[Illustration]
_Roman equivalents._
s a i l g æ r (th) r-h u i l i r-h e r-k u (th) g a t i e (th) i n a
a s l a k r-m a r k a (th) i m i k
_Translation._
Salgarth rests here. God keep thee!
Aslak marked me.
2.—INSCRIPTION ON THE SO-CALLED SNOLDELEV STONE, FOUND 1768, NOT FAR
FROM ROSKILDE, DENMARK.
[Illustration]
_Roman equivalents._
kun-ualtstain-sunar-ruhalts-(th)ular-osalhaukum
_Translation._
Gunvald’s stone, son of hoald, speaks (or speaker—priest) at Salhowe.
Of the literature proper of the early Northmen, we will consider first
the Sagas. These record the exploits of great chieftains, and are
sometimes of historical value. They were never written out in runes,
but owe their preservation to the Norwegian colonists who settled in
Iceland. Some of them were composed there, but the greater part seem to
have been brought over from the continent; and all were kept alive by
tradition, like the Odyssey and the Iliad, until the age of writing.
In our last chapter we alluded to the attempts made by the vikings who
discovered Vinland, to establish a colony there. For our first specimen
we will translate from the Saga of Thorfin Karlsefne that part which
describes the voyage of a band of these colonists, and their landing,
as some believe, on the shores of Cape Cod.
“Now is to be told of Karlsefne, that he, together with Snorre and
Bjarne, with their men, sailed southward along the coast. They sailed
for a long time, until they came to a river which flowed down from
the land above and into a bay and so into the sea; there was a broad
beach and shoals there, so that it was impracticable to go up the
stream except at high water. Karlsefne with his people sailed into the
mouth of the stream, and called the place ‘Hóp’ (haven). They found
there self-sown wheat-fields where there were lowlands, and grapevines
wherever hills showed themselves. Every brook was full of fish. They
dug ditches where land met water when the tide was highest, and when
the tide went out there were halibut (holy fishes) in the ditches.
There was a great plenty of game of all kinds in the woods. They stayed
there half a month, for pleasure, and noticed nothing [of importance];
they had their cattle with them. But early one morning, as they were
looking around, they saw a great number of skin boats; and poles were
swinging in the air on board the boats. It seemed as though they were
swinging a wisp of straw, and they swung them with the sun. Then said
Karlsefne: ‘What does this mean?’ Snorre Thorbrandson answered him:
‘It may be that this is a token of peace; let us take a white shield
and carry toward them;’ and so they did. Then the men in the boats
rowed toward them, and looked with wonder at those that were there, and
went ashore. They were dark men and ill-favored, and had ill-looking
hair. They were large-eyed, and with high (broad) cheeks. They tarried
awhile, and wondered at those they met there, and afterward rowed away
southward past the cape.”
We will add also something from the celebrated Saga of Njál. This is
the story: Gunnar, a friend and neighbor of Njál, had been sentenced to
exile for murder. Njál had prophesied, in case Gunnar should not keep
his word and leave the country, that it would lead to his death. Gunnar
did not go, and becoming thus an outlaw, was not long after attacked
by his enemies, and after a fierce resistance, killed. The prophecy of
Njál was in this way fulfilled.
“When all of Gunnar’s goods were put on board, and the ship about ready
for sea, then Gunnar rode to Bergthorshvál, and to other neighboring
farms to speak to the men, and thanked them for standing by him—all
those who had given him succor. The second day after, he got ready
early to go to the ship, and told all his retinue that he was about to
ride away never to return. It seemed heavy tidings to the men—though
they looked for his coming back some day. Gunnar bids farewell to all
his friends, when he is ready to go, and the men all went out with him.
He thrust his halberd down against the ground and swung himself into
the saddle, and Kolskeg and he rode away. They rode forward as far
as the Markarfljot. There his horse stumbled, and Gunnar was thrown
from the saddle. He chanced to glance up at the slope, and the farm at
Hlidarenda. Then he said: ‘Fair is the sloping homestead, so that it
has never seemed so fair to me,—the whitening acres and the smooth-mown
lawn,—and I shall ride back home and not go at all.’ ‘Do no such favor
to your enemies,’ said Kolskeg, ‘as to break your agreement; for no man
would look for that from you. And you may believe that so will it all
come to pass as Njál has said.’ ‘I will not go at all,’ said Gunnar,
‘and I would that you did likewise.’ ‘That shall not happen,’ said
Kolskeg; ‘I shall not play the dastard in this, nor in anything else in
which my word is honored; and there is but this alternative left: that
we part here. And tell my mother and my kinsmen that I do not expect to
see Iceland again; for I shall hear tidings of your death, my brother,
and then I shall have no desire to sail out hither again.’ Therewith
they part. Gunnar rides home to Hlidarenda, and Kolskeg rides to the
ship and sails away.”—_Njála_: Chapter lxxv, line 20.
[To be continued.]