 subcalls are at the world's end strange fascinating lands back in us bid us revel in their exotic splendors come with us as we head for ports of call go to the Northland school to the land of leaf Erikson and his crew of Harold the Fairhair of Olaf Creekson and many a Viking in rude armor dressed school to Norway her fjords and forests her skulls and sagas her mountains her midnight sun her flashing borealis Norway our port of call it is to Oslo splendid modern capital of Norway that our steamer has brought us first in commerce as in population among Norwegian cities Oslo lies at the head of a picturesque pure reaching inward some 50 miles and dotted with innumerable small islands for many years Oslo was called Christianity in honor of the Danish King who rebuilt the original city after the inhabitants had burnt it with and it's being taken by the Swedes but let us pause and peruse those ancient Bellum pages inscribed by Snorri Storlson that great Icelandic historian of the 12th century who collected these heroic tales passed on for generations by the Skalds or Bards of the Northland and saved for all posterity in the words of Storlson himself now it came to pass in the 8th century that King Harold ruled over a part of Norway and Harold sought the hand of the Lady Giver of Horteland and sent his heralds and messengers across the waters three ships have landed and messengers are at the door craving on it with you Lady Giver whence do they come from Norway they have said did the man to the whole fill the horns with me and let Dennis and be brought to the Lady Giver we did you welcome strangers whence come you from that King Harold who rules in Norway King Harold say you I had thought Norway had no King but many chiefs and through war among themselves but King Harold is the greatest and most powerful Lord of all he is the largest of men the strongest and fairest to look upon what message is it this King sends to me he sends you gifts of gold and silks much as he heard of your beauty why does your Lord send these gifts it is because our King would ask your hand in wedlock now in truth I think your master presumes my eyes have never beheld this King Harold yet he dares greatly and that I like tell him this is Lady Giver's answer I will not yield myself to any man who has only a few districts to his kingdom is there no king in this land who can conquer all Norway as King Eric has conquered Sweden and King Gorm done mark bear these words to your master tell him when he is such a ruler as these to calm himself in person then may I reconsider then went the messengers back across the sea in the dragon ships and came to Harold's kingdom where the chiefs and waited in the great hall what answer do you bring me from the Lady Giver what manner of made is she just bear as they say a proud and haughty princess is the Lady Giver Lord Harold but come lay in with much wisdom what said she see she sent you greetings and thanks for those rich gifts we've all when we when we reached Valdriss we were made welcome and there was feasting but get on get on what answer did she give the Lady Giver has refused your seat long did we press for a more favorable answer telling her of your greatness in this land your prowess in battle but she gave us only this message this is my answer to King Harold I will promise to become his wife if for my sake he shall conquer all Norway and rule as freely as King Eric and King gone only when he has done this may he be called King of Norway such then is the Lady Giver's answer he speaks bravely what think you insman good home still might as made be seized by force of arms and men not so the girl is spoken well and deserves thanks instead of injury she has put a new thought into my mind which has not come to me before this I held the king now solemnly bow and call upon the gods to witness that I shall not cut my hair no comb my beard until I shall have made myself King of all Norway if I feel in this then shall I die in the now surely to spoken like a king in old past to my work then did good King Harold set forth and with his knights and berserkers win all the chiefs of Norway as his vassals making Earl's each in their region of these proud men not till his bow was accomplished did he call to him Reingold Earl of Moore and bid him cut his hair and all marveled at the king's beauty and from that day called him Harold the fair hair then King Harold journeyed to Hurtiland taking with him a great company has befitted his high rank and when the proud ships reached the shore he sent his uncle before him to announce his coming to the Lady Giver so the princess prepared to receive the king attiring herself in silks of purple and saffron and she ordered that all should depart from the hall and alone eagerly awaited Harold's coming King of Norway by right of conquest how tall he is how like a conqueror he bears himself welcome King Harold of Norway I have done what you dared me try Lady Giver perhaps had you come yourself the first time I should not have asked for such proofs of your kingship it is better as it is but had I known what I now know I should indeed have come my health did stand justice to your beauty often have I seen such blue as your eyes reflect when my ship breasted the sun that waves you are such a maiden as the young biking dreams of as he keeps watch beneath the stars noted those messengers find words worthy of your manhood well have they named you the fair haired king never again shall I doubt those tales of your great prowess the skulls see I kneel at your feet I offer you not myself alone but all my realm I pray you rise Harold Norway is your kingdom but either shall be your queen then you will fulfill my promise I go with you in your ship and they are going be swift now the gods good to me many were the triumphs of Harold the fair haired and long was his reign many two were his