After a time, some of the Vikings thought, “We will take our families and build new homes for ourselves in the rich lands we have visited.” So Viking boats sailed away from the northland carrying whole families. Some went to nearby lands where the English live. Others went to live on lands that belong to the French. But many others sailed farther away and built homes on an island which is called Iceland. Other families followed them to Iceland. Before many years there were more than a thousand Vikings living on the island. Some of the Vikings who had gone to live in Iceland still liked to sail the seas. Stories say that one of them, a very daring seaman called Lief Ericsson, sailed and sailed a very long way from his home. He found a land with many green trees and green grass and grapevines loaded with fruit. Lief called the land Vinland because of the grapes. But now people believe that the shores which Lief Ericsson found were really the shores of our land, America. Lief’s voyage to Vinland was made about five hundred years before Columbus found the new world. Some people have said, “The story that Lief Ericsson found America cannot be true. A Viking ship could not have crossed the big ocean.” But there was still a “Viking” living in Norway. He was a young Captain Andersen. He believed that the old Viking ships could cross the ocean. Even as a boy he had dreamed of how fine it would be to cross the ocean in a real Viking ship like those of the old Viking days. About the time Captain Andersen was dreaming his dream, one of the old Viking ships which now stands in the museum was found buried deep under ground. Captain Andersen saw that ship. A few years later, the young captain heard of a World’s Fair to be held in Chicago, a city in America. Then he got an idea. He thought, “I’ll build a ship that will be a true copy of the old Viking ship—I’ll build it the same size as that old ship and will sail it with the same equipment across the Atlantic Ocean to America. I’ll sail the ship through the waters of North America to Chicago and show it to the visitors at the World’s Fair.” [Illustration: CAPTAIN ANDERSEN’S SHIP _VIKING_ LEAVING OSLO] And the young captain set about the task of building the ship. Of course he had difficulties. He had to have money, but he got it. Finally the ship was built. It was named the _Viking_ and Captain Andersen was made its commander. The _Viking_ set sail on April 30, 1893, with a crew of twelve men. On June 13, it reached America. Captain Andersen’s dream had come true. The _Viking_ was taken to Chicago. Thousands and thousands of visitors at the World’s Fair saw the old ship. The _Viking_ was left in Chicago. It still stands under a shelter in Lincoln Park. On the old ship is a message which says that the ship came across the ocean under its own sails. It came to carry a message of good-will to the people of the United States of America. Ivar, a Viking Boy