Gizur the White and Hjalti his son-in-law came out with the
mission of Christianity, and all men in Iceland were baptized, and
Christianity was legally established at the general sessions’. The
events thus described happened in the year 1000. If therefore
the emigration of Snorri Thorbrandson is taken as the event after
which Christianity was introduced, a discrepancy in the chronology
is apparent. A reference to the context shows, however, that
chapter 48 concludes the section of the saga which deals with the
dispute between the men of Eyr and Alptafjord. It is in accordance
with the usual practice in such cases that the subsequent fate
of the principal characters should be briefly indicated. Thus
in the Flatey Book the Wineland episode concludes with the
subsequent careers of Karlsefni and Gudrid, and the mention of
their descendants. The book then reverts to the consideration of
other matters following upon the death of Olaf Tryggvason. It is
therefore quite unnecessary to regard Snorri’s journey to Greenland
and his Wineland adventures as taking place _immediately_ after the
settlement of the feud in which his family were concerned, while
the introduction of Christianity is the next main episode after the
Eyr-Alptafjord quarrel, and does not necessarily follow in date the
minor facts recorded in winding up this matter. It may further be
pointed out that the sequence of the two chapters is not the same
in all MSS. of the Eyrbyggja Saga.
Apart from this question of chronological discrepancy this passage
strongly corroborates the Wineland story, for it goes on to state
how ‘Snorri went to Wineland the Good with Karlsefni; when they
fought with the savages there Thorbrand Snorrison, the bravest
of men, fell there’. Some texts read ‘Snorri Thorbrandson’ for
‘Thorbrand Snorrison’, but, apart from the occurrence of the
correct name in what is probably the most reliable manuscript, the
sense seems to demand a different name from that of the original
subject of the sentence, while to substitute Snorri, incorrectly,
for a similar name not previously mentioned is a natural and
characteristic error for a copyist to commit.
§11. FREYDIS
Translation from the Flatey Book.
Now talk began again about the journey to Wineland, for the voyage
thither seemed both lucrative and honourable. The same summer that
Karlsefni returned from Wineland there came a ship from Norway to
Greenland, commanded by two brothers, Helgi and Finnbogi, and they
stayed that winter in Greenland. These brothers were of an Icelandic
stock from Eastfjord. Now the story goes that Freydis, Eric’s
daughter, made a journey from her home at Garda, and went to see the
brothers, Helgi and Finnbogi, and invited them to go to Wineland with
their ship, and divide with her all the profit they might make out of
it. They consented. From them she went and interviewed her brother
Leif, whom she asked to give her the houses which he had had built in
Wineland; but he gave her the same answer as before, that he would
lend the houses but not give them.[53] So it was arranged between the
brothers[54] and Freydis that each should take thirty fighting men on
board, besides women. But Freydis broke these terms at once, and took
five extra men, whom she hid, so that the brothers knew nothing of it
before they reached Wineland.
Now they put out to sea, having arranged to sail together as far as
practicable, and as it turned out there was not much difference between
them, but the brothers were slightly the first to arrive, and took
their belongings up to Leif’s camp. But when Freydis arrived her ship
was unloaded, and her things taken up to the camp. Then Freydis said,
‘Why have you brought your property in here?’ ‘Because we imagined’,
said they, ‘that the whole arrangement between us was going to be
kept.’ ‘Leif lent me the houses,’ said she, ‘but not you.’ Then Helgi
said, ‘We brothers are no match for you in wickedness’: so they carried
out their goods, and made themselves a camp, which they placed further
from the sea by the shore of a lake, and they thoroughly settled in,
while Freydis had wood cut for her ship.
Now when winter set in the brothers suggested that games should be
started to pass the time. This went on for a while, until a quarrel
arose which led to discord between them, and the games stopped, and no
one went from the one camp to the other. This state of things continued
for a long time during the winter. Then one morning early Freydis got
out of bed and dressed, but put nothing on her feet: and it happened
that there was a heavy dew. She took her husband’s cloak, and went out
to the brothers’ house, to the door: now a man had been out shortly
before, and had left the door ajar. She opened the door, and stood for
a while in the doorway without saying anything, till Finnbogi, who was
lying furthest from the door and who was awake, said, ‘What do you want
here, Freydis?’ She replied, ‘I want you to get up and come out with
me, and I want to talk to you.’ He did as she asked, and they went to
a log which was lying under the wall of the house, and sat down on it.
