by Nevil Shute
(Both are very young, about sixteen or seventeen years old. They speak with a slight Scotch accent. They are slim and wiry young people. They are as shy as wild animals, and they have the natural grace of animals. They are clearly of a much lower order of civilization than the Norsemen. The Norsemen treat them kindly, like animals.)
(They are dressed each in a single garment of skin, with the fur inside. This has a hood, and is sleeveless. It is knee long, and buttons between the legs. There is a long slit down from each armhole which can be buttoned for warmth or left open for ventilation. This one garment is dressed or painted white, as a sign of slavery. For the same reason their hair is cut short.)
KING OLAFThese are the two Scotch slaves that I was telling you about. The man is called Haki and the woman Haekia.
LEIF(Curiously) Are they man and wife?
KING OLAFI don’t think they’ve got around to that just yet. You’d better marry them when they’re a bit older. I am going to give them to you.
LEIFSir, this is a noble gift.
KING OLAFThey can run further and faster than anybody in the world; they are swifter than deer. Take them with you when you go back to Greenland and send them running out over your new country, and any other new countries that you may discover. Then send word back to me each year by the ship, to say how big your countries are, and what they produce.
LEIFI will do that. The priest can write a letter for us.
KING OLAFBy the time the priest has done with you, you’ll be able to write a letter for yourself. (They laugh.) I will show you what these Scots can do. (He turns to Haki.) You know Raudulf in the Osterdal valley?
HAKIAy, sir, I mind him well.
KING OLAFGo to him quickly, and ask him how many cows he has, how many bulls, how many pigs, and how many sheep. Ask how many of each he has now, and how many of each have died since he came to see me here last summer. You understand what I want to know?
HAKIAy, sir.
KING OLAFThen go on to Sigurd in the Haukboer and ask him to give you the horse bridle that I lent him in the fall, and bring it back to me.
HAKIAy, Lord. We will gae quick.
KING OLAFHow long will it take you?
(Haki turns to the girl and speaks to her in Gaelic; she uncurls from the straw and stands up. They talk in Gaelic for a moment.)
HAKIIt will be gloaming, Lord. We shall be back by dark.
KING OLAFWill you take food with you?
HAKILord, food makes us heavy. We will eat when we get back.
(They set off from the door of the hut, running out over the snow-covered fields, side by side. They run at a steady pace for they have a long way to go. The King and Leif stand together by the door of the hut watching till they vanish in the distance.)
LEIFHow far is it?
KING OLAFFrom here to Osterdal is fourteen miles, and six from Osterdal to Haukboer. The round trip is about thirty-four miles.
LEIFWhy did you send them both?
KING OLAFThe country is not easy, and one helps the other. (Laughs) I remember one of my herdsmen once, got half way up a cliff and couldn’t get up or down. I had to go and get him down myself. It’s better to send two.
[DISSOLVE TO:
The Journey
(A series of scenes without dialogue showing Haki and Haekia on this journey. The country is wild moorland and forest, partly snow covered. The Scots are running barefoot, steady and purposeful. In one place they have to wade a torrent, in another they go by a goat path over a steep crag. Emphasis should be laid upon the way in which they help each other at these difficult places. In general, Haekia should be shown in the lead, to balance her shyness in society.)
[DISSOLVE TO:
King Olaf’s Hall
(An evening scene; the hall is lit by torches, so that it is filled with a haze of smoke. Leif is sitting with the King before the fire of huge wood logs. A Man comes to them.)
MANKing, the two Scots are at the door.
KING OLAFBring them in.
(He glances at a thick candle burning by the hearth, roughly marked off in inch lengths, and turns to Leif.)
— About six hours.
LEIFThey have been very quick.
(The Scots are brought forward, and stand together before the King. They are flushed and sweating a little, and splashed with mud, but they are not unduly distressed. Haki carries a crude bridle in his hand, and Haekia has a number of small skin bags.)
KING OLAFYou saw Sigurd?
