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T H E E N G L I S H N A T I O N A L P R O G R A M M E
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T H E E N G L I S H N A T I O N A L P R O G R A M M E
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Work recently produced by the Programme's students is displayed in
this section.
This project is just beginning. In future we hope to display much more,
so as to show the quality and diversity of work produced by pupils in
the subjects taught by the Programme.
Out of the thick gray mist, emerged a ship. It was long and slender and its sails were dark crimson. Shields, of every color and pattern imaginable, lined its bow. And at its prow, proudly surveying the waters ahead, stood the carved wooden head of a dragon. This was a drakar, the most feared yet revered type of longboat in the Scandinavian fleet. On board was raiding party of about fifty men, each one held an oar; gently but swiftly guiding their ship through the infinite expanse of waves; except for two, who stood at the prow staring into the endless void of fog.
“I do not like this place… it reeks of evil.” The voice came from the taller of the two, a man with a regal bearing, who had the air of a man of nobility. He bore a shield that was strapped over one of his broad shoulders and his hand rested on the longsword at his hip, as though he was ready to slay the mist that stood in their way.
“I agree, but you yourself said that we need to find land to gather supplies,” said the other man regretfully. He was a warrior of both face and stature. He held a long shafted bearded axe, that he had propped against his shoulder, and a francisca, accompanied by a long curved knife, at his belt.
The first nodded, and continued his study of the invisible horizon.
It was then that they saw it. A thin strip of black velvet in a field of deathly gray.
Land.
It was an island. A solitary banner, standing proudly, defiantly, above the boundless extent of watery death. A soldier, doomed to fight an eternal battle with the invading waves, a never-ending struggle to control its beaches. It was a stronghold, shielding the needy and keeping hunger, thirst and all other minions of the ocean at bay.
As the mist cleared, the islands mystical, yet subtly beautiful, shores came into view. Its beaches where of a golden sand, that lay sorrowfully, mournfully, without the light of the sun to glorify it; like a abandoned crown, waiting to be, once more, put at its place of honor on the head of the King. After the beaches came a dense forest of pine, row after row of emerald trees, there cone shapes like the spikes on a hedgehog’s back.
GLOSSARY
drakar: drei-kar, very rare Viking longboat, its stealth useful for surprise raids.
longsword: a longer version of the broadsword, sign of nobility for the Vikings.
bearded axe: battle axe who’s blade ends in curved hook-like spike on the bottom ( resembles a beard ). In battle, the spike would have been used to trip the opponent, who would then be hacked to death.
francisca: fran-siss-ka, largest throwing axe in western Europe. It would require great strength and skill to wield, but in the right hands could prove brutally effective at short range.