Latest / Gadfly / Saga of the Greenlanders (Reeves Translation) - Unknown

Transcript

Saga of the Greenlanders (Reeves Translation) - Unknown · Gadfly

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Introduction to the Saga of the Greenlanders. This is the
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: Recording by expatriate in Bangor, Maine, The Saga of the Greenlanders,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: Author unknown, translated by Arthur Middleton Reeves eighteen fifty six
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: to eighteen ninety one. Introduction the Wineland History of the
• 0:33
  Speaker 1: Flotty Book. The Flotty Book is the most extensive and
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: most perfect of Icelandic manuscripts. It is in itself a
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: comprehensive historical library of the era with which it deals in.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: So considerable are its contents that they fill upwards of
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: seventeen hundred large octavo pages of printed text. On the
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: title page of the manuscript, we are informed that it
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: belonged to originally to John Hockinson, for whom it was
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: written by the priest John Towrdsen and Magnus Torhausen. We
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: have no information concerning the date when the book was
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: commenced by John Towrdsen, but the most important portion of
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: the work appears to have been completed in the year
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: thirteen eighty seven, although additions were made to the body
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: of the work by one of the original scribes, and
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: the annals appended to the books brought them down to
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: the year thirteen ninety four. Toward the close of the
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: fifteenth century, the then owner of the book, whose name
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: is unknown, inserted three quaternions of additional historical matter in
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: the manuscript to fill a hiatus in the historical sequence
• 1:45
  Speaker 1: of the work, not, however, in that part of the
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: manuscript which treats of Wineland. It has been conjectured that
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: the manuscript was written in the north of Iceland, but
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: according to the editors of the printed text, the facts
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: are that the manuscript was owned in the west of
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: Iceland as far back as we possess any knowledge of it,
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: and there is no positive evidence where it was written.
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: We have indeed no further particulars concerning the manuscript before
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the seventeenth century, when we find that it was in
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: the possession of John Finson, who dwelt in Flotty in Bradefirth,
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: as had his father and his father's father before him.
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: That the book had been a family heirloom is evident
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: from an entry made in the manuscript by the same
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: John Finson. This book I John Finson own the gift
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: of my deceased father's father, John Bjarnson, et cetera. From
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: John Finson. The book descended to his nephew John Torfossen,
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: from whom that worthy bibliophile Bishop Breniulf of Skalholt sought
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: in Vain to purchase it. As is related in an
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: anecdote in the bishop biography, former John of Flotti, son
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: of the reverend torphy Finsen, owned a large and massive
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: parchment book in ancient monacal writing, containing sagas of the
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: kings of Norway and many others, and it is therefore
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: commonly called Flottybook. This Bishop Brenulf endeavored to purchase first
• 3:17
  Speaker 1: for money and then for five hundreds of land, but
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: he nevertheless failed to obtain it. However, when John bore
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: him company as he was leaving the island, he presented
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: him the book, and it is said that the bishop
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: rewarded him liberally for it. The Flottybook was among a
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: collection of vellum manuscripts entrusted to the care of Tormoude
• 3:40
  Speaker 1: Torfaeus in sixteen sixty two as a present from Bishop
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: Brenulf to King Frederick the Third of Denmark, and thus
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: luckily escaped the fate of others of the Bishop's literary treasures.
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: In the Royal Library of Copenhagen it has ever since remained,
• 3:58
  Speaker 1: where it is known as number one, one thousand five
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: folio of the Old Royal Collection. Interpolated in the saga
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: of Olaf Triggvisen in the Flottybook are two minor historical narratives.
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: The first of these, in the order in which they
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: appear in the manuscript, is called a short story of
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Erik the Red, the second a short story of the Greenlanders.
• 4:23
  Speaker 1: Although these short histories are not connected in any way
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: in the manuscript, being indeed separated by over fifty columns
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: of extraneous historical matter, they form, if brought together, what
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: may be called the Flotty Book version of history of
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: the Wineland Discovery, a version which varies materially from the
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: accounts of the discovery as they have been preserved elsewhere.
