be married to a pagan, you old reprobate.

ERIC Well, what did you want to go and become Christian for? I tell you, the man just spends his time breaking up marriages, happy, happy marriages. If I was ten years younger I'd break him up.

THORHILD
(Fiercely)
Peace!

A MAN
(Coughing)
About this journey for the wood that we were talking about. I think we ought to go next summer. We want a lot of wood.

SECOND MAN Ay. Eric, let's have an expedition next year to the place that Bjarni saw, and get a cargo of that wood.

SEVERAL MEN Ay, let's do that, Eric.

ERIC Bjarni, will you take an expedition to the country?

BJARNI Well, I don't know. There aren't any people there. I'd rather go to Norway. It's a bit further, but I like being at sea. You can have a good time in Norway.

FIRST MAN What's all this stuff about Bjarni? We don't want to go with Bjarni and spend all our time at sea and never get on shore at all. Eric's our leader.

SEVERAL MEN Ay. Eric must lead us.

ERIC Me?

SECOND MAN Ay. You can sail the ship all right. We won't go unless you lead us.

ERIC Well now, boys, this wants a bit of thinking over. I've got a lot to do next summer.

THORHILD You had nothing to do last summer except lean on the fence rail and chew a straw, and make eyes at the serving girls. You did enough of that, and you didn't stop at making eyes, either. You made other things besides.

ERIC
(Loftily)
You don't want to pay any attention to her.