SOME YEARS AGO I came upon the historical story of the discovery of America by Leif Ericsson in A (2 page)

The Classroom

HEADMASTER Pay attention to me, please. This is Mr.—er— Major Callender, who has joined the staff this term. None of you will remember him, but he is not a stranger to the school. He was with us for a year before the war, and now he has come back to us again after six years of military duty to take up his peacetime avocations. I am sure you will all join with me in giving him a hearty welcome. And—(
a little threateningly
)—I am sure that you will do everything you can to make things easy for him.

(
There' is a pause. The
Boys
grin furtively at one another, giving the impression that they intend to do nothing of the sort.)

—Well now, Major Callender is going to start you off this afternoon on the History of the United States. As you all know, the United States is a very great country. Not only is it big in size, but it is big in—er—big in—well, as I was saying, it's a very great country. I am sure you will all realize that it is fitting that we should know something of the history of our greatest ally. I shall leave you with Mr. Callender.

(He goes out. There is a vacant classroom next door, and between the two rooms there is a communicating door. The
Headmaster
goes
into the vacant room and gently opens the communicating door a crack, in order that he may listen to the lesson unobserved. He sits down at a desk.
)

CALLENDER Well now, I'm going to tell you something about the United States, our greatest ally, as the Headmaster said.

BOY ONE
(A grave, serious type)
Sir, wasn't Russia our greatest ally? The population of Russia is much larger than the United States.

(
There are grins around the form at this opening gambit,
)

CALLENDER Well—they both fought very well.

BOY ONE The Russians started fighting first, sir.
And
they're bigger.

BOY TWO Don't pay any attention to him, sir—none of the other masters do. He's all wet.

BOY THREE None of them fought as long as we did, did they, sir?

CALLENDER It's about time you learned something about the United States. They fought by making things for us in their factories and sending them to us on Lend-Lease, long before they came into the war. At that time that was what we needed most. We hadn't got enough guns and tanks and aeroplanes to arm the fighting men we had. We didn't want any more men, at that stage of the war.

BOY THREE
(Innocently)
What
is
Lend-Lease, sir?

CALLENDER Lend-Lease? Why, that was an arrangement that we made with the United States ... (He
realizes that he has been steered onto a side track, and stops.)
Remind me to tell you about Lend-Lease on the last day of term. This afternoon I'm going to tell you about the history of the United States.

BOY FOUR (A
big, athletic type, more adult than the rest)
Please, sir, may I leave the room?

(
There are furtive smiles around the class.)

CALLENDER You've only just come in.

BOY FOUR I'm not very well, sir.

CALLENDER
(Eyeing him grimly)
I'm glad to hear it.

BOY FOUR May I go, sir?

CALLENDER No.

BOY FOUR
(Very much aggrieved)
Sir, I shall have an accident.

(
There are open titters in the class.)

CALLENDER You'll have another one if you don't shut up.

(
The
Boy
sitting next to
Boy
Four
moves ostentatiously away from him.)

—Now for our history of the United States. I think we'd better start at the beginning. Can anybody tell me who first discovered America?

BOY THREE
(In a bored tone)
Christopher Columbus.

CALLENDER Wrong. Anybody else got any ideas?

BOY ONE John Cabot discovered America, sir. Christopher Columbus went to the West Indies.

CALLENDER Right, up to a point. John Cabot did discover North America, but he wasn't the first. We'll come back to him presently.

BOY TWO Sir, was John Cabot a black man?

CALLENDER No, of course he wasn't. He was born in Genoa, but he lived most of his early life in Venice till he came to England.

BOY TWO (
Innocently)
Most Americans are black, aren't they?

CALLENDER Of course they're not. Only a very small percentage are black, the descendants of the freed slaves in the south.

BOY TWO Those are the better-class Americans, aren't they, sir? Better than the white ones?

CALLENDER Why, no. Whatever put that idea into your head?

BOY TWO Well, sir, we had them in the Camp, up on the Heath. There were some white Americans to start with; then they went away and the black ones came, and there were many more of them. Everybody in the village said the black ones were much nicer. They were so quiet and helpful, sir, and they never got drunk.

BOY THREE That's right, sir. They were quite black, all over. They drove trucks awfully well.

CALLENDER Well, those were the descendants of the Negro slaves. We shall get to those about half term. But now I want to know if any of you can tell me who was the first discoverer of America, the very first that we have any record of?

{
The class are not interested; there is a dead, bored silence. A
Boy
flips a wad of paper at another
Boy
across the room with a bit of elastic between two fingers;
Callender
sees this, and is annoyed.)

CALLENDER
(Irritably)
Well, America was first discovered by a bloody fool called Bjarni, about the year one thousand and two.

(He turns to the blackboard and writes,
bjarni a.d.
1002.
The class shows a flicker of interest.)

BOY FOUR
(Curiously)
Sir, why was he a bloody fool?

(
In the next room, behind the door, the corners of the
Headmaster's
mouth droop; he does not approve of this conversation at all.)

