The Listening Grove · Viking Tales
Chapter 12: Homes in Iceland
A Charlotte Mason history read-aloud lesson. Press play, with the lesson.
What is Viking Tales Chapter 12, Homes in Iceland, about?Parent review
Viking Tales Chapter 12, Homes in Iceland, tells how the empty island was settled. Foster-brothers Ingolf and Leif, having killed men in a quarrel and fearing both kin-vengeance and Harald's justice, decide to leave Norway. At Leif's urging they choose Iceland, found earlier by Floki, despite old Sighvat's warnings of ice and cold. They outfit a thirty-oar boat and, after four months at sea, reach Iceland and winter there. Ingolf resolves to settle, and they return to Norway for their families and goods, while Leif raids Ireland for wealth and thralls. Sailing back, Ingolf throws his high-seat pillars overboard to let Thor guide his home site. A storm parts the ships, and Leif is later found killed by his own Irish thralls. Ingolf hunts them down, recovers Helga, and after three years finds his pillars, settling there and naming the place Reykjavik.
Say what you remember!
Tell what you remember from the last chapter.
What happened in Viking Tales Chapter 11, King Harald Goes West-Over-Seas?Have a look
In Chapter 11, King Harald Goes West-Over-Seas, many Norsemen left rather than submit to Harald's oaths and taxes. Rolf-go-afoot won land on a French river, was made a duke, and named his country Normandy, and his descendants became kings of England. Others settled in Ireland, England, Scotland, and the treeless Orkney and Shetland islands, raiding Norway each summer. Unable to stop them at home, Harald sailed west, and after many hard battles he won, took oaths, and left earls to rule, gaining a kingdom west-over-seas. People linked his wide conquests to the queen's old dream of the great tree and its spreading branches.
Read the previous lesson: King Harald Goes West-Over-Seas →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 12, Homes in Iceland?desolate, omens, altar, turfHave a look
- desolate: empty and deserted, with no one around
- omens: signs believed to show what will happen
- altar: a raised place where sacrifices are offered to a god
- turf: the top layer of soil held together by grass roots
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 12, Homes in Iceland?
- Find Iceland: Vikings who left Norway sailed west and settled Iceland, where Ingolf built the first home.
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 12 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 12 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 12 of Viking Tales?Ingolf, Leif, Iceland, Sighvat, Floki, Butter Thorolf, Reykjavik, HelgaHave a look
- Ingolf: The chief who, fleeing Harald's Norway, leads the first settlement of Iceland; its 'father' and first settler.
- Leif: Ingolf's foster-brother and fellow settler (not Leif Ericson), later killed by his own thralls.
- Iceland: The far, empty island of ice and fire they settle; Ingolf calls it 'like Niflheim and like Asgard.'
- Sighvat: An old, fearful comrade on the voyage.
- Floki: The earlier voyager who found and named Iceland.
- Butter Thorolf: The traveler whose glowing tale of Iceland helped lure the settlers.
- Reykjavik: The harbor Ingolf claims for Thor and Odin and names; today Iceland's capital.
- Helga: Leif's wife.
Chapter 12 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.
What happens in Chapter 12 of Viking Tales?
In Chapter 12, Homes in Iceland, foster-brothers Ingolf and Leif flee Norway after a deadly quarrel and sail to the empty island of Iceland. They reach it after four months at sea. Leif is later killed by his Irish thralls, whom Ingolf hunts down. After three years Ingolf finds his high-seat pillars, settles, and names the place Reykjavik.
How was Iceland settled in Viking Tales?
In Chapter 12, Iceland is settled by Norsemen like Ingolf who leave Norway rather than live under Harald's rule, along with those fleeing feuds. Ingolf casts his high-seat pillars into the sea to let Thor choose his home site, then builds a hall and temple where they wash ashore. Over the years Iceland fills with settlers escaping Harald.
What are high-seat pillars in Viking Tales?
High-seat pillars were carved wooden posts from a Norse chief's hall, topped with images of Thor. In Chapter 12, Ingolf throws his overboard as he nears Iceland, believing the god will guide them ashore at the right place to settle. When the pillars are found three years later, he builds his home there. The Teacher's Notes explain this custom.
Is Chapter 12 of Viking Tales intense for children?
Chapter 12, Homes in Iceland, contains some of the book's more intense events, including a deadly feud, revenge, the murder of Leif by his thralls, and a horse sacrifice. The events are told directly but without graphic detail in Jennie Hall's style. Kindred Thicket keeps the 1902 text as written and offers Teacher's Notes to help parents give context.
Which Leif appears in Chapter 12 of Viking Tales?
The Leif in Chapter 12 is Ingolf's foster-brother, not Leif Ericsson. Viking Tales uses the name Leif for more than one person, so it helps to keep them apart. Leif Ericsson, the son of Eric the Red, appears in the later chapters about Greenland and Wineland. The Teacher's Notes point out these repeated names.