‘How are you enjoying yourself?’ she said. ‘I like the country,’ he
replied, ‘but I do not like the quarrel which has sprung up between us,
for I do not see any reason for it.’ ‘There you speak truly,’ said she,
‘and I am of the same opinion, but my reason for coming here to you
is that I want to buy the ship which belongs to you brothers, for you
have a larger ship than I, and I wish to go away from this place.’ ‘I
will agree to that’, said he, ‘if it will please you.’ With that they
separated; she went home, and Finnbogi went to bed. She climbed into
bed with her cold feet, and waked Thorvard with them, so that he asked
her why she was so cold and wet. She answered with great vehemence, ‘I
have been to the brothers to bid for their ship, since I wanted to buy
a larger ship; but they took it so ill that they beat me and grossly
maltreated me: and you, miserable man, will neither avenge my shame nor
your own; but I can realize now that I am not in Greenland, and I will
separate from you if you will not avenge this.’ And when he could bear
her reproaches no longer he ordered his men to get up at once and take
their weapons, and having done so they went to the brothers’ house, and
they went in to them as they slept, and took them and bound them, and
brought each man out as he was bound, and Freydis had each one killed
as he came out. Now all the men were killed, but the women were left,
and no one would kill them. Then said Freydis, ‘Hand me an axe.’ So
they did, and she killed the five women who were there, and left them
dead.
Now after that outrage they returned to their camp, and Freydis
appeared to them to think that she had arranged matters perfectly: and
she said to her men, ‘If we are lucky enough to get back to Greenland I
shall contrive the death of anyone who tells of these doings; we must
rather say that they stayed behind here when we came away.’
So early in the spring they made the ship ready which had belonged to
the brothers, and loaded it with all the good things which they could
collect and the ship would hold. After this they put to sea, and had
a rapid voyage, and came with their ship to Ericsfjord early in the
summer. Karlsefni was there then, ready to put to sea, and waiting for
a breeze, and it is said that no richer ship ever left Greenland than
this which he commanded.
Freydis now went to her house, which had stood safe meanwhile, and
having given large presents to all her followers, because she wished
to hush up her misdeeds, she settled down at home. But all were not
so close as to keep silent about their crimes and wickedness, that it
should not leak out anywhere. So now it came to the knowledge of her
brother Leif, who thought it a thoroughly bad business. Then Leif took
three men of Freydis’s crew and tortured them till they told the whole
of the circumstances, and their stories tallied with one another. ‘I
cannot bring myself’, said Leif, ‘to treat Freydis, my sister, as she
deserves, but I will predict of them that their stock will never be
worth much.’ And the end of it was that no one from that time forward
thought anything but ill of them.
Now we must go back to the point where Karlsefni made ready his ship
and sailed to sea. He made a good passage, and arriving in Norway
safe and sound he stayed there for the winter and sold his wares, and
both he and his wife were honourably received by the noblest men in
Norway. But in the following spring he made his ship ready to sail to
Iceland, and when he was quite ready and his ship was waiting for a
breeze alongside the quay, a southerner came to him who was of Bremen
in Saxony, and bargained with Karlsefni for his ‘húsa-snotra’.[55]
‘I will not sell it’, said he. ‘I will give you half a mark of gold
for it’, said the southerner. Karlsefni thought it a good bid, and
thereupon they clinched the bargain. The southerner went away with the
‘húsa-snotra’; now Karlsefni did not know what wood it was, but it was
‘mausur’ come from Wineland.
Now Karlsefni put to sea, and came with his ship along the north of
the land to Skagafjord, and his ship was laid up there for the winter.
