Authors: prefered
[DISSOLVE TO:
The Landing
(
For the location of this landing, which the saga and historical analysis define only as somewhere on the south coast of Cape Cod, I suggest that they enter Osterville Harbour and proceed right up into the little land-locked, tree-enclosed pool
(
unnamed
)
half a mile south of Marstons Mills
(
Map Reference, U. S. Geological Survey, Barnstable, Mass., quadrangle
).
Alternatively a suitable site could be found two miles west, in Poponesset Bay.)
(The ship enters a wooded creek or bay. She approaches a beach and strands; the men get out of her and make her fast with anchors and ropes.
)
[DISSOLVE TO:
Camp at the Beach Head
(A
camp has been made and tents pitched as at the Hebrides, because the Norsemen mean to stay here for several days.
Leif
and
Tyrker
are talking to
Haki
and
Haekia.
)
LEIF Well, we've found the wood, Haki; the wood we need at home for our cowhouses. I don't think we can go on any further; these new lands may go on and on to the end of the world. We're going to camp here and cut and trim these trees, enough to load the ship. Then we will turn for home.
HAKI Ay, Lord.
LEIF Well now, about you two. We shall be staying here for several days. To-morrow morning at dawn, I want you to set off to run towards the west to find out what sort of a country this is. You can be away for three days. To-morrow you will run straight inland, and part of the next day, and on the third day you will come back by a different way so that you can give me an account of as much of the country as can be seen in the time. Do you understand what I want to know?
HAKI Lord, we understand very well. You want to know the sort of country, whether it is marsh or field or forest or mountain; you want to know the animals and birds, and whether there are signs of men. You want to know the rivers and the lakes, and the flowers and the fruits that we find by the way. All these things we will notice; on the evening of the third day you shall have our story.
LEIF Good. Will you take food with you?
HAKI Lord, we do not like to carry burdens; we cannot travel quickly unless we go light. We will take tinder to make fire with, and a flint and steel. We will eat before we go.
TYRKER
(Giving
Haekia
a pouch
) Here is some tinder. There's not much there; I'll get you some more before you go.
LEIF (
Unbuckling a belt with a sheath knife from his waist
) Take this knife. It's a good one, I got it in Norway. Don't lose it.
HAKI Lord, I will bring it safely back to you three days from now.
[ DISSOLVE TO:
The Camp—Dawn Scene
(
Every one is asleep except one sentry on watch, silhouetted against the sky.
Haki
and
Haekia
are sleeping by the fire;
Haekia
wakes and shakes
Haki.
They get up from their sleeping bags. There is a litter of food and half-gnawed bones on a platter, the remains of their evening meal; they eat a little of this. Then they speak to the sentry, and set off running from the camp in the grey light of dawn. They run steadily, not very fast, for they have a long way to go. They are lost to sight among the trees.)
[ DISSOLVE TO:
The Pond
(
They are running together in full daylight round the shore of a lake amongst fir trees, with white, sandy beaches. Snake Pond, near Forest Dale, is suitable.)
HAEKIA
(Pointing)
Be careful how you go. Haki; there are serpents here. Don't go and tread on one.
HAKI Remember to tell Leif. We saw snakes by the pond.
(
They run on.)
[ DISSOLVE TO:
The Hilltop
(
They are standing for a moment, panting a little, looking westwards.)
HAKI I believe this land that we are standing on is a cape. There is the sea
(points)—
and there
(points the other way)
is the sea again.
HAEKIA There is land everywhere to the west, over there, right up to those blue hills on the horizon. This is a very big country, Haki. We must go westwards.
HAKI
1
I think there is a bridge of land for us to go by. I do not think this is an island; I think there are two bays, one to the north and one to the south, that do not quite meet.
HAEKIA
(Pointing)
There is a buzzard. Look, Haki, there are several of them, over the sea there. Remember to tell Leif.
HAKI I will mind that. There are buzzards over the south bay.
[DISSOLVE TO:
The Journey
(
This journey of exploration should be told very largely without dialogue. The photography must be as beautiful as can be managed, the whole point lying in the contrast with the hardships and bleak lands of the early part of the film.)
(A
shot of the two
Scots
running steadily inland, leaving the sea behind them. It may be convenient to make this an estuary scene, and show them striking off into beautiful country away from the dwindling river,)
(Dissolve to a late afternoon scene. They are walking now, hand-in-hand, still going on towards the west, but more slowly because they find so much to look at and to wonder at.
A
succession of shots should show them walking beneath tall forest trees, in meadows beside streams, over an open heath.
A
shot should show
Haekia
stooping to pick berries.
)
HAEKIA Look, Haki—these are cranberries!
HAKI They are so big!
(Dissolve to
another shot or two to show them wandering on, picking various berries and fruits, and exclaiming at the birds and animals that they see.
)
HAKI There is so much to tell Leif about this country that we shall never be finished.
HAEKIA It is the best country we have ever seen, Haki. It is better than Greenland, better than Norway, better even than Scotland.
