The Listening Grove · Viking Tales
Chapter 2: The Tooth Thrall
A Charlotte Mason history read-aloud lesson. Press play, with the lesson.
What is Viking Tales Chapter 2, The Tooth Thrall, about?Parent review
Viking Tales Chapter 2, The Tooth Thrall, follows Harald into his early boyhood. When the baby cuts his first tooth at seven months, King Halfdan gives tooth-gifts in the Norse way: the young animals born since Harald arrived, and a thrall named Olaf to be his own. Olaf wears a welded iron collar cut with runes, but he is full of stories, and Harald loves him. The two climb high to Aegir's Rock above the fiord, and Harald looks over the two-hundred-foot drop without flinching. As they go, Olaf tells of Thor breaking the hills, of Asgard and shining Valhalla with its roof of shields, and of dark Niflheim. He tells how the old warrior Aegir, too old to die in battle, leaped from this rock into the water to win his place in Valhalla. Harald listens and admires the brave deed.
Say what you remember!
Tell what you remember from the last chapter.
What happened in Viking Tales Chapter 1, The Baby?Have a look
In Chapter 1, The Baby, King Halfdan's queen tells him a dream: a thorn she pulled from her dress grew into a great tree whose red trunk, green limbs, and white branches spread over all Norway. Soon a serving-woman brings word that a son is born. Halfdan calls his captains Ivar and Thorstein as witnesses, lifts the baby, sprinkles him with water, owns him as his son, and names him Harald with a gift of ten pounds of gold. Seeing the child, the queen wonders whether the great tree of her dream could be this baby.
Read the previous lesson: The Baby →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 2, The Tooth Thrall?thrall, rune, mead, coarseHave a look
- thrall: an enslaved person who works as a servant
- rune: a letter of an old Germanic alphabet
- mead: a drink made from honey and water
- coarse: rough, not fine or smooth
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 2, The Tooth Thrall?
- Find Sognefjord (near Sogndalsfjøra, Norway): A fjord is a long, narrow arm of sea between steep mountains. Norway's deepest is the Sognefjord.
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 2 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 2 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.
- This chapterThese chapters include slavery and thralldom in the Norse world. You may want to clarify that the story reflects its historical setting, not approval of the practice.
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 2 of Viking Tales?King Halfdan, Harald, Olaf, Thor, Odin, Aegir, Aegir's Rock, ValhallaHave a look
- King Halfdan: Harald's father, the king who gives the tooth-gifts, including Olaf; Halfdan the Black in the sagas.
- Harald: Halfdan's young son, cutting his first tooth; the eager listener to Olaf's stories.
- Olaf: Harald's tooth thrall, an enslaved servant and great storyteller; his collar reads 'Olaf, thrall of Halfdan.'
- Thor: The Norse god of thunder, whose hammer makes the lightning and cracks the hills.
- Odin: The All-father, chief of the gods and lord of Valhalla; the sick and cowardly go to Hela in cold Niflheim.
- Aegir: In Olaf's tale, an old warrior, 'the Big-handed,' who won Valhalla by a brave leap to his death.
- Aegir's Rock: A flat-topped rock above the fiord, Olaf's storytelling spot, named for the warrior Aegir.
- Valhalla: The Norse hall of heroes in Asgard, the sky-city of the gods, where the brave dead feast forever.
Chapter 2 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 2 of Viking Tales?
In Chapter 2, The Tooth Thrall, baby Harald cuts his first tooth and receives tooth-gifts from his father, including a thrall named Olaf. Olaf becomes Harald's companion and storyteller. Together they climb to Aegir's Rock above the fiord, where Olaf tells of Thor, Asgard, Valhalla, and the old warrior Aegir who leaped from the rock to win Valhalla.
What was a thrall in Viking Tales?
A thrall was an enslaved person in Norse society, and in Chapter 2 the thrall is Olaf, given to young Harald as a tooth-gift with a welded iron collar marked in runes. The story reflects its historical setting rather than approving of the practice. Kindred Thicket keeps Jennie Hall's 1902 words as written and adds Teacher's Notes that explain the term and its history for parents.
What is Valhalla in Viking Tales?
Valhalla is the great hall of slain warriors in Norse belief, and Olaf describes it in Chapter 2 as having five hundred doors, rafters of spears, and a roof thatched with shields. Olaf explains that only those who die bravely in battle reach Valhalla, while others go to Niflheim. These beliefs come from Norse mythology as retold within the story.
Who is Olaf in Viking Tales?
Olaf is the thrall given to Harald in Chapter 2 as a tooth-gift, and he becomes the boy's closest companion and storyteller. He wears an iron collar cut with runes that read "Olaf, thrall of Halfdan." Olaf's tales of gods, warriors, and viking life shape much of Harald's boyhood, and his own past unfolds in later chapters.
What is a tooth-gift in Viking Tales?
A tooth-gift was a present given to a Norse child who cut a first tooth, and in Chapter 2 King Halfdan gives Harald the young animals born since his birth along with the thrall Olaf. It is one of many Norse customs woven through Viking Tales. The Teacher's Notes help parents understand such traditions while Jennie Hall's story stays at the center.