But in the spring he bought Glaumbæjarland, and built a house there,
where he passed the remainder of his life: he was a most noble man,
and many men and a good stock are descended from him and his wife
Gudrid. And when Karlsefni was dead, Gudrid and Snorri her son, who
was born in Wineland, took over the management of the place. But when
Snorri married Gudrid went abroad, and made a pilgrimage to Rome
(lit.: went south), and returned to the house of Snorri her son, who
had by that time had a church built at Glaumbæjar. Afterwards Gudrid
became a nun and lived the life of a recluse, and she remained there
while she lived. Snorri had a son named Thorgeir, who was father of
Ingveld, mother of Bishop Brand. Snorri Karlsefnison had a daughter
named Hallfrid, she was the mother[56] of Runolf, the father of Bishop
Thorlak. There was a son of Karlsefni and Gudrid called Björn; he
was the father of Thorunn, the mother of Bishop Björn. Many men are
descended from Karlsefni, and he became blessed in his descendants: and
Karlsefni has told most clearly of all men the incidents of all these
voyages, of which something has now been related.
APPENDIX
ALTERNATIVE VERSIONS AND
SUPPLEMENTARY PASSAGES
1. ERIC THE RED.
_Eyrbyggja Saga, chap. 24._
At the same sessions the family of Thorgest the Old and the sons of
Thord Gelli prosecuted Eric the Red for the slaughter of Thorgest’s
sons, which had occurred in the autumn, when Eric went after his beams
to Breidabolstad; and these sessions were very well attended. The
parties had previously had a numerous following. During the sessions
Eric had a ship made ready for sea in Ericsvág in Oxney: and Eric’s
party were assisted by Thorbjörn Vifilson and Styr the Slayer and the
sons of Thorbrand of Alptafjord and Eyulf Æsuson from Sviney; but
Styr was Eric’s sole supporter at the sessions, and he drew away from
Thorgest all the men he could. Styr then asked Snorri Godi not to
attack Eric after the sessions with Thorgest’s men, promising Snorri in
return that he would help him another time, if he should happen to get
into difficulties; and because of this promise Snorri lost interest in
the proceedings. Now after the sessions Thorgest and his men went with
a number of ships in among the islands, but Eyulf Æsuson hid Eric’s
ship in Dimunavág, where Styr and Thorbjörn met Eric: Eyulf and Styr
followed Arnkel’s example by escorting Eric together on his journey out
round Ellida Island.
On that expedition Eric the Red discovered Greenland, and stayed there
three winters, after which he went to Iceland, where he stayed one
winter before setting out to colonize Greenland, and that was fourteen
winters before Christianity was legally established in Iceland.
_From Ari’s Íslendíngabók._
That land, which is called Greenland, was discovered and colonized
from Iceland. It was a man called Eric the Red from Breidafjord who
went out thither from this country, and he settled in the place which
was afterwards called Ericsfjord: he named the country, and called it
Greenland; saying that the fact that the country had a good name would
attract men to journey thither. They found there, both in the east and
the west of the country, dwellings of men, and fragments of canoes,
and stone implements of a kind from which one may tell that there
the same kind of people had passed who have settled in Wineland, and
whom the Greenlanders call ‘skrælings’ (savages). Now when he started
to colonize the country it was fourteen to fifteen winters before
Christianity came here to Iceland, according to what was told Thorkel
Gellison in Greenland by one who himself accompanied Eric the Red.
2. LEIF.
_Saga of Olaf Tryggvason_ (_Fríssbók text_).
The same winter Leif, the son of Eric the Red, was with King Olaf,
in great favour, and he adopted Christianity. But that summer when
Gizur went to Iceland King Olaf sent Leif to Greenland, to preach
Christianity there. He sailed that summer to Greenland. He found at
sea men on a wreck, whom he assisted. Then too he discovered Wineland
the Good, and he came in the autumn to Greenland. He brought thither
a priest and other clergy, and he went home to Eric his father at
Brattahlid. Men called him afterwards Leif the Lucky. But Eric, his
father, said that the account was balanced, by Leif’s rescue of the
crew at sea, and his importation of the hypocrite to Greenland. This
referred to the priest.
_Kristni Saga_ (_Hauk’s Book_).
That summer Olaf the king went from the country south to Wendland: then
too he sent Leif Ericson to Greenland, to preach the faith there: then
Leif found Wineland the Good, he found also men on a wreck at sea,
wherefore he was called Leif the Lucky.
