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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. What does Eirik lend to Thorgest?

2. What is Iceland like when Eirik the Red arrives there?

3. How is Leif Eiriksson described?

4. What causes a fight between Eirik and Thorgest?

5. Who is Leif?

Short Essay Questions

1. Explain why Eirik chose the name Greenland.

2. Where do Karlsefni and Gudrid travel? What becomes of them?

3. Why was Bjarni determined to reach Greenland? What did he do there when he did?

4. Describe what happens as Leif and his crew try to approach the shore of the mainland.

5. What strategy do Leif and his men employ to explore the area around them on this new shore?

6. Describe the events surrounding Thorstein's death.

7. Explain what happened to Aud's husband and son.

8. What response does Bjarni receive when he shares his sighting of the new land?

9. What happens to Thorstein and his crew when they set sail for Vinland? Where do they end up spending the winter?

10. Explain who Aud brings to Iceland with her, who they were, and what happened once they arrived in Iceland.

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What are the Icelandic Sagas?

Part 1. What are the Icelandic Sagas? When were they written and by whom?

Part 2. Why are the Icelandic Sagas important historically? What do we know from them?

Part 3. Summarize and analyze the content of the Vinland sagas.

Essay Topic 2

The historical novel "The Thrall's Tale" takes place during the sagas. Read the novel and then analyze the novel's connections to the sagas.

Part 1. Introduce and summarize the novel.

Part 2. During which saga does the action of the novel take place? What events happen in both?

Part 3. Which characters from the novel are also characters from the sagas? Are they consistent with their portrayal in the sagas? Does the fiction created surrounding the characters seem likely or plausible? Why or why not?

Part 4. According to you, how well did the author of "The Thrall's Tale" weave her fiction into the sagas? What did she do well and what could she have done better?

Essay Topic 3

The Vinland Sagas are part of the history of Iceland. Write an essay about Iceland.

Part 1. Describe Iceland physically - where is it and what is the nature like there?

Part 2. What role does Iceland play in the Vinland Sagas? Why are the Vinland Sagas important to Iceland?

Part 3. Cover the history of Iceland. Who discovered it? When? What has happened to Iceland since then?

Part 4. What is modern Iceland like? Who lives there? What kind of government do they have? What has happened to them recently?

(see the answer keys)

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