A Child's History of the WorldHillyer, V. M. (Virgil Mores)
History
A Child's History of the World
Hillyer, V. M. (Virgil Mores)
World history -- Juvenile literature
Another god was named Tiu, and from his name we get Tuesday, and
another Freya, from whom we get Friday, so that four out of seven of
our days are named after Teuton gods, in spite of the fact that we
are--most of us--Christians and no longer believe in these gods.
Of the other three days of the week, Sunday and Monday of course are
named after the sun and moon, and Saturday is named after a Greek god,
Saturn.
From these wild people all fair-haired people to-day are said to
be descended--the English, French, German, and such of us whose
forefathers are English or French or German.
About the Year 400 A.D. these Teuton toughs were becoming particularly
troublesome to the Romans. They began to push their way down into the
northern part of the Roman Empire, and after a few years the Romans
could hold them back no longer. Two of these Teuton gangs, or tribes,
as they were called, went over into Britain, and the Romans who were
living there found it wisest to get out, go back to Rome, and leave the
country to the Teutons.
These tribes who settled in Britain were known as Angles and Saxons. So
the country came to be called the land of the Angles, or, for short,
“Angle-land.” After the words “Angle-land” were said over for many
years, they became “England,” which is what we call the country to-day.
The people of England are still known by the full name “Anglo-Saxons,”
and this is the name by which we call everything descended from these
old Teuton tribes of Angles and Saxons who settled in Britain about 400
A.D.
Another gang or tribe called the Vandals went into Gaul. Gaul is where
France is now. Then they kept on down into Spain, stealing, smashing,
and burning like Mug Mike’s gang of toughs on Hallowe’en. They crossed
over by boats into Africa. They injured or destroyed everything they
came upon. So to-day when any one damages or destroys property
wickedly, we call him a vandal. If you cut up your desk, tear your
books, or scratch names on walls or fences, you, too, are a vandal.
A tribe called the Franks followed the Vandals into Gaul, and there
they stayed, giving the name “France” to that country.
The Teutons north of Italy were the Goths. They had a leader by the
name of Alaric. He was the “Mug Mike” of the gang of Goths. Alaric and
his Goths crossed over the mountains into Italy and robbed or destroyed
everything of value they could lay their hands on. They then entered
Rome and carried away whatever they wanted, and the Romans could not
stop them. But the worst was yet to come.
[Illustration]
40
White Toughs and Yellow Toughs Meet the Champions of the World
The Teutons were wild toughs but they were white.
Farther north of the Teutons and to the east was a tribe of people who
were still more savage and fierce. They were called Huns. They lived
far off in the forests and wilds way beyond the Teutons, in a part of
the country that no one then knew much about.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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