Vagrant Viking

My Life and Adventures

Peter Freuchen

• Publisher: Echo Point Books & Media
• Year: 2025
• eBook ISBN: 9781648373701
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Historical Biographies
• Index: History

Follow the Adventures of This Intrepid Arctic Explorer Famous Danish explorer Peter Freuchen (1886-1957) lived an epic life of adventures ranging from exploring the frozen Arctic to fighting the German war machine of World War II. In Vagrant Viking he chronicles his exploits from Copenhagen to Siberia to Hollywood. Together with fellow polar explorer Knud Rasmussen, Freuchen established the Greenland trading station of Thule, and spent many years living amongst the indigenous people of the region. During World War II Freuchen served in occupied Denmark's anti-Nazi underground and survived being imprisoned and sentenced to death by the Germans. His subsequent life of countless travels and adventure took him from the United Nations to Hollywood, where he mixed with notables on the world stage, movie stars, and beauty queens. During all these years, Freuchen wrote, leaving a body of work that includes both fiction and memoirs, all rich with an experienced storyteller's sense of action, romance, and dry wit. He authored Book of the Eskimos and other fascinating works about exploring and living in the amazing world of the Arctic. All of his works portray a person determined to live life to the fullest, and at that he succeeded with extraordinary spirit and courage.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Remembrance: “THINGS ARE NOT LIKE THEY USED TO BE WHEN YOU WERE YOUNG. DO YOU REMEMBER THE HOUSE YOU BUILT IN THULE, PITA? THE FIRST HOUSE EVER BUILT HERE.”
• I “SEE WHAT THE CHILDREN ARE DOING, AND TELL THEM NOT TO.”
• II “TEACHERS WERE THE NATURAL VICTIMS OF MY EARLY HUNTING INSTINCTS."
• III “NO MATTER HOW I ACHIEVED IT, THE DEGREE BOLSTERED MY MORALE."
• IV “WHAT THE DEVIL HAVE YOU BEEN DOING AND WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO SPEND THE NIGHT ASHORE?"
• V ‘TWENTY YEARS OLD, I WAS GOING TO SPEND A WINTER IN THE ARCTIC."
• VI “THE FIRST MAN DIED ON NOVEMBER FIFTEENTH, MYLIUS-ERICHSEN TEN DAYS LATER AND, FINALLY, BRONLUND . . ."
• VII “I MET AND BECAME CLOSELY ATTACHED TO THE MAN WHO CAME TO MEAN MORE TO ME THAN ANY OTHER MAN IN MY WHOLE LIFE—KNUD RASMUSSEN.”
• VIII “I SUGGESTED THULE, FROM THE EXPRESSION ULTIMA THULE, WHICH MEANS, OF COURSE, NORTH OF EVERYWHERE AND EVERYBODY."
• IX “ACCORDING TO ESKIMO CUSTOM WE REMAINED ON OUR SLEDS WITH OUR BACKS TOWARD SHORE—A SIGN THAT SOMEONE HAD DIED AND THAT OUR TRIP HAD ENDED IN TRAGEDY.”
• X “DURING THESE MONTHS MY ESKIMO FRIENDS SEEMED TO BE CONCERNED ABOUT MY STATUS AS A SINGLE MAN.”
• XI “ONCE IN THULE, WE MADE READY AT ONCE TO SET OUT ON ONE OF THE STRANGEST EXPEDITIONS EVER UNDERTAKEN IN THE ARCTIC.”
• XII “ARE YOU PETER FREUCHEN? OH, THANK GOODNESS, WE ARE SAVED AT LAST."
• XIII “THE BEGINNING OF A TERRIBLE WINTER, THE WORST, THE LONGEST, THE HUNGRIEST WINTER I HAVE EVER SPENT IN GREENLAND."
• XIV “ONE IS GIVEN CAUSE FOR SURPRISE THAT ONE SINGLE MAN HAS BEEN PLACED HERE TO THINK AND PLAN FOR ALL OF HIS SUBJECTS, WHEN HE HAS NO MORE SENSE THAN TO ASK FOR AN OPINION TO BE FORMED AFTER ONE DAY!"
• XV “I WAS TRAPPED. THE HOLE WAS TOO SMALL TO LET ME THROUGH; MY BEARD, FROZEN TO THE RUNNERS OF THE SLED, WOULD NOT LET ME RETIRE INTO MY GRAVE AGAIN."
• XVI “I FELT THE OLD MAN WITH THE SCYTHE COMING CLOSER, AND SOMETIMES WE SEEMED TO HAVE SWITCHED ROLES."
• XVII “EVERYBODY HAD HEARD THAT MY BODY HAD BEEN WASHED ASHORE SOMEWHERE IN THE ARCTIC”
• XVIII “I DID NOT MANAGE TO LEAVE RUSSIA WITHOUT GETTING ARRESTED”
• XIX “HEAVENS, NO! WE'LL JUST SHOW HIM THE SAME THING TOMORROW, THAT'S THE WAY WE DO IT HERE!"
• XX “HELP!" SHE SCREAMED. “HELP! FREUCHEN IS ATTACKING ME!"
• XXI “HITLER'S JEALOUSY WAS NONE OF MY BUSINESS, AND IF THE NEWSPAPERS WANTED A PICTURE THEY HAD TO CHOOSE BETWEEN ME OR THE NAZI."
• XXII “I CONFESSED AT ONCE, EXPLAINING HOW THE HUMAN HEADS HAD COME INTO MY POSSESSION AND SWEARING I HAD PLAYED NO PART IN THE VICTIMS' BEHEADING."
• XXIII “I COULD NEVER KEEP OUT OF CAUSES. ONE THAT CLAIMED MY INTEREST WAS A CAMPAIGN TO STOP THE CRUEL TREATMENT OF GEESE."
• XXIV “ADMIRAL BEGUITCHEFF LOOKED AT ME WITH A SUPERIOR SMILE. THE SOVIET WAY!’ HE SAID."
• XXV “THE WAVE RECEDED, THE BARGE SANK ONCE MORE, AND WE STARED AT THE MONSTROUS SIGHT: HE WAS STILL CLINGING TO THE LADDER, BUT THE LOWER PART OF THE BODY WAS NOT THERE.”
• XXVI “WITH MY ONE LEG I COULD NOT JOIN THE FORCES BUT THERE WERE OTHER WAYS OF FIGHTING THE ENEMY.”
• XXVII “I WAS CROSS-EXAMINED FOR HOURS, I WAS BEATEN, SLAPPED ACROSS THE FACE WITH WET TOWELS, AND MY ARTIFICIAL LEG WAS TAKEN AWAY.”
• XXVIII “THEN ONE DAY I HAD TO INTERRUPT MY WORK AT THE U.N. FOR AN ENTERPRISE OF QUITE DIFFERENT SCOPE—A BEAUTY CONTEST TO ELECT MISS UNIVERSE.”
• Epilogue “ 'YES, LIFE IS A JOURNEY,’ AS MY WISE FRIEND ODARK TOLD ME. ‘WE ARE BEING PUNISHED BECAUSE WE HAVE STAYED TOO LONG IN ONE PLACE, PITA. LIFE IS A JOURNEY WITHOUT END’”
• Index
• Backcover