The Thrall of Leif the Lucky

The Thrall of Leif the Lucky?by Ottilie A. Liljencrantz

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Title: The Thrall of Leif the Lucky
Author: Ottilie A. Liljencrantz
Release Date: October, 2003 [Etext #4581] [Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] [This file was first posted on February 11, 2002]
Edition: 10
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
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THE THRALL OF LEIF THE LUCKY
A Story of Viking Days
By Ottilie A Liljencrantz

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1
Where Wolves Thrive Better than Lambs

CHAPTER II
The Maid in the Silver Helmet

CHAPTER III
A Gallant Outlaw

CHAPTER IV
In a Viking Lair

CHAPTER V
The Ire of a Shield-Maiden

CHAPTER VI
The Song of Smiting Steel

CHAPTER VII
The King's Guardsman

CHAPTER VIII
Leif the Cross-Bearer

CHAPTER IX
Before the Chieftain

CHAPTER X
The Royal Blood of Alfred

CHAPTER XI
The Passing of the Scar

CHAPTER XlI
Through Bars of Ice

CHAPTER XIII
Eric the Red in His Domain

CHAPTER XIV
For the Sake of the Cross

CHAPTER XV
A Wolf-Pack in Leash

CHAPTER XVI
A Courtier of the King

CHAPTER XVII
The Wooing of Helga

CHAPTER XVIII
The Witch's Den

CHAPTER XIX
Tales of the Unknown West

CHAPTER XX
Alwin's Bane

CHAPTER XXI
The Heart of a Shield-Maiden

CHAPTER XXIl
In the Shadow of the Sword

CHAPTER XXIII
A Familiar Blade in a Strange Sheath

CHAPTER XXIV
For Dear Love's Sake

CHAPTER XXV
"Where Never Man Stood Before"

CHAPTER XXVI
Vinland the Good

CHAPTER XXVII
Mightier than the Sword

CHAPTER XXVIII
"Things that are Fated"

CHAPTER XXIX
The Battle to the Strong

CHAPTER XXX
From Over the Sea
CONCLUSION

FOREWORD
THE Anglo-Saxon race was in its boyhood in the days when the Vikings lived. Youth's fresh fires burned in men's blood; the unchastened turbulence of youth prompted their crimes, and their good deeds were inspired by the purity and whole-heartedness and divine simplicity of youth. For every heroic vice, the Vikings laid upon the opposite scale an heroic virtue. If they plundered and robbed, as most men did in the times when Might made Right, yet the heaven-sent instinct of hospitality was as the marrow of their bones. No beggar went from their doors without alms; no traveller asked in vain for shelter; no guest but was welcomed with holiday cheer and sped on his way with a gift. As cunningly false as they were to their foes, just so superbly true were they to their friends. The man who took his enemy's last blood-drop with relentless hate, gave his own blood with an equally unsparing hand if in so doing he might aid the cause of some sworn brother. Above all, they were a race of conquerors, whose knee bent only to its proved superior. Not to the man who was king-born merely, did their allegiance go, but to the man who showed himself their leader in courage and their master in skill. And so it was with their choice of a religion, when at last the death-day of Odin dawned. Not to the God who forgives, nor to the God who suffered, did they give their faith; but they made their vows to the God who makes men strong, the God who is the never-dying and all-powerful