_Flatey Book, chap. 352_ (_in the body of the Saga of Olaf Tryggvason_).
Then the king had the Long Serpent brought out, and many other ships
both great and small. That same summer he sent Gizur and Hjalti to
Iceland, as has already been written. Then King Olaf sent Leif to
Greenland to preach Christianity there. The king got him a priest and
some other holy men to baptize people there and teach them the true
faith. Leif went that summer to Greenland, and brought into safety a
crew of men who were at that time in distress and lay upon a wreck.
He came at the end of that summer to Greenland, and went to Eric his
father to stay at Brattahlid. Afterwards men called him Leif the
Lucky. But Eric his father said that the account was balanced, in that
Leif had rescued the crew and given the men life, and had brought a
hypocrite to Greenland. So he called the priest. Yet by the counsel
and persuasion of Leif, Eric and all the people in Greenland were
baptized.
_Saga of Eric the Red and Hauk’s Book, the latter italicized._
‘Leif put to sea when he was ready. He was driven about at sea for
a long time, and lighted on lands whose existence he had not before
suspected. There were wild (lit.: self-sown) wheatfields there, and
vines growing. There were also those trees which are called “mösur”,
and they had some samples of all these things: _some of the trees were
so large that they were used in house-building_. Leif _found men on a
wreck and_ took them home with him, and got them all lodging for the
winter. He showed in this the greatest courtesy and courage, _as in
many other ways_, since he introduced Christianity into the country,
and rescued the men, and he was _ever afterwards_ called Leif the
Lucky.’
_Flatey Book._
When sixteen winters had passed since the time when Eric the Red
crossed to live in Greenland, Leif, Eric’s son, travelled from
Greenland to Norway: he came to Trondhjem in the autumn when King Olaf
Tryggvason was come from the north from Halogaland (A.D. 999). Leif
brought his ship into Nidaros, and went straight to King Olaf. The
king preached the faith to him as he did to other heathen men who came
to him. The king had an easy task with Leif, so he was baptized, and
all his crew; Leif stayed with the king during the winter, and was
hospitably entertained.
3. THORVALD’S VOYAGE.
_Hauk’s Book: the companion text is here badly confused by the copyist._
Karlsefni went with one ship to look for Thorhall the Hunter, while
the main body remained behind, and they travelled north past Keelness,
and then bore along to the west of it, having the land on their port
side. There there was nothing but desolate woods, with hardly any
open places. And when they had sailed a long time, a river came down
from the land from the east to the west: they entered the mouth of
the river, and lay by its southern bank. It happened one morning that
Karlsefni and his men saw before them on an open place a speck, which
glittered before them, and they shouted at it; it moved, and it was
a uniped, which darted down to the bank of the river by which they
lay. Thorvald, son of Eric the Red, was sitting by the rudder, and the
uniped shot an arrow into his entrails. Thorvald drew out the arrow,
crying, ‘There is fat about my belly, we have reached a good country,
though we are hardly allowed to enjoy it.’[57] Thorvald died of this
wound soon afterwards. Then the uniped rushed away, and back northward.
Karlsefni and his men pursued him, and saw him from time to time. The
last they saw of him was that he ran towards a certain creek. Then
Karlsefni and his men turned back. Thereupon a man sang this little
ditty:
Hear, Karlsefni, while I sing
Of a true but wondrous thing,
How thy crew all vainly sped,
Following a uniped:
Strange it was to see him bound
Swiftly o’er the broken ground.
Then they went away, and back north, and imagined that they saw Uniped
Land. They would not then risk their people further.
