A long time ago, seven tribes of people lived on a broad, flat stretch
of land in eastern Europe. Each tribe had a chief. The tribes were related
and spoke the same language. The people were called Magyars.
The
Magyars were nomadic. They moved from one place to another in search of
pasture for their sheep and goats. In the late A.D.800s, they were offered
a chance to settle down in one place. Emperor Arnulf, whose kingdom was in
Western Europe, asked the Magyars to help him conquer an enemy. In return
he offered them land.
An advance party of Magyars traveled west to
scout out the land to see if it was worth accepting Arnulf's offer. They
reported back that the faraway land was flat and fertile and that not many
people lived there. It was a good place to move to, they thought.
The
Magyars chose one of their seven chiefs to be the leader of all the
tribes. He was Prince Árpád, the head of the strongest and largest Magyar
tribe.
Prince Árpád led his people on a long and arduous journey. They
walked 1,000 miles(1,600kilometers) to their new home in the
west.
Through blistering summer heat and bitter winter cold, the entire
Magyar people - all seven tribes - trudged across vast plains and
struggled over treacherous mountains. When they arrived in the land that
is now eastern Hungary, they settled down. And there the nation of Hungary
had it's start. |