offspring so that for generations to come there was fright in Norway for the throne far roam the Vikings in their predatory ventures to England to the Faroe Islands to France and beyond into the Blue Mediterranean to Greenland and Iceland and to that far shore which they called Vineland which was America but it is modern Norway which most fully captures our fancy and stirs our imagination for in this relatively small country during the 19th century appeared such amazing figures as that virtue also of the violin only bull was rival only by Paganini the writer and poet beyond Stern beyond some the playwright Henry Gibson and the incomparable Edward Green one of the most beloved of all composers but newly returned from a triumphal tour of America only bull goes one afternoon to the home of his friends the Greeks parents of the boy Edward near Bergen do sit down in this big chair my husband will return from his walk in a little we are so eager to hear your great success all Norway has been killed and how far you have traveled it is an amazing country that America what they like my playing and paid well to hear me what it is of you my beloved friends I would talk how we should lead fun he is 15 now I can scarcely believe it I have been gone such a long long while does he still make tools that your Edward show promise I believe the boy is a genius he has been composing for the piano for day and it is the freshness and charm of our mountains and valley wait let me call them he shall show you his compositions himself or ever yes mother come here to the parlor I have a great surprise for you one of your heroes is calling upon us yes but do you not then know who this gentleman is not not their bull you see we musicians know one another instinctively it is the greatest of honors all of my life I want to see you all your life and I hear you have turned composer you study hard my mother has taught me she makes me practice for long hours he has been most assiduous but now I can teach him nothing more he has mastered all that I know he has completed this goodness and what should go to like sick he must study with the great teachers with France least perhaps he must know harmony but but with those masters have me for people I shall arrange it I only bull I shall talk with your father you must not delay but remember this always at what drag you and I are Norwegian's they must create a great national music it is the beauties of this Northland it's polished with pies in the fjords the sound of the wind in the trees that you must put into your work the songs of our presence to the friendship of France list as well as to only bull the rising Greek was indebted for early appreciation of his games he sent a composition to the master of by more and received an enthusiastic invitation to visit the great contemporary of Chopin and Bogne so southward through Germany traveled we knock at the monastery door where list received the world my name is Edvard Greek I come from Bergen in Norway you wrote to me must welcome welcome of course I received your sonata young you are mr. Martin a boy and what have you brought me to play always they bring France list of compositions too often they are bad bad but not yours but I have seen has been splendid now show me what is until your arm oh hell list I regret that I've left my poor pieces in Norway I have brought with me only one let me see it let me see it I will pay this at my next concert this is the music of the soul your soul at what Greek I can hear this in the echoes and re echoes of your people the soul of Nordland you see the legends of your country re-enacted the starlet folklore of the North's the robust mark of your climate warps your trolls Edvard Greeks life was blessed by lasting happiness in the year 1864 he became engaged to his cousin Nina Hagerup a singer and love for her inspired him to set the music those heartfelt lines of Hans Christian Anderson yeah get scared eat I love me which all the world still sings the young wife of the composer had a deep understanding and sympathy for Greeks works and together the talented couple gave many concerts in Christianity Berlin London and Paris indeed Greek was popular in England so much so that people stood waiting in the street before the doors of the concert hall from early morning yet Norway was not content to give one such outstanding genius to the world in a single century she fathered beyond Stern beyond some and almost simultaneously Henry Gibson that incredible dramatist who emerged from an apothecary shop to astound the world with his poetical tragedies his penetrating satire in the year 1849 we find the 21-year-old poet in a small chemist shop in Grimstad I mean the doors are locked Henry writing again is this the proper behavior for a chemist assistant here I want you to meet my friend holy shulal how do you do that his father is a new customs officer this is Henry Gibson you remember what I told you he has written a tragedy and all in three months they have heard in the town that you were a poet and did they tell you too that I was an atheist a free thinker perhaps even a revolutionist our henric here has plenty of friends but he has enemies too but I tell you Christopher I am not an enemy of society I write what I see what I believe this catalyne is a drama of revolt I am going to Christiania soon if you will permit I should take your manuscript of catalyne with me I shall find the publisher and I shall interest the directors of a Christiania theater come tonight to my room with Christopher here I shall warm you with punch then read you my play who knows perhaps I shan't always remain in a chemist shop till tonight then I'll see this thing I say I shall expect you both Kevin pity you but you asked to hear the play and never fear we shall drink to Henry Gibson the Virgiland of Norway the Holberg of Grimstone you shall make