4. THORSTEIN’S VOYAGE.
_Saga of Eric the Red and Hauk’s Book, the latter italicized._
At this time men spoke much of seeking for those countries which Leif
had found. The leader of the project was Thorstein Ericson, a clever
and popular man. Eric was also asked to join, since his luck and
foresight were most highly thought of. _He was a long time making up
his mind, but he did not refuse what his friends asked_;[58] so in
the end they made ready the ship which Thorbjörn had brought over,
and manned her with twenty men, taking little cargo, mostly arms and
provisions. The morning when Eric rode from his home he took a casket
containing gold and silver, which he hid before going on his way, but
when he had hardly started he fell from horseback and broke a rib,
and hurt his arm in the shoulder-joint, which made him cry out. In
consequence of this mishap he told his wife to remove the money which
he had hidden, considering that he had incurred this punishment by
hiding it. Thereupon they sailed out from Ericsfjord in high spirits,
thinking most favourably of their project. But they were tossed about
for a long time in the ocean, and could not keep on the course which
they desired. They sighted Iceland, and they came across birds from
Ireland. Then their ship was driven out over the ocean. They came
back in the autumn, exceedingly worn out and exhausted; they came to
Ericsfjord _at the beginning of winter. Then Eric said_, ‘We were
merrier in the summer sailing out of the fjord than we are now, and
yet we have still much to be thankful for.’ Thorstein replied, ‘It is
proper now for the leaders to think out some good plan for all these
men who are here now unprovided for, and to get them lodging for the
winter.’ Eric answered, ‘_It is a true saying that one is only wise
after the event, and our experience proves it. You shall now have your
way in this matter._’ _And so all who had no other lodging went with
the father and son, after which they went home to Brattahlid, where
they stayed during the winter._[59]
Now at this point the story tells how Thorstein Ericson proposed for
the hand of Gudrid, Thorbjörn’s daughter. The proposal was accepted
both by her and by her father, and the matter was concluded by the
marriage of Thorstein to Gudrid, which took place at Brattahlid in the
autumn. The festivity was a success, and very well attended. Thorstein
had an estate in the Western Settlement, in the district known as
Lysefjord. A man named Thorstein had also a share in the place: his
wife’s name was Sigrid. Thorstein went to Lysefjord in the autumn, to
his namesake, and Gudrid with him. They were given a good reception
and stayed there for the winter. But as the winter drew on it happened
that their estate was visited by a plague. The foreman there was a man
named Gardi, who was an unpopular man: he was the first to fall ill and
die. After that it was not long before one person after another fell
ill and died. Then Thorstein Ericson and Sigrid, wife of (the other)
Thorstein, fell ill, and one evening the latter wished to go to the
yard which stood opposite the front door. Gudrid accompanied her, and
they sat facing the doors. Then Sigrid uttered a cry. ‘We have been
foolish’, said Gudrid, ‘to come unprotected into the cold weather, so
let us go in at once.’ ‘It is not possible to do so’, replied Sigrid.
‘All the host of the dead is here before the doors, and there in the
throng I recognize Thorstein your husband, and myself, and a sad sight
it is.’ And when this passed off she said, ‘Now I do not see the host.’
The foreman had also vanished then, who had seemed to Sigrid at first
to have a whip in his hand, and to have made as if to beat the host.
After this they went in, and before morning came Sigrid was dead, and
a coffin was made for her body. And the same day men were intending to
go rowing out, and Thorstein conducted them to the quay, and in the
twilight he went to see after their fishing. Then Thorstein Ericson
sent his namesake word to come to him, saying that they were having an
uneasy time in the house, for the housewife made as if to get on her
feet, and get under the clothes by him; and when Thorstein came in she
had come to the bedpost close to Ericson. He took her by the hands,
and laid an axe to her breast. Thorstein Ericson died about sunset.
