The Story of Rolf and the Viking's Bow

It was Rolf in his weapons
ALLEN FRENCH
AUTHOR OF THE JUNIOR CUP, SIR MARROK, ETC.
ILLUSTRATED BY
BERNARD J. ROSENMEYER
BOSTON LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 1918
Copyright, 1904 , By Little, Brown, and Company.
All rights reserved
The University Press, Cambridge, U.S.A.
TO MY BROTHER
HOLLIS FRENCH
From thirty to sixty years ago appeared the greater number of the English translations of the Icelandic sagas. Since then the reading of these heroic tales has so completely gone out of style that their names are rarely mentioned in schools or even colleges. What boy feels his blood stir at the mention of Grettir? How many lovers of good reading know that the most human of all epics lie untouched on the shelves of the public libraries? The wisdom of Njal, the chivalry of Gunnar, the villainy of Mord, the manhood of Kari, the savagery of Viga-Glum, the craft of Snorri, and the fine qualities of Biarni, of Biorn, of Skarphedinn, of Illugi, of Kolskegg, of Hrut, of Blundketil—all these are forgotten in the curious turn of taste which has made the stories of a wonderful people almost a lost literature.