The Listening Grove · Viking Tales
Chapter 1: The Baby
A Charlotte Mason history read-aloud lesson. Press play, with the lesson.
What is Viking Tales Chapter 1, The Baby, about?Parent review
Viking Tales Chapter 1, The Baby, opens the story of Harald in a hall in Norway long ago. King Halfdan listens as his queen tells a dream: a thorn she pulled from her dress grew into a great tree whose red trunk, green limbs, and white branches spread out to cover all Norway and more. Soon after, a serving-woman brings word that a son has been born. Halfdan calls two of his captains, Ivar and Thorstein, to stand as witnesses, lifts the baby, sprinkles him with water from a silver bowl, owns him as his son, and names him Harald with a naming gift of ten pounds of gold. When the child is carried back to the queen, she wonders whether the great tree of her dream could be this baby. It is a gentle beginning that plants the promise of the king Harald will become.
Show what you know!
Use your printable Lesson Guide. Fill in the vocabulary you know, then click to check your work and learn some new words today.
What are the difficult or advanced vocabulary words in Viking Tales Chapter 1, The Baby?bower, hastened, goodly, witnessHave a look
- bower: A lady's private room in an old hall or castle.
- hastened: Hurried; moved quickly.
- goodly: Fine and pleasant to look at.
- witness: A person who sees something happen.
Locate it on the map!
Use your printable Lesson Guide. Use an atlas and fill in the blank map if you can find the geographic location, then click to check your work.
What important geographic locations connect with Viking Tales Chapter 1, The Baby?
- Find Norway: Norway is Harald's homeland, a northern country of high mountains and deep fjords.
See these places on the mapHave a look
These match the map in your Lesson Guide.
The Books come Alive!
Read or listen to Chapter 1 of Viking Tales, the Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition, read by Faerie Book Mama.
Read by Faerie Book Mama for LibriVox (public domain), professionally adjusted and trimmed by Kindred Thicket.
What historical context goes with Chapter 1 of Viking Tales?Parent review
This is a Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition. Jennie Hall’s 1902 words are read exactly as she wrote them, and we add Teacher’s Notes with historical and cultural context.
- About the whole bookViking Tales is Jennie Hall’s 1902 retelling of old Norse stories drawn from the sagas, such as the Heimskringla and the Vinland sagas. These weave real history together with legend, so the tales are best enjoyed as saga tradition rather than exact history.
Memory becomes Action!
Use the Response Resource* to remember and spell tricky names. Choose one way to narrate.
*Materials in the Lesson Guide.
What is the list of names, people, characters, and places that are important in Chapter 1 of Viking Tales?King Halfdan, The Queen, Harald, Ivar, Thorstein, NorwayHave a look
- King Halfdan: A king in Norway and Harald's father; known in the sagas as Halfdan the Black.
- The Queen: Harald's mother and Halfdan's wife, whose tree-dream foretells his greatness; called Ragnhild in the sagas.
- Harald: Halfdan's newborn son; the sagas say he became Harald Fairhair, the first king to unite Norway.
- Ivar: A captain of King Halfdan's soldiers; a witness at Harald's naming.
- Thorstein: Another of Halfdan's soldier-captains; the second witness at the naming.
- Norway: The northern land Halfdan rules, still a country today, covered by the queen's dream-tree.
Chapter 1 Q & A
This is a Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition. We keep Jennie Hall’s 1902 words as written and add historical context. Here are common questions about this chapter.
Who is Harald in Viking Tales?
Harald is the baby born to King Halfdan and his queen in Chapter 1 of Viking Tales. He is named at a feast with witnesses and a gift of ten pounds of gold. Norse sagas remember him as Harald Fairhair (Harald Hairfair), the king who first brought Norway under one rule, and the first eleven chapters of the book follow his life.
What is the queen’s dream about in Chapter 1 of Viking Tales?
The queen dreams that a thorn she pulls from her dress grows into a great tree, its trunk red as blood, its lower limbs green, and its highest branches white, spreading until it covers all Norway. In the story a dream like this is treated as a message from the gods, and the queen later wonders whether the tree stands for her newborn son Harald.
Is Chapter 1 of Viking Tales based on real history?
Chapter 1 mixes history and saga. Harald Fairhair is remembered as an early king of Norway, and his father Halfdan the Black and mother Ragnhild appear in the saga tradition. The dream of the great tree and the details of the naming come from that storytelling tradition rather than from documented record, so the chapter is best enjoyed as saga, with real history woven in.
What is the naming ceremony in Chapter 1 of Viking Tales?
King Halfdan calls two of his captains as witnesses, lifts the baby, sprinkles him with water from a silver bowl, formally owns him as his son, and gives him the name Harald along with a naming gift of gold. Sprinkling a child with water and naming him before witnesses is an attested Norse custom that the story shows in action.
Does Kindred Thicket change Jennie Hall’s original text of Viking Tales?
No. Viking Tales is a Kindred Thicket Enhanced Edition, so Jennie Hall’s 1902 words are read exactly as she wrote them. Kindred Thicket adds Teacher’s Notes alongside the reading for historical and cultural context, including a book-level note that the tales retell Norse sagas which blend history and legend.