HAKI There is no limit to the number of cows a farmer could keep here. There is grass for all the cows and sheep in the world.
HAEKIA
(Happily)
It
is
very good to be here, Haki. The land is beautiful, and it is good to be alone together and away from the Norsemen for a bit.
HAKI I know. Leif is kind and just, but we have our ways and they have theirs, and the two are different.
(
Dissolve to a shot of a little deer in a glade. The two
Scots
see it, nudge each other, and pick up pebbles from a brook. They
stalk
it from two directions. Both throw their stones at it at the same moment and both hit it on the head; it falls down and they run up to despatch it with the knife.
)
(
Dissolve to a shot of
HaKI
carrying it over his shoulders, with
Haekia
at his side; they are very pleased with themselves.)
(Dissolve to a late evening shot of their camp. They have made a fire and a windbreak and a bed of fir twigs; they have cooked a good part of the deer on wooden skewers, and they are eating it. They have made themselves very comfortable.)
(Dissolve to a shot of them asleep together on the bed, the fire is dying down. It is a fine, starry night.)
[ FADE TO:
(A
morning scene; they are running through the woods together. )
(A
midday scene. They are walking hand-in-hand by a river. They see a scarlet tanager and are amazed at it; they try to catch it, laughing.)
(An old Indian camp site, long deserted. The
Scots
are examining it warily, turning over the ashes and examining chopped sticks.)
(A
scene of them swimming across a river, side by side. They get out, shake themselves like dogs, and go on.
)
(An evening scene. They have made a campfire by the sea beneath cedar (or similar) trees, very beautiful.
A
shot of them asleep together.
)
(A
morning scene. They are running along a beach on their way back to the cape.)
[ DISSOLVE TO:
Leif's Camp
(
An evening scene. There are many trees felled and a great litter of chips and brushwood. The ship is seen partly loaded with trimmed trunks; the whole atmosphere is now that of a lumber camp, for this is the whole object of the journey. The bullock is seen at work, dragging the felled timber of trees towards the ship.
Leif
is sitting before his tent eating his supper;
Tyrker
comes to him.
)
TYRKER Lord, the Scots are coming in.
(
Leif
gets up from the fire and walks with
Tyrker
to the edge of the camp. In the distance the
Scots
are seen running towards them through a glade; they come up to
Leif.
They are panting a little, but they are not unduly distressed.
Haki
is carrying a few ears of wild wheat, and
Haekia
has a couple of bunches of small grapes.)
LEIF So—you are back. Did you see any signs of men?
HAKI Lord, there are men in this country, but we did not see them. We found traces of their fire, but they were old.
TYRKER Is the land good?
HAKI Lord, we have so much to tell you it will take all night. This is a good country, better than Norway or my own land, better than Greenland. There are animals and flowers and fruit of every sort. All the cattle in the world could pasture here, and there is food for every one. It is the best land in the world.
LEIF So. What have you got there?
HAKI Lord, we brought this grain for you to see. It is wheat. We found it growing wild, and that is a great wonder.
LEIF
(Examining the ears)
It is not the wheat we use for bread, but it is a grain very like it. I should think you might be able to make bread of this.
HAEKIA
(Shyly, offering her grapes)
Lord, we found these berries and all the birds were eating them, and so we ate them too. They were very good.
(
She hands
Leif
the grapes, and then moves a little closer to
Haki;
their hands meet down by their side.
Leif
glances at them; clearly they are very much in love. He laughs.
)
LEIF Did you enjoy your journey?
(Haekia
smiles shyly, and says nothing.)
HAKI Lord, when we are old and grey and ill, and near to death, we shall still be thinking about this fine journey we have made.
LEIF
(Smiling)
So. Do you two want to be married now?
(
Haki
looks at
Haekia;
they smile together.)
HAKI Lord, we would like that fine.
LEIF I will marry you in the morning—remind me after breakfast, and I'll get the men together. It's all right for slaves to go on as you have been doing, but free people should be married, especially if they are Christians, as you are. You have done very well, you two. You shall be free people when we get back home, living on your own farm with cattle of your own.
(
The
Scots
are very pleased.
Tyrker,
who has been examining the grapes, breaks in.)
TYRKER Lord, I know these fruits quite well. They grow in Germany, where I was born. They are called grapes. You make wine out of them.
LEIF
(Tasting one)
Oh, these are grapes, are they? I have heard of grapes, but I have never seen them before. I have drunk wine; it's a very good drink.
TYRKER Lord, if we can get some more of them I will make wine for you, as my people do at home.
LEIF So. Then we will call this good new country Vinland,
Vinland
the Good.
TYRKER
(Turning to the men and shouting)
Listen to me, everybody—pay attention. My lord says that we will call this good new country Vinland, Vinland the Good.
(
There is a murmur of assent from the men. Faintly at first the school bell is heard ringing for the end of the lesson; it grows in crescendo as the beach and camp scene slowly fades.)