our town famous fame came slowly to Henry Gibson but it came at last in fullest measure catalyne was published by friends but failed to secure favorable comment or production in a period of poverty Ibsen sold many of the coffees to a huckster who found them useful for wrapping paper it was to the master musician glee that Ibsen turned when he sought a typical Norwegian setting for his epic poem of Norwegian character Pergynt Ibsen wrote to the young musician who approached his great task with the utmost enthusiasm and when playwright and composer met the lovely and expressive incidental music was ready your play it is so moving so significant of our land but I fear to attempt my task it is truly a profound poem a work only such a master as yourself could create and you alone were fitted to compose the music it needs your ears are attuned to the true voice of Norway for austerity and for tenderness and you understand our presence for you have lived among you can appreciate both the frailty and the strength of Pergynt but your canvas was so vast and my my keyboard seems so limited nevertheless I have tried to capture and mirror the beauty and poetry of what you've written I asked much but what I had already heard of your music led me to expect I need your perhaps perhaps you like best this air morning for into it I have tried to try to put the rapture that is often coming when I watch the morning light break on the mountain top and the music was at last heard it immeasurably enhanced the effectiveness of the production and achieved a measure of popular acclaim that even the play Pergynt itself was not accorded in Norway Henry Ibsen's greatest fame came to him when he had just passed the half century mark he began a series of dramas in a manner and with the technique previously undiscovered these were his great social satires which beginning with a doll's house revolutionized playwriting and stamp Ibsen as the master dramatist of his century to George Brandis the Danish critic he said in one of their many meetings no no I tell you I am through with all historical and romantic drama I have come of aid at last I see a new opportunity a new responsibility a playwright my dear plans could be a surgeon his duty should be to diagnose the disease box of society and with his helpful pettus lay to lay them bare let the onset be the poet of the peasants in sport I have a larger work to perform but Henry you are Norway's poet who else should create a past writer Sargers no I am finished with all that I have come into a new way of thinking I shall now write a series of social studies what do you plan I have finished a play a play about a woman a modern woman under problems it is called a doll's house and it's heroin lives here in Norway nor a hell man this Nora is unhappy or she is married to a man without sensibilities and as this play progresses she discovers she is nothing but a toy a doll and in the end she goes out into the world alone I have expressed her right to individual self-development the right every woman should have I tell you it is a strong play a bitter play but it is the truth and I do not answer nor as problem this my friend is like you shall see I shall redo the end but I know well that when this is produced I shall be a hated man but I shall be an honest man I was put your little style of your dog it was then that it dawned upon me I was living with a strange man I see I see and I this has opened between us but would it not be possible to fill it up as I am now I am no wife for you I have a deal me to become a better man if your doll is taken away from you but to part from you no no Nora I cannot understand that that makes it all the more certain that it must be done no no I'm not now goodbye I shall not see the little ones as I am now I can be of no use for them but Sunday Sunday how can I tell I have no idea what is going to become of me all over Nora shall you never think of me again I shall think of you often and of the children and this house may I write to you Nora no never you must not do that let me help you if you're in want no I can receive nothing from a stranger can I never be anything but a stranger to you the most wonderful thing in the world would have to happen tell me what would that be both you and I would have to be so changed that I don't believe any longer in wonderful things happening but I will believe it tell me so change that but our life together would be a real wedlock Nora she's gone the most wonderful thing of all Ibsen's play about the storm of protest as he had expected he had defied the old conventions of the stage with it he launched his series of attacks on the old and false social standards of Europe and with each succeeding play his fame increased and brought added glory to Norway summer days in Norway are long and bright as our ship carries up the west coast where the great beards from 50 to 100 miles in length reach inland from the sea fantastic chasms of indescribable beauty the steep precipices often more than 2,000 feet high but winter days are short and dark for a third of the country is in the latitude of the midnight sun the pale Borealis flickers on the northern horizon in this mountainous country on any snow fields and glaciers parents of thousands of beautiful waterfalls as we steam along the coast visiting Stavanger in Bergen to store in the treasury of our memory a host of unforgettable pictures of this lovely and varied land of fishermen on the calm waters of the fjords of happy peaceful peasants in the green valleys and on the forest coke mountain side of church bells at even time of voices singing school to Norway inspiration for so many of the great of this world and never to be forgotten port of call for all who visit your shores invite you to join us again next week in this time as we journey to another of the world's fascinating ports of call