(His namesake) Thorstein told Gudrid to lie down and sleep, saying
that he would watch through the night over the bodies. She did as he
told her and soon fell asleep, but when a little of the night was past
Thorstein Ericson raised himself up, and said that he wished Gudrid to
be called there, and that he wished to speak to her. ‘It is God’s will
that this hour be given me for leave of absence, and for the perfecting
of my advice.’ Thorstein went to Gudrid, and woke her, telling her to
cross herself and pray God to help her, and said, ‘Thorstein Ericson
has spoken to me, saying that he wishes to see you. Now you must decide
what to do, for I cannot advise you.’ She replied, ‘It may be that
this, this wonderful event, is meant for one of those things which are
remembered afterwards, but I hope that God will watch over me. With
God’s mercy I will risk speaking to him, for I must not at such a time
shrink from harm to myself. I will do it lest he should go further,
for I suspect that would happen otherwise.’ So then Gudrid went and
saw Thorstein (her husband) and it seemed to her as if he shed tears,
and spoke some words low in her ear so that she alone heard, and he
said that those were blessed who kept the faith well, and mercy and
succour attended them: but he said that many kept it ill:—‘That is no
good custom which has prevailed here in Greenland since Christianity
was introduced, to put men in unconsecrated ground with but little
singing over them. I wish to be taken to the church with the others
who have died here, but Gardi I wish to have burnt on a pyre as soon
as possible, for he is the cause of all the apparitions which have
been here this winter.’[60] He spoke to her also of her affairs, and
said that she would have a great future. And he told her to beware of
marrying a Greenlander: he told her too to contribute their money to
the church, or to give it to poor men, and then he sank back for the
second time.
The custom in Greenland, since the introduction of Christianity,
had been that men were buried on the farms where they died, in
unconsecrated ground, and a stake would be set up from their breasts,
and later on, when priests came, the stake would be drawn up, and holy
water poured in there, and a funeral service sung over them, though it
might be long afterwards.[61]
The bodies were carried to the church at Ericsfjord and funeral
services held over them by the priests. After this Thorbjörn died, and
all his property then came to Gudrid. Eric took her in, and looked
after her well.
5. THORFIN KARLSEFNI.
_Flatey Book Version._
That same summer (when Thorstein the Black brought Gudrid to
Ericsfjord) a ship came to Greenland from Norway, commanded by a man
named Thorfin Karlsefni, who was a son of Thord Horsehead, son of
Snorri Thordarson of (Höfda).[62] Thorfin Karlsefni was a wealthy man,
and he stayed at Brattahlid with Leif Ericson during the winter. He
soon turned his attention to Gudrid, and proposed to her, but she left
it to Leif to answer for her. Afterwards they were betrothed, and
their wedding took place that winter. There were the same discussions
as before about a Wineland voyage, and people—both Gudrid and
others—strongly urged Karlsefni to undertake that journey. So then his
expedition was arranged, and he engaged his crew, sixty men and five
women. Karlsefni agreed with his crew that they should have an equal
share in any profit they might make. They had with them all kinds of
cattle, because they proposed to colonize the country if they could.
Karlsefni asked Leif for his houses in Wineland, but he declared that
he would lend his houses but not give them. Afterwards they put out to
sea with their ship, and arriving at Leif’s camp safe and sound they
carried up their baggage.
They soon made a great and a good catch, for a whale both large and
good was stranded there, upon which they went to the whale and cut it
up; they were then in no want of food. The cattle went ashore there,
but it soon came about that the males were unmanageable, and made great
havoc about them. They had brought a bull with them. Karlsefni had wood
cut, and shaped into a cargo for the ship, and laid the wood on a rock
to season. They all took advantage of the valuable resources of the
country, such as there were in the way of grapes and all kinds of game
and good things. In the summer following the first winter they became
acquainted with savages, a great crowd of whom came from the forest:
their cattle were close by, and the bull began to bellow and roar
very loudly; now this terrified the savages, and they ran away with
their packs, which consisted of grey furs and sables and all kinds of
peltries, and turning towards Karlsefni’s house they would have entered
it, but Karlsefni had the doors guarded. Neither side understood the
speech of the other: then the savages brought down their packs and
undid them and offered their wares, desiring especially weapons in
exchange, but Karlsefni forbade his men to sell weapons. And now he hit
upon the idea of telling the women to carry out milk to them, and when
they saw the milk they wished to buy that and nothing else. So then
the result of the savages’ trading was that they carried away their
purchases in their stomachs, but Karlsefni and his companions kept
their bales and furs; so they went away.
Now the story goes that Karlsefni had a strong palisade made round his
house, and preparations made there (for defence). At that time Gudrid,
Karlsefni’s wife, bore a boy child, and the boy was called Snorri. Then
at the beginning of the second winter the savages came to them in much
greater numbers than before, with the same kind of wares as previously.
Thereupon Karlsefni said to the women, ‘Now you must carry out the food
for which there was a demand on the former occasion, and nothing else.’
