SOME YEARS AGO I came upon the historical story of the discovery of America by Leif Ericsson in A (3 page)

(
There is a respectful murmur of assent from the crowd.
)

GOD I
(Turning to the
Elders)
Thingmen, my advice to you is this. If we keep this man Eric in this country we shall have blood feuds according to our law, and no man will be able to work safely in his fields. I say that this man is a bad man. He will never be peace-holy. He makes continual trouble for us and he does no work; he is useless to our country. Therefore, I think that he should be an outlaw, and his father Thorvald with him, who is just as bad. I say that they should get out of this country in one week from now. If they don't go, then I think that every man should stop his work and take up arms, and hunt them down till they are killed like dogs. Thingmen, what do you say to that?

(
There is a roar of assent from the crowd. The
Thingmen,
standing a little apart, consult together for a moment, and then nod their heads.
)

ERIC That's no punishment, to leave a pettifogging place like this. You're so tied up with conventions and restrictions here that a man can't breathe. I shall go westwards, over the seas to the great open spaces where men are men and not little creeping rats.

(
There is an angry murmur from the crowd.
)

I shall go to Iceland, and to hell with all the lot of you.

(He turns, spits on the ground, and stalks out of the Thing-plain with some dignity.)

[DISSOLVE TO:

The Classroom

(
Callender
turns to a map of the North Atlantic on the wall and indicates on it with a billiard cue.
)

CALLENDER This is Norway, where they started from, and they were going to Iceland, here. They had no compass to steer by; the magnetic compass came from China later on. But they could find their way about the seas all right. What they did was this—

[ DISSOLVE TO:

The Ship

(
The scene is in the ship, where the action is in accordance with
Callender's
commentary; the
Captain
of the ship is measuring the length of the shadow on the thwart, very serious-and intent.
)

CALLENDER They navigated by an observation of the sun at noon. Each day at noon they laid the ship at right angles to the sun and marked the length of the shadow of the bulwark on a thwart; that gave them a rough measure of the latitude. They carved notches on the thwart for the latitude of places they knew. This ship had a notch already carved for the latitude of northern Iceland, so they—

[ DISSOLVE TO:

The Classroom

(
Callender
is indicating the track of the ship on the map.
)

CALLENDER —sailed north at first until they got to the latitude of northern Iceland, and then they sailed westwards along it till they got there—here. I'm telling you all this because it's important to the story later on. You see, a ship could only sail accurately to a place that she had been to before, where they had cut the notch upon the thwart..

[DISSOLVE TO:

The Bow of the Ship

(
Showing a close-up view of the dragon figurehead.
)

CALLENDER The common people thought it was because the dragon on the ship would know the way back to a place he had been to before. They were very superstitious.

[FADE TO:

A Hillside in North Iceland

(From this hillside, one looks down onto a plain; there are two rough farms upon this plain, clearly divided by a stone wall. There is a hill stream running down and through one farm; the other has no water.
)

(
Eric
and two of his thralls are standing by this stream with spades, picks, and wooden crowbars.
)

ERIC This is the place I mean. The Gods do not make rain so that Eyiolf and Hrafn can have the lot of it, and we none at all. Odin was not thinking when he made the course of this stream.

THRALL ONE Lord, you were in Norway when Odin made this stream. No one lived upon your land because it had no water.

ERIC All land has a right to water. (
Threateningly)
That's true, isn't it?

THRALL ONE
(Quickly)
Yes, Lord.

ERIC Very well, then—get your spade and start digging. If you dig a channel through this spur here, first, the stream will go our way when it is dammed. Then we will make this little landslide, here; if we prize out this stone, the earth will fall. Then we shall have water on our land, as Odin meant us to have it.

[ DISSOLVE TO:

The Hillside—Later

{
The
Thralls
have done a lot of digging, and a new channel is now clear for the stream.
Eric
and the
Thralls
are working with wooden crowbars to loosen a great stone; presently it falls and dams the stream.
Eric
is very pleased, and goes down onto his land to direct the new flow of water.
)

[ CUT TO:

Eyiolf's Farm

(
This is a very rude hovel, stone walls and thatch; there is a similar barn near by.
A
Woman
comes out of the door of the farmhouse and looks at the stream which runs by; it has gone dry. There should be fish flapping about in a shallow pool to indicate the suddenness of the occurrence. The
Woman
runs
to the barn and calls the
Two
Men.
)

WOMAN All the water has gone!

(
The
Men
stare at the stream, and then up to the hillside where the
Thralls
are still working. They turn and grab weapons, and start running up the hill.)

(Eric,
working with the water on his own farm, hears the sounds of battle; he looks up to the hillside and sees the
Two
Men
fighting with his unarmed
Thralls;
as he watches one of them falls to the ground.
Eric
is wearing his axe; he pulls it from his belt and starts running to the scene of the fight.
)

[CUT TO:

The Hillside

(Eric
comes up in a mad fury; both his men are dead or dying. He rushes in in a fighting rage and kills one of the attackers with a single blow of his axe. The other flees across country;
Eric
rushes after him and kills him as he runs, after a wild chase. This is a scene of mad violence and fury.
)

[DISSOLVE TO:

Thingplain in North Iceland

(
This scene is generally similar to the Thing scene in Norway, though the detail should be sufficiently different.)

