Evening star., 1923-11-25
STORIES OF THE VIKINGS. B,

pany.
Those who have thrilled over Long
fellows Saga of King Olaf" (and
who. Juvenile or adult. has not?) and
who have wished that they could
learn something more about the facts
and legends on which that collection
Of poems was based, will welcome
stories of the Vikings" 1t is the
work of Maurice Dunlap. who has re-
Gently served as consul at Copen-
hagen, Denmark, and who served
prior to that as consul at Stavanger,
Norway. and at Malmo. Sweden. Dur
iEg his occupancy of these posts the
author stepped himself in the history
and the romance of ancient Scandi-
navia. The result is a volume written
primarily for young people. but de-
lightful to any age.
Mr. Dunlap's book is based pr1mar-
lily on the "Heimskringla" of Snorri
Sturlason. an Icelandic bard of the
twelfth century. Any direct transla-
ton, 1t is explained. would be incom-
prehensible 20 an American, but the
author has utilized the lore gathered
py the ancient skald and has turned
il into series of realistic stories.
They begin with the reputed origin
of the Vikings in the tabled city, of
Aasgard, northeast of the Black sea,
and trace the emigration of the race
to Scandinavia, led by Odin, Thor.
FREY and other characters in Morse
mythology. These personages at first
were merely men; then. as the result
of the hero-myth, became man-gods
md, finally. wholly deities. The
chapters end with the defeat of Olaf,
king of christianiZed Norway, by a
coalition of his, enemies.
The latter part of the book deals
largely with the career of Olaf Try
svasson, the Olaf Of fame, truly an
heroic and. considering the times in
which he lived, an admirable figure.
AS the lands which now comprise
Norway. Sweden and Denmark change
l lis noted. The Vikings never forget
Odin. their once all-powerful god,
whose palace in tabled Aasgard.
cradle of the race. becomes Val
halla," hall of the dead. On the other
hand, he dwindles in their minds To a
troll, inconsequential, one-eyed, yet
very real. Snorri, although he re-
CARDS this ancestral god from the
standpoint of the Christian middle
ages as only a mortal endowed with
magical powers, yet continually
treats him as "a divinity.
Ii is interesting to read the lore of
race which today celebrates, as We
do 1876, the year S12, and which. on
Midsummer Night. still commemo-
rates the great system of fire signals
inaugurated by that Haakon whose
namesake now sits on the throne OF
Norway by building fires on all the
prominent mountain tops.
Mr. Dunlap's discriminating selec-
tions from the sagas bring the princes
of the line of Frey down 10 the year
1000, or. roughly speaking, the end of
the Viking age. Both as romantic
reading matter for young and old and
as historical material about an i'm
porIant people concerning whom most
Americans know little or nothing.
they are likely to be "A valuable addi-
tion to any library.
OF CLEAR INTENT. BY Henry C.
Rowland, author Of 'Duds,' etc.
New York: Harper K Bros.
So few know with any degree of
clarity and f-finiteness what they
really do want out of life that the
infrequent person certain upon this
point is worth holding up for in
spiration and example. One is of
opinion, however. that Mr. Rowland
had no such pious intent before him
in the making of this romance.
Rather did he see in ii, one thinks,
the makings of an ingenious story,
since the person who not only knows
what he wants but goes straight for
it is bound to find adventure along
the way. This is girls story-the
story of girl who. in spite of for
tune and all the things that go with
1t, was bound to be a dancer Why,
not at all She was to go to France
for schooling instead. So the family
said But the girl sent another girl
to France in her stead and betook
herself away with a band of gypsieS,
free to dance in the greenwood from
morning till night. Then that young
man who always appears came along
this time too, and---well. that is
the story done up in partnership
of adventure from this point on.
Not the easy glide into matrimony,
however. that one is accustomed to in
novels. For the girl was most per-
sistent and il took no end Of court
ing and artful adaptations to her
passion for a career to uncover the
fact that her clear intent" was. af-
ter all. a more fundamental thing
than to embody the high art of
dancing. The life of society, the
gypsy life, the personable and rather
unusual young man in the near Of
fing-and the girl, these give a good
opportunity for a swift changing line
u action. That Is what one finds in
this engaging story.
THE LITTLE TIGREss, Tales Out
of the Dust of Mexico. BY Wallace
Smith. Drawings from a field
sketch book. New York: G. P.
Putnam's Sons.
"They are singing La Cucaracha'.
And every living thing knows they
are the dorados-the golden ones who
fight and die under the cruel leader
ship of Mexico's greatest bandit chief.
They are more than that, these sing
ing ones. They are the last riders of
romance. They go to make the final
stand for melodrama." This is the
pitched these songs of modern
banditry. Vivid stuff. out of which
one snuffs the desert dust and stands
close while these lawless followers
of crafty and relentless chief fight
from cover or in the open with such
foes as their leader is SO fertile in
finding. Wallace Smith has done
more than to paint dramatic pictures
here. For, besides. he makes us feel
that he is close to these rough men
in understanding, that his stories are
drawn out from deeper sources than
the mere picture making of most
writers who try to present Mexico.
either in formal study or passing
sketch. Brilliant and interesting
work on a theme that fits the pen
as it so clearly makes strong appeal
to his own picturesque sense of ad-
venture.
THE LUCK OF THE KID. BY Ridg-
well Cullum, author Of ''The Man
in the Twilight" etc. New York:
G. p. Putnam's Sons.
Bill Wilder, following a Yukon gold
trail and at the same time hunting
for a lost white child, is the big
and genial hero of this pioneer ad-
venture Not much chance for virgin
freshness in this quarter any more.
An author has to work for what he
gets in this region nowadays. But
stories cannot be allowed to run
out simply because their particular
kind may have been overdone. A lit
tie harder grubbing for the author
turns the trick. And here while we
come upon the familiar face of the
big northwest, and upon the trappers
and Indians and villains. upon hair.