AFTER this battle King Magnus turned back with his fleet, and came first to Scotland. Then men went between the Scottish king Malcolm* and King Magnus, and a peace was made between them; so that all the islands lying west of Scotland, between which and the mainland he could pass in a vessel with her rudder shipped,* should be held to belong to the king of Norway. Now when King Magnus came north to Kintyre, he had a skiff* drawn over the strand at Kintyre, and shipped the rudder of it. The king himself sat in the stern-sheets,* and held the tiller;* and thus he appropriated to himself the land that lay on the larboard side.* Kintyre is a great district, better than the best of the southern isles of the Hebrides, excepting Man; and there is a small neck of land between it and the mainland of Scotland, over which long-ships are often drawn.* King Magnus was all the winter in the southern isles,* and his men went over all the fjords of Scotland, rowing within all the inhabited and uninhabited isles, and took possession for the king of Norway of all the islands west of Scotland.
* Sturluson makes a little slip here. Malcolm III Canmore (?1031-1093), King of Scots from 1058 to 1093, had died some five years previously: the king in 1098 was Malcolm’s fourth son Edgar (1097-1107), whose right to the crown was however much disputed at home, hence his need to keep Magnus quiet.
* ‘Shipped’ here means ‘fixed in place’. Detachable Viking rudders were positioned for use towards the stern (back) on the starboard side (the right-hand side, from Old English steorbord, Norse styrbord, meaning ‘steering-board’). Edgar’s idea was that Magnus could have any piece of land separated by water from the mainland, so he demanded somewhat naively that the rudder be shipped (properly in place for steering) when any claims were made. He needed better lawyers, as he shortly found out.
* A skiff is a light rowing boat. Magnus’s plan was perch on dry land looking northwest, and then claim all the land to the left — a significant portion of the seaward end of the prize Kintyre Peninsula. This was not exactly within the spirit of his deal with Edgar, though Magnus clearly felt it was within the letter.
* ‘Stern-sheets’ is a nautical term for the space in the stern of an open boat not occupied by the thwarts (seats).
* The tiller is the handle that works the rudder; the rudder is the blade that goes in the water.
* The larboard side is the left-hand side of a boat as you look forward from the stern (back). Larboard derives from Old English ladebord, ‘loading-board’. Ships would tie up against the wharf on this side to do their loading. Since this was the side nearest the port, the term ‘port side’ later superseded larboard.
This neck of land is at Tarbert, an Anglicised form of the Gaelic word tairbeart meaning ‘carrying across’, or portage. The portage distance is just under a mile.
* Snorro Sturluson’s term for the Outer and Inner Hebrides and the Isle of Man. The Northern Isles were Orkney, Shetland and the Faroes.
Précis
On Magnus’s return to Scotland, King Edgar agreed to let him have any land separated from the mainland by a channel big enough for a fully-rigged boat. Magnus duly claimed all the islands to Scotland’s north and west, and even marked off a sizeable body of the Kintyre Peninsula, by dragging a fully-rigged boat across its neck on dry land. (60 / 60 words)
On Magnus’s return to Scotland, King Edgar agreed to let him have any land separated from the mainland by a channel big enough for a fully-rigged boat. Magnus duly claimed all the islands to Scotland’s north and west, and even marked off a sizeable body of the Kintyre Peninsula, by dragging a fully-rigged boat across its neck on dry land.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, although, besides, despite, if, may, must, who.
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Word Games
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Spinners Find in Think and Speak
For each group of words, compose a sentence that uses all three. You can use any form of the word: for example, cat → cats, go → went, or quick → quickly, though neigh → neighbour is stretching it a bit.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 Helmet. King. Southern.
2 Go. Lay. Two.
3 Afterward. South. Third.
Variations: 1. include direct and indirect speech 2. include one or more of these words: although, because, despite, either/or, if, unless, until, when, whether, which, who 3. use negatives (not, isn’t, neither/nor, never, nobody etc.)
Statements, Questions and Commands Find in Think and Speak
Use each word below in a sentence. Try to include at least one statement, one question and one command among your sentences. Note that some verbs make awkward or meaningless words of command, e.g. need, happen.
This exercise uses words found in the accompanying passage.
1 People. 2 Screen. 3 Hit. 4 Back. 5 Rule. 6 Turn. 7 Fall. 8 Battle. 9 Pass.
Variations: 1. use a minimum of seven words for each sentence 2. include negatives, e.g. isn’t, don’t, never 3. use the words ‘must’ to make commands 4. compose a short dialogue containing all three kinds of sentence: one statement, one question and one command
High Tiles Find in Think and Speak
Make words (three letters or more) from the seven letters showing below, using any letter once only. Each letter carries a score. What is the highest-scoring word you can make?
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