Tales of the Vikings

Inspired by the movie, "Tales of the Vikings" regularly used stock footage from "The Vikings" and starred Jerome Courtland (Brave Eagle, Andy Bernette, Major Rogers of Rogers Rangers on the show "Northwest Passage") as a quite civilized, charismatic, and sophisticated Viking adventurer. After we see the stock footage from "The Vikings" where Ragnar's ship hits a rock and sinks, Jerome Courtland as Lief would find himself shipwrecked and in a strange land. He'd have to prove himself by undergoing "Viking Tests" of sticking his hand in a fire, wrestling with the locals, and drinking a brew of grog, soil, and untold "spices." Of course, Jerome Courtland would always prevail. Inspired by such TV "Viking Tests", my adolescent brother and I invented and engaged in our own "Viking Tests" which were downright dangerous. In the interest of public safety, I will not give out the details here. Thirty years after the series had played on American television, I was taking a PhD course in Educational Research at the University of Hawaii and struck up a friendship with a fellow teacher/graduate student. When we were exchanging tales of the various places of the world in which we had lived, he mentioned spending some time in Norway, adding, "I won't tell you why I went there because you'd think it silly. Well, OK. It was because when I was a kid I was nuts about a TV show called 'Tales of the Vikings.' You probably never heard of it." Instead of saying, "I've heard of it", I sang him the theme song to "Tales of the Vikings."