Preface

When I first started writing this book almost 35 years ago, it was just for fun for my children. I would write a chapter and then let the children and some of their friends read it. Then I would write another chapter. I read it aloud to a fourth grade class at a local school when it was complete. The feedback I got made me seriously consider publication.

However, there were several problems. It was just for fun; so I had included a lot of copyrighted material. It was very long. It had four or five times as many characters as this version. I had gone crazy with an Old English and Anglo/Saxon dictionary I owned and given all the places and characters ridiculously difficult names to pronounce.

My sister, Ruth Carden Schroeder, came to the rescue. She combined characters, edited out unneeded text, got rid of the copyrighted material, and renamed everything to something people would have some chance of pronouncing. I put a few of the names I liked best back in. So, if you can pronounce it, thank Ruth. If you can’t pronounce it, blame me.

If you have half the joy reading it as we did writing it, you are in for a lot of fun.

Blessings,
Thor
May 11, 2025