ERIC These men attacked my thralls and killed them both. It is the law that a man should protect his own thralls. That's all I did.

GODI It is the law that a man should be peace-holy. What is this story that I hear about the stream?

ERIC There was no water on my land except what falls in rain or snow. A man has a right to fresh water, even in a lousy place like this.

GODI Did you take their water?

ERIC It wasn't their water—it was everybody's water. They had had it for a long time. It was my turn.

GODI You set your thralls to take the water from their land and turn it into yours. Then Eyiolf and Hrafn slew your thralls. Then you slew them. Is that right?

ERIC You Godis are all the same; you twist things about so that they look bad for a stranger. You wouldn't dare to frame an Icelander like this; you just pick on me because I come from Norway. What sort of people do you think these were? Why did everybody call Eyiolf, Eyiolf the Foul? Why did they call Hrafn, Duelling-Hrafn? Answer that, if you can.

GODI I am not here to answer questions. I tell people what I think. It is for the Thingmen to say what they want done with you. Whether these men were good or bad, you had no right to take their water or to kill them in your fury. You came to us from Norway as an outlaw and a murderer; we gave you land and a woman for your wife. We now know that you are a man who likes a fight for a fight's sake. I think that if you stay here you will kill other men in your wild quarrels, and we shall have blood feuds and murder in our midst, and no man will be safe. (
Turning to the
Thingmen
) I say to you Thingmen that I think this man should be an outlaw to our country. I say that he should get out of our land, and take his wife and child with him. If anybody speaks for this man Eric, let him speak up now.

(
There is a murmur of assent from the crowd, but nobody speaks. The
Thingmen
nod their heads.)

ERIC I was a fool ever to come to a sanctimonious, hypocritical place like this. They told me in Norway that North Iceland was a stinking hole; I was a fool not to believe them. One can't even breathe here without being had up before the Thing. I shall go down south of the mountain ranges to the great open spaces where a man can live like a man. I shall go down to South Iceland, and to hell with all the lot of you.

(He turns, spits on the ground, and stalks out of the Thingplain, followed by his wife with a baby in her arms.
)

[ FADE TO:

Thorgest's Farm

(Historical note.
The next incident in the historical story concerns the theft of dais boards. It is not clear what these were, and the design of small farmhouses, very important to this film, is far from clear. I suggest that the typical Norse farm had one large room with a low dais at one end, similar to the sleeping bench in an Eskimo house. In a large farm there would be a loft and one or two side rooms used as stores. The walls were a mixture of turf and stone five or six feet thick for warmth in winter as well as for stability: the roof was usually of timber covered with turf. Internal wood furniture and fittings were richly carved, because these people had nothing else to do in the long nights of winter. Therefore, the dais boards could reasonably be beautifully carved wooden side boards, or draught screens, to the sleeping bench. These halls must have been very draughty, since to get in any daylight for fine work it would be necessary to remove the skin membrane from the window—they had no glass.)

(
The sequence opens with an external scene on the farm; it is a few years after the last outlawry.
Eric
is walking up to the farm; he is in a good temper, and walks hand-in-hand with his little son
Leif,
about five years old.
Eric,
as usual, wears his axe.
Leif
is dressed exactly like his father, and wears a miniature axe.
Thorgest
comes out of the farmhouse to meet them.)

ERIC
(Affably)
Good health to everybody here.

30

THORGEST Good health to you and yours. Are you all well?

ERIC All but me. Some lunatic left the window out last night and I had a draught all down my back. I woke up with a stiff neck. I've got it still. It's very bad.

THORGEST I'm sorry about that.

ERIC I thought I'd just step over and pick up the dais boards I lent you. One wants to make the dais cozy in the winter, or this sort of thing is bound to happen. I don't want another stiff neck.

THORGEST The dais boards?

ERIC The draught screens I lent you the autumn before last, when your wife was ill.

THORGEST Oh—those boards. I had half forgotten they were yours. My sons did a lot of work on them last winter.

(They go into the house together, and inspect the boards, which are set up at the sides of the sleeping bench to make a low draught screen; the beds should be in place to make the purpose of the boards apparent. They may be of oak, and they should be richly carved in the manner of church screens, the carving very well done.)

ERIC Your sons do a beautiful job of carving, Thorgest—better than anybody in this country. My wife will be very pleased with these. (
He begins to remove them;
Thorgest
stops
him.
)

THORGEST Wait a minute, Eric. My sons carved these boards for
my
wife. It is true that the wood is yours, but it was quite plain when you lent it me. I'll never hear the last of it if I give you these. I'll give you others for them, plain boards, just as good.

ERIC I don't want any other boards. These ones are mine.

THORGEST The carving isn't yours.

31

ERIC I didn't ask your sons to carve them.

(
One of
Thorgest's
sons comes running into the house, agitated.
)