SOME YEARS AGO I came upon the historical story of the discovery of America by Leif Ericsson in A (15 page)

[FADE TO:

The Classroom

(The bell is still tolling.)

CALLENDER Well, that's all that we've got time for in this lesson. The Norsemen never settled in their Vinland though they made a lot of journeys to it. They could not fight the Indians with the small numbers they could land; each time they tried to make a settlement the Indians came down on them and beat them in a battle. It wasn't until five hundred years later, when men came with the new weapons they called guns, that Europeans settled in America. Some of them, right down in the south, were certain they had found Hy Breasail, by the way, which you would call Brazil.

BOY ONE Brazil

CALLENDER And now I'm going to say just one thing to you. People in history were not a different race from you and me. Your history books deal mostly with the great people, the Kings and Princes and the Ministers of State. They're just the froth upon the surface; the Kings and Princes and the Ministers—they don't mean much. History is made by plain and simple people like ourselves, doing the best we can with each job as it comes along. Leif went out to get timber to build cowhouses, and found America. That's how real people make real history. You may make history yourselves one day, any one of you, but you may never know you've done it. Leif didn't. (
Pause
) All right, you can go now.

(The
Boys
get up and begin to stream out of the classroom. The
Headmaster
is standing in the passage looking very sour; as the
Boys
pass him talking eagerly among themselves, his frown deepens.
)

BOY TWO I say, I liked the bit about Eric fighting with an axe. The groundsman's got an axe. I don't believe the tool shed is locked up.'

BOY ONE I don't believe it's true, any of it. There's nothing about it in the book. It says John Cabot discovered North America.

BOY THREE He said the books were all wrong; they only tell you what the Kings and Princes did. I'm not going to bother with my history book any more. I'd rather listen to him talking.

BOY FOUR I liked the bit about Thorgunna. We've never had a history master tell us the ripe bits before. I hope he keeps it up.

(
They pass, and
Callender
follows them out of the room; he comes face to face with the
Headmaster.
They look at each other in silence for a moment
)

CALLENDER (Nervously) Was that all right, sir?

HEADMASTER
(Reflectively)
Princes and Kings and Ministers are just the froth upon the surface. And all the books are wrong. And all these boys are going to make history. And Thorgunna had a baby. As a first lesson on the History of the United States, it was certainly original.

CALLENDER
(Diffidently)
As a matter of fact, I was coming on to that next time. I was going to tell them all about the Boston Tea Party. I think they'd like that.

HEADMASTER Very, very interesting.
(Looks at
Callender)
Didn't you say that you have a friend who offered you a job to sell electric razors in Paris?

CALLENDER Yes, sir.

HEADMASTER
(Thoughtfully)
Do you know, I think if I were you I should be rather inclined to take it.

The End