HAKILord, he sent this bridle. (He gives it to the King.) He said to tell you that the waters are out at Jotunheim and the little bridge is down, but the river has stopped rising.
KING OLAFGood. And Raudulf?
HAKI(To Haekia) The beasts first.
(She gives him one of the little bags. They go down on their knees on the stone floor before the King and open it, and spread out thirty-eight white pebbles and three black ones from the bag. Haki points to the black pebbles.)
— Lord, these are the bulls he has, one stone for each. (Points to the white ones) These are the cows, one stone for each. None have died.
LEIFI make that thirty-eight cows, sir.
KING OLAFThat’s just about what he should have.
(Haki opens another bag and shows three black pebbles and five white ones, and nine bits of slate. He puts the slates on one side.)
HAKILord, these slates are for the pigs that died; they had pig sickness, very bad. These are the boars now living, and these the sows. He thinks the sickness is over now.
(Haekia opens the last bag and shows seven bits of slate, fifty-four white stones, and eight black ones.)
HAEKIALord, these are the sheep that died, and these the rams that he has now, and these the ewes.
KING OLAFGood. Did you find much snow upon the road? Did you see any animals?
HAKIBy Haukboer the snow is deep, but for the rest of the way it was not deeper than it is here, Lord. There is much water in the second river between here and Osterdal. Between Osterdal and Haukboer near the forest there were tracks of very many deer; they had been there to-day, but we saw one only.
KING OLAFYou have done very well. Go now, and eat, and wash yourselves; you must not go to sleep with all that mud on you.
HAKI(Obediently) No, Lord.
KING OLAF(Signing to an attendant) Give them food and ale, as much as they can eat.
(The Scots are led away.)
LEIFKing, may I go and talk to them when they have eaten?
KING OLAFBy all means. They are now your slaves.
(Cut to a scene of the Scots at the conclusion of their meal. They eat with their hands, of course, but not with excessive crudity. They have eaten a good deal, and there are many bones upon their platters. There is a pewter jug of ale before them, and they drink from earthenware flagons.)
(They are seated alone at the lowest bench in the hall, at the very far end from the King, amongst the litter of handwork at that end. A camera effect of their isolation at the extreme end of a long table in the vast hall should show their social grade. It may be emphasized by Leif walking down the whole length of the hall to them. He sits down informally on a bench beside them.)
LEIFHaki, did you understand what the King said this morning? He has given Haekia and you to me. My name is Leif, the son of Eric.
HAKIAy, sir, we ken that.
LEIFI am very glad to have you, because you are clever people, and you run better than anybody I have ever heard of. The King says I am to take you to the country that I live in when I go home in the spring, so that you can run over parts we have not visited and tell us what is there. Will you like doing that?
HAKIAy, sir.
LEIFThe place I come from is a long way from here. We shall go there in a ship.
HAKIAy.
HAEKIAWill they laugh at us there?
LEIFNo. Why should they?
HAKIThe people in this town make fun of us because we do not understand their ways, and they laugh at our clothes. We do not like this
place. When first we came to Norway we were on a farm to herd the sheep. We were happy there. Are there farms in your country?
LEIFWe all live on farms in my country; there are no towns. In my country nobody will laugh at you. Do you come with me willingly?
HAKIAy, sir.
HAEKIAThey say you are a kind master. We would like that fine.
LEIFAll right. I see that town life doesn’t suit you two. I will ask King Olaf if you may go back onto the farm till it is time for us to start.
[FADE TO:
The Quayside
(The camera opens on a field of blue and white hepatica in the sun to show the lapse of time; it lifts and shows Leif’s ship at the quayside; the ship is fully loaded and about to leave. She is deeply loaded with a cargo of timber and iron goods, so that the space left for the crew is small. Haki and Haekia are on board, standing very close together and staring with wonder at everything they see; near them is the priest, who has clearly taken the two Scots under his care.)
(On the quay there is a crowd of men to see them off. Leif is there, talking to King Olaf.)
LEIFWe are ready to go now, sir. With this fair wind we shall be over the horizon before noon, even with all this cargo you have given us.