And when they saw it they threw their packs in over the palisade.
But Gudrid was sitting in the doorway by the cradle of Snorri her son:
then a shadow appeared in the doorway and there came in a woman in
a black ‘namkirtle’. She was rather short, and had a band round her
head; her hair was light brown; she was pale and had eyes so large
that no one had ever seen eyes so large in a human head. She went up
to where Gudrid was sitting, and said, ‘What is your name?’ ‘My name
is Gudrid,’ said she; ‘but what is yours?’ ‘My name is Gudrid,’ said
she. Then Gudrid the housewife beckoned with her hand to her to sit by
her, when all of a sudden Gudrid heard a great crash, and the woman had
then vanished, and simultaneously one of the savages was killed by one
of Karlsefni’s servants, because he had wanted to steal their arms,
whereupon they ran away as fast as possible, leaving their clothing and
wares behind them. No one had seen that woman but Gudrid only.
‘Now we must take counsel,’ said Karlsefni, ‘for I imagine they will
pay us a third visit in a strong and hostile body. Now the plan which
we should adopt is that ten men go forward on to this point and show
themselves there, while the rest of our force go into the forest and
there cut clearings for our cattle, as the army comes out of the wood.
We ought also to take our bull, and let it go before us.’
Now the place where their meeting was arranged had a lake on one side
and the forest on the other. Karlsefni’s advice was followed, and the
savages came into the place which Karlsefni had planned for the battle;
so the fight took place, and many of the savages’ army fell. There was
a tall and distinguished man in the army of the savages, who Karlsefni
thought must be their chief: now one of the savages had taken up an
axe, and having looked at it for a while he raised it against one of
his fellows and hewed at him so that he fell dead; whereat the tall man
took hold of the axe and looked at it for a time, after which he flung
it into the sea as far as he could; and thereupon they fled into the
forest, each one as best he might, and thus their fight then came to an
end.
Karlsefni’s men were there all that winter, but in spring Karlsefni
announced that he would not stay there longer, but would sail to
Greenland. So then they made ready for their voyage, and they brought
thence much that was of value in vines and grapes and furs. Now they
put out to sea, and came safely to Ericsfjord with their ship, and were
there for the winter.
6. KARLSEFNI’S DESCENDANTS.
_Saga of Eric the Red with Hauk’s Book._ (_The latter italicized._)
The second summer after this Karlsefni came to Iceland, and Snorri[63]
with him, and he went home to Reynisness. His mother thought that he
had made a poor match, and so _Gudrid_ was not at their house the first
winter. But when she found that Gudrid was a very fine lady she came
home, and they got on well together.
The daughter of Snorri Karlsefnison was Hallfrid, the mother of Bishop
Thorlak, son of Runolf. They (i.e. Karlsefni and Gudrid) had a son
called Thorbjörn. His daughter was called Thorunn, the mother of
Bishop Björn. There was a son of Snorri Karlsefnison called Thorgeir,
the father of Ingveld, the mother of Bishop Brand the first. _Another
daughter of Snorri Karlsefnison was Steinunn, who married Einar, son
of Grunda-Ketil, son of Thorvald Krok, son of Thori of Espihol. Their
son was Thorstein the Unjust, who was father to Gudrun who married
Jörund of Keldi: their daughter was Halla, mother of Flosi, father
of Valgerda, mother of Sir Erlend the Strong, father of Sir Hauk the
Lawman. Another daughter of Flosi was Thordis, mother of Lady Ingigerd
the Rich. Her daughter was Lady Hallbera, abbess of Reynisness at Stad.
A number of great men in Iceland besides are sprung from Karlsefni and
Gudrid, who are not catalogued here. God be with us. Amen._ And that is
the end of this story.
_Ari’s Íslendíngabók._
Aud, the woman colonist, who settled to the west of Breidafjord in
Hvamm, was mother of Thorstein the Red, father of Olaf Feilan, father
of Thord Gelli, father of Thorhild Rype, mother of Thord Horsehead,
father of Carlsefni, father of Snorri, father of Hallfrid, mother of
Thorlak, who is now bishop in Scalaholt.