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: Before considering these points of difference, it may be stated
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: that as we have no certain knowledge where the Flotty
• 4:52
  Speaker 1: Book was written, neither have we any definite information concerning
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: the original material from which the transcripts of these who
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: narratives were made. The original manuscripts of these narratives would
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: appear to have shared a common fate with the other
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: original forms from which the scribes of the Flattybook compiled
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: their work. All of this vast conjuries of early manuscripts
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: has entirely disappeared. This is the conclusion reached by that
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: eminent authority, the late doctor Vigfussen, whose profound knowledge of
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: the written literature of the North was supplemented in the
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: present instance by that close acquaintance which he had gained
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: with the Flattybook by reason of his having transcribed the
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: entire manuscript for publication. This total disappearance of all trace
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: of the archetypes of the Flattybook, although it is by
• 5:44
  Speaker 1: no means the only case of the kind in the
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: history of Icelandic paleography, is especially to be deplored in
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: connection with the Wineland narrative, since it leaves us without
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: a clue which might aid us in arriving at a
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: solution of certain enigmas which this narrative presents. In the
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Flawdy Book version of the Discovery, it is stated that
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: Bjarni Heruelsun, during a voyage from Iceland to Greenland, having
• 6:11
  Speaker 1: been driven to the southward out of his course came
• 6:14
  Speaker 1: upon unknown lands that following upon this, and as the
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: direct result of Bjarney's reports of his discoveries, laith Erickson
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: was moved to go in search of the strange lands
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: which Biarni had seen but not explored. That he found
• 6:29
  Speaker 1: these in due course, first that land which Bjarny had
• 6:32
  Speaker 1: seen last, and finally the southernmost land, to which, after
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: its products he gave the name of Wineland. This account
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: differs entirely from the history contained in the other manuscripts
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: which deal with this subject, all of which agree in
• 6:48
  Speaker 1: describing the discovery to laith Ericsson, and unite in the
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: statement that he found Wineland accidentally during a voyage from
• 6:56
  Speaker 1: Norway to Greenland, which he had undertaken at the instance
• 6:59
  Speaker 1: of King Olaf Trygvasen for the purpose of introducing Christianity
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: to his fellow countryman in Greenland. Not only is Biarni's
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: discovery unknown to any other Icelandic writing now existing, but
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: the man himself, as well as his daring voyage, have
• 7:15
  Speaker 1: failed to find a chronicler elsewhere. Although his father was
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: a most distinguished man, the grandson of a settler and
• 7:24
  Speaker 1: a kinsman of the first Icelandic colonist. The first portion
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: of the Flaty Book version, the short Story of Eric
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: the Red, concludes with the words Bjarny now went to
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: his father, gave up his voyaging and remained with his
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: father during Herryuf's lifetime, and continued to dwell there after
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: his father. The second portion of this version of the
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: Wineland History, the short Story of the Greenlanders, begins with
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: the words it is now next to this that Bjarny
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: Herufsen came out from Greenland on a visit to Earl Eric,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: et cetera. As has already been stayed, the two portions
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: of the history of the Wineland Discovery as they appear
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: in the Flotty Book, are not in any way connected
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: with each other. The first narrative occupies its appropriate place
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: in the account of the life of King Olaf Trigvasen,
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: as do the other narratives similar in character, which are
• 8:18
  Speaker 1: introduced into this as into the other sagas in the manuscript,
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: And there appears to be no reason why the second narrative,
• 8:25
  Speaker 1: a short Story of the Greenlanders, should be regarded as
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: having received treatment different in this respect from other interpolated
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: narratives of the same class. If therefore we interpret the
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: opening words of this story of the Greenlanders, it is
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: now next to this to mean that the incident which
• 8:44
  Speaker 1: follows is related next in chronological order after that part