CALLENDER He saw it, but he didn't land—and there were other reasons, too. I'll tell you about him in a minute. Now, does anybody know who first explored the United States—the first that we have any record of?

(
Dead silence.
)

—Well, it was first explored by two young Scots, about the year one thousand and three, in the summer. They were a young man and a young woman, Haki and Haekia, born at Aberdeen or Inverness on the east coast of Scotland. I rather think they went there for their honeymoon.

(
The class is now definitely interested.
Callender turn
s
and writes upon the blackboard
haki
and
haekia.
)

BOY FOUR Did they go to Niagara Falls, sir?

CALLENDER No. As a matter of fact, they went to Cape Cod.

BOY ONE
(Doubtfully)
It says John Cabot in the book, sir.

CALLENDER Then the book's wrong. I'm telling you what hap pened.

(In the next room the
Headmaster
is looking very sour. In the classroom
Callender
leans forward on his desk; he now has the attention of the class.
)

CALLENDER It all began about twenty years before, when a chap called Eric the Red got chucked out of Norway for manslaughter. He was a berserk.

BOY TWO What's a berserk, sir?

[ DISSOLVE TO:

Hillside in Norway

(This dissolve should take place very slowly to a scene of violence in wild Norwegian country. From now onwards
Callender's
voice
will be used as a commentary when required.

This dissolve should last as long as the following speech.
)

CALLENDER A berserk was a sort of gangster tough, a regular bad lot. The sort of man who kidnapped another fellow's wife and carried her away into the hills and lived with her. Then when the husband came to get her back the berserk worked himself up into a fighting rage and killed the husband in battle. This chap Eric had red hair, and he always fought in a mad fury, and he fought a lot.

(The dissolve gradually discloses a dead man lying on the ground.
Eric the Red
is standing over him with a
bloodstained battle axe; his anger has now cooled, and he does not know quite what to do next. He is an enormous, violent man, but in later life he made a number of loyal friends, so there must be an attractive side to him.
)

(In the background, by a mean hovel on the hillside which may be rather like an Irish turf cottage, there is a
Woman
weeping.
)

(The dissolve is now complete.
Eric
picks up his axe and crosses uncertainly to the
Woman
and touches her on the shoulder.)

WOMAN Don't touch me. I never want to see you again.

ERIC I think we will go away now, far from here, to some other place.

WOMAN I thought that would be the next thing. Go on, then. Run away and hide. You've done that before.

ERIC
(Uncomfortably)
It will make less trouble if we go away for a bit. I will take you with me.

WOMAN If you force me to come with you, I will tell the story of this murder everywhere you go.

ERIC It wasn't murder. He attacked me first. A man has a right to defend himself.

WOMAN There is justice in this land, and you will not escape it.

ERIC (
Irritably
) Stop snivelling, unless you want a beating.

[DISSOLVE TO:

The Thingplain

(
This was a wide, open, grassy space in front of the temple. The Thing was an assembly of the people; it was half parliament and half religious in character. It was presided over by the temple priest, the Godi, who was assisted by a council of elders known as Thingmen. The
Godi
always had a long beard.
)

(
This is an open air scene of rough, primitive people in wild scenery. They have come together to deliver justice according to their well-defined code of laws.
)

ERIC Don't keep on talking about murder. He attacked me first. I was just defending myself.

GODI But you had his woman.

ERIC A woman has' the right to change her man. She stayed with me willingly, after the first day or two.

GODI That is so, but her new husband must pay compensation for the damage he has done in taking her. Did you offer to do so?

ERIC
(Loftily)
I am a man of ideals. I do not buy and sell my women.

GODI That's not a straight answer. Did you pay compensation for this woman, according to our law?

ERIC I am a wandering man; I have no farm and no property. I would have paid him some day, when I got some money.

(
There is a murmur in the crowd, and a surge of discontent.
)

GODI Can you pay compensation for this man that you have killed, in order that his relatives may be appeased?

ERIC
(Angrily)
Don't keep on at me. I have told you that I am a poor man; I've had a lot of bad luck recently. I will do what I can.

GODI If you cannot pay compensation, or if you will not, the relations of this man may hunt you down and kill you. They may take your life in payment for the life that you have taken. This is our ancient law.

A MAN IN THE CROWD Ay, and we'll see that the law is kept this time. We're fed up with this.

ERIC
(Fiercely, loosening the axe at his belt)
I am a man of peace. I'm not a man who goes round picking quarrels. But if any of you lawyers comes to trouble me I'll hack him in two pieces at one blow and throw the pieces to the ravens.

(
There is a hostile roar
from
the crowd.)

GODI Silence, all of you. We will not have a battle raging through our country; we have had enough of that. Lawman, what is our first law?

(The
Lawman
steps forward. This is a very old, venerable man, the most respected man in the community after the
Godi.
His duty was to know all the laws by heart, and to recite them on occasions such as this.)

LAWMAN It is the first law of our man-holiness that every man of the country shall be peace-holy, both at home and abroad.