KING OLAFGo then, with my goodwill and with the blessing of God. Remember all that I have told you. Push on and find new countries to the southwards of your Greenland if you can; I don’t think you’ll do much good where you are. Take my greetings to your father, and tell him that he’s not an outlaw any longer. Let the good priest do his good work amongst your people, and let him teach them writing. Send a written letter to me each year by the ship.
LEIFSir, I will do all these things.
(He bows to the King and goes down to the ship. Shot of the ship leaving land.)
[DISSOLVE TO:
The Ship at Sea
(The ship is sailing in sunshine with a fair wind. In the cramped space on board the Priest is seated with a cross in his hand; he is talking earnestly to Haki and Haekia who are listening to him intently. In the background members of the crew are looking on curiously. This conversion scene requires no dialogue; it should be possible to make it clear that the Priest is starting off upon the easiest people in the ship, the humblest people. In a following shot Haki and Haekia may be seen crouched together like children, very intent on private business of their own; Haki is whittling a little wooden cross. In later scenes throughout the film they may be seen wearing these little crosses slung round their necks by a rawhide thong.)
(In all these ship scenes Leif and Tyrker should be shown working at the steering oar, preoccupied with the sailing of the ship. The life of the ship goes on at their feet unnoticed.)
[DISSOLVE TO:
The Classroom
(Callender is at the map, indicating.)
CALLENDERThey probably went direct from Norway to Greenland in the early summer of that year — like this. The saga does not say that they put in to any port between. They had the notch for Greenland carved upon their thwart, of course, so they probably got straight onto their latitude as soon as they could and went all the way with a fair easterly wind. So they got back to Ericsfirth in Greenland.
[DISSOLVE TO:
The Ship at Ericsfirth
(This is an evening scene. In a short opening shot the ship is seen sailing into the fiord. She beaches at Brattahlid; there is a crowd on the shore to meet them headed by Eric, now an old man. As the ship grounds or comes to a quay — whichever is most suitable — all these people come on board; the ship is crowded with wives greeting husbands, children, etc. In this noisy confusion the Priest stands apart with the two Scots by him; they are all wearing crosses.)
(Leif shows his father the cargo of the ship.)
LEIFThey gave us everything I asked for, Father; they were terribly good to us. I had to stay the winter, but I’m glad I did; I learned a lot about shipbuilding and I had some long talks with the King. All this timber is in twenty-foot lengths. These are the iron nails. This case has thirty iron ploughshares in it, already made up for us, Father; we shall not have to forge them up ourselves. This is the brass, and they gave us these copper sheets for cooking vessels, too. I have so much to tell you it will take all winter.
ERIC(Very pleased, stroking the wood) Such beautiful, straight pieces! I had almost forgotten that there was wood like this in the world. (Turns to Bjarni, who is near) Bjarni, look at all this beautiful straight wood that Leif has brought from Norway. Pity you didn’t do as well.
BJARNI(Resentful) Nobody ever told me that you needed wood. I could have brought you better wood than this, but nobody ever tells me anything.
LEIFWhat’s all this about?
ERICWhen Bjarni was on his way here from Iceland he got over to the west a bit and saw another land on which there were tall trees. And if you please, he came here with an empty ship!
BJARNIWell, how was I to know you wanted wood? Every decent country has a lot of wood. You can’t build ships without it.
(Eric turns from him in disgust and examines the other materials.)
LEIF(Keenly) Where was this country, Bjarni? Was it south from here?
BJARNII did not come direct. Yes, I suppose the place with the timber would have been about southwest from here, or maybe further south than that.
LEIFWhat sort of country was it, Bjarni? Was it beautiful?
BJARNII don’t know about that. I didn’t go too near it, because I didn’t know the coast.
LEIFWas it fertile country? Was there pasture on it, and streams of water?
BJARNII suppose there might have been. I didn’t notice specially.
LEIFWas there any snow?
BJARNIOh, no, there wasn’t any snow. It was quite warm.
LEIFWould flowers grow there, and fruit?
BJARNIYou do ask a lot of fool questions. I don’t go for fruit much, myself. I like meat, or fish.
LEIFBut would fruit grow there — would it ripen in the summer?
BJARNIIt was pretty hot the day that we were there.
(It is sunset now. Leif turns and looks towards the west, where the sunset colours glow and fade across the sky. He is standing at the prow of the ship by the carved dragon of the figurehead, silhouetted against the sunset.)
(Thorgunna’s voice is heard.)
THORGUNNAPast the horizon and beyond those rosy clouds there lies the Happy Land, which this man called Hy Breasail. No thief, no robber, and no enemy pursues one there; there is no violence, and no winter snow. In that place it is always spring. No flower or lily is wanting, no rose or violet but you will find them there. There apple trees bear flowers and fruit on the same branch, all the year round. There young men live in quiet happiness with their girls; there is no old age, and no sickness and no sorrow there. All is full of joy . . .
(The fade comes slowly on the sunset scene, with Leif silhouetted against the sky.)
[FADE TO:
Hall of Eric’s Farmhouse
(This is a fairly large room, not so big as the hall of the King in the Hebrides, but big enough to contain most of the characters in Greenland named so far in the story. Eric’s wife, Thorhild, is seated at the head of a long table, with Eric beside her. It is a feast scene at which all the characters are seated. There is a large fire, and the room is lit by torches. Everybody is drinking heavily.)
(Eric’s wife is a stern-faced woman who holds great authority in the community. Eric is shown as a good-humoured, stout man, still fairly vigorous but growing old and much addicted to drink, the fireside, and a quiet life.)
BJARNII’ve told you all I know. We saw the place, and there was wood on it. Lots of countries have woods on them — all decent countries do. I don’t know why you are all so excited about it.
LEIFWe can always use more wood.
BJARNIWell, I’ll sail to Norway and get you some more. I’d like to go to Norway, anyway.
LEIFThis other place is closer.
BJARNIYou’re just reckless. You might run in
to all sorts of trouble, going off to a new place you don’t know anything about. You’ll end up by getting yourself bewitched and turned into a rabbit or a deer. I’ve heard of that.
ERICThat’s right — Wotan did that to Sigurd. If anybody’s going to those places he should make blood sacrifice to Wotan first.
THORHILDBe quiet, you old pagan. How many times have I got to tell you that we will not have that sort of talk? We are all good Christians here. What will the good priest think?
(The Priest makes a deprecating gesture of tolerance.)
ERICSpeak for yourself, woman. I’m not a good Christian, I don’t want to be a good Christian, and I’m not going to be a good Christian, and that’s all about it. I think a voyage to the land that Bjarni saw to get a cargo of that wood would be a good thing. We’ve used half of the stuff Leif brought back from Norway already. But if I have anything to do with it there’ll be blood sacrifice before we start. It’s just tempting Wotan to show what he can do, to start without a sacrifice.
THORHILDQuiet, man. To say such things before the priest!
ERICPriest! He’s an impostor, that’s what he is. He breaks up marriages, that’s what he does. Breaks up a man’s happy marriage. (He weeps a little.)
THORHILDIf I’ve told you once I’ve told you twenty times. I’ll sleep with you again when you become a Christian and not before. It’s not lawful for a Christian to be married to a pagan, you old reprobate.
ERICWell, what did you want to go and become Christian for? I tell you, the man just spends his time breaking up marriages, happy, happy marriages. If I was ten years younger I’d break him up.
THORHILD(Fiercely) Peace!
A MAN(Coughing) About this journey for the wood that we were talking about. I think we ought to go next summer. We want a lot of wood.
SECOND MANAy. Eric, let’s have an expedition next year to the place that Bjarni saw, and get a cargo of that wood.
SEVERAL MENAy, let’s do that, Eric.
ERICBjarni, will you take an expedition to the country?
BJARNIWell, I don’t know. There aren’t any people there. I’d rather go to Norway. It’s a bit further, but I like being at sea. You can have a good time in Norway.