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: of the saga which has immediately preceded it. It becomes
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: apparent that Bjarni's visit must have taken place after the
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: Battle of Sulder, in which King Olaf Trigvsen fell and
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Earl Eric was victorious. This battle took place on the
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: ninth of September in the year one thousand. As it
• 9:07
  Speaker 1: is not probable that Bjarny would have undertaken his voyage
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: to Norway before the summer following, the earliest date which
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: could reasonably be assigned for Bjarny's sojourn at the Earl's
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: court would appear to be the winter of the years
• 9:20
  Speaker 1: one thousand and one. In one thousand two, we are
• 9:23
  Speaker 1: told in the same place that Bjarny returned to Greenland
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: the following summer, and that subsequent to his return, Leife
• 9:31
  Speaker 1: purchased his ship and went in search of the land
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: which Bjarny had seen but had failed to explore. In
• 9:37
  Speaker 1: the year nine eighty five. According to the chronology of
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: the short story, Life's voyage of exploration as described in
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: the Flotty Book, could therefore scarcely have taken place before
• 9:49
  Speaker 1: the year one thousand two. But according to the other
• 9:53
  Speaker 1: historical data already cited, Laife discovered Wineland during a voyage
• 9:58
  Speaker 1: to Greenland undertaken at the Throa request and during the
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: lifetime of King Olaf Trigvasen, hence obviously not later than
• 10:05
  Speaker 1: the year one thousand. The Flotty Book refers to this
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: voyage in the following words. That same summer, he King
• 10:13
  Speaker 1: Olaf Trigvasen sent Gizur and Hlty to Iceland. As has
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: already been written, at that time, King Olaf sent Laife
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: to Greenland to preach Christianity. There, the King sent with
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: him a priest and certain other holy men to baptize
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: the folk and teach them the true faith. Laife went
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: to Greenland that summer and took on board his vessel
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: a ship's crew of men who were at the time
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: in great peril upon a rock. He arrived in Greenland
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: late in the summer and went home to his father,
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: Erik at Bratehilde. The people afterwards called him Laif the Lucky,
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: But his father Eric said that Laife's having rescued the
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: crew and restored the men to life, might be balanced
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: against the fact that he had brought the impostor to Greenland,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: so he called the priest. Nevertheless, through Laife's advice and persuasion,
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: Eric was baptized and all of the people of Greenland.
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: It will be observed that in this record of Leife's
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: missionary voyage no allusion is made to the discovery of Wineland,
• 11:16
  Speaker 1: as in the other accounts of the same voyage, with
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: which in other respects this passage agrees. By this variation,
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: a conflict with Biarni's claim to the priority of discovery
• 11:28
  Speaker 1: previously promulgated in the short Story of Eric the Red
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: is avoided. A portion of this passage may not, however,
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: be so happily reconciled. It is said that through Laife's
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: advice and persuasion, Eric the Red was baptized, while we
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: find in the short Story of the Greenlanders the statement
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: that Eric the Red died before Christianity. Moreover, we have
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: in the short Story of the Greenlanders, in addition to
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: this direct conflict of statement, an apparent repetition of the
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: incident of the rescue of the shipwrecked mariners, when we
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: are told that Leif effected a rescue of castaways on
• 12:05
  Speaker 1: his return from a voyage of exploration to Wineland, and
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: was therefore called Leif the Lucky. If this be not
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: a repetition of the same incident, then we must conclude
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: that Laife, upon two different voyages, save the lives of
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: a crew of shipwrecked mariners, for which he twice received
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: the same title from the same people. In the description
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: of the rescue contained in the short Story of the Greenlanders,
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: we read that the leader of the castaways was one
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: Tory Easterling, whose wife Gudrid, Torbjorn's daughter seems to have
• 12:38
  Speaker 1: been among the rescued. This Tory is mentioned nowhere save
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: in the flodybook. His wife was so famous a personage
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: in Icelandