Many secrets of the long, long ago lie buried deep under the ground. In
every land there are people who dig for such buried treasures. Only a
few years ago some men in Norway dug down to a most wonderful treasure.
What do you suppose they found? It was an old, old ship that the early
sailors of that northland had sailed upon the seas more than two
thousand years ago.
You can imagine how eagerly they worked to get every piece of the old
ship out of the ground and to patch the pieces together to rebuild the
old craft. And what a beautiful ship they finally had!
That ship, called the Oseborg Ship, stands today in a shed in an
open-air museum near Oslo. School girls and boys go there with their
teachers to see the old ship. They almost always look the longest at the
big dragon’s head that rode on the front of the boat, or at the _prow_
of the boat as sailors call it.
How many, many questions those pupils ask about the old ship and about
the old kings of the seas, who were called _Vikings_. And you can
imagine how eagerly they listen to the tales of those daring sailors who
ventured far, far out into the unknown seas in their long, black boats,
each of which looked like a huge animal with its head sticking up out of
the water.
[Illustration: THE VIKING SHIP AS IT WAS FOUND]
Other treasures have been dug from the earth in Sweden too. One old
chest had in it many queer things. One object from that old chest which
interests Swedish girls and boys is a large gold ring with eight small
rings upon it. Those rings of gold had been used for money long ago
before people made coins. In those early days a man buying something
would break off a piece of gold from one of the rings to pay for his
purchase.