Produced by Rose Koven, Juliet Sutherland, Charles Franks and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team. THE IRON STAR And what It saw on Its Journey through the Ages From Myth to History By JOHN PRESTON TRUE Author of "Scouting for Washington," "Their Club and Ours," "Shoulder Arms," etc. Illustrated by Lilian Crawford True PREFACE This is a wonderful old world of ours, the one we live in. It is wonderful to think how it has grown, day by day, year by year, century by century, and by each step of Time just a little better worth living in. It is like a beautiful fairy story, with the great advantage of being true. Of course none of us were here when the world began, so we did not see the beginning of it, but some of us have worked the problem backward through the years to find out what the beginning was like; and starting from a good dry spot, if you follow the wanderings of my Iron Star, I believe you will at no time be very far from the truth of the way in which girls and boys and their elders lived in the days now long ago. Will you make the journey with me? J. P. T. SEPTEMBER, 1899. CONTENTS. SPARK I. HOW THE STAR CAME INTO THIS WORLD. SPARK II. HOW THE STAR AGAIN BEGAN TO TRAVEL. SPARK III. HOW THE STAR WAS CARRIED ON THE WARPATH, AND WHAT CAME OF IT. SPARK IV. HOW THE STAR WENT TO THE NORTHLAND. SPARK V. HOW THE STAR FLEW INTO MANY PIECES AND WHAT CAME OF IT. SPARK VI. HOW FRAGMENTS OF THE STAR TRAVELLED TO A FAR COUNTRY. SPARK VII. HOW THE STAR HELPED ULF THE SILENT TO WIN A GREAT NAME. SPARK VIII. HOW THE IRON STAR VISITED A GREAT KING. SPARK IX. HOW THE STAR HELPED TO WIN A THRONE. SPARK X. HOW THE STAR SANG A SONG OF FREEDOM TO A CAPTIVE KING. SPARK XI. HOW THE STAR WAS PRESENT AT THE GREAT GIFT OF THE BARONS. SPARK XII. AND HOW IT WENT HALF ROUND THE EARTH, YET CROSSED AGAIN AT LAST THE TRAIL OF LEIF ERICSSON. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. THE FALLING OF THE STAR STONE AGE SPEARS AND POTTERY KNIVES, FROM THE BRONZE AGE THE STORIES OF UMPL'S HUNTING UMPL'S PICTURE-BOOKS "JARL SIGURD, THRALL AM I, YET A CHIEF'S SON ALSO" HOW EDITH FAIRHAIR SPUN THE SNOW-WHITE YARN ULF, THE YOUNG VIKING THE STATUE OF LEIF ERICSSON THE HUNTING OF THE BEAR THE GHOSTS AND WOLVES THEY SAW BEYOND THE FIRE THE FLAG OF THE WHITE BEAR'S HEAD WHERE LOUIS FOUND THE ARMOUR OF THE VIKING THE IRON HAND ON THE MAGNA CHARTA THE TENT POLE OF THE SARACEN IN THE CAMP OF THE ARABS CAPTAIN MYLES STANDISH SPARK I. HOW THE STAR CAME INTO THIS WORLD. To begin with, it all happened a very long time ago,--some say five thousand years, some say ten thousand years, and one wise man says it never happened at all; but even the wise are not wise at all times, and I am inclined to believe that it was in one of those unwise times that the doubt was raised; for I believe it happened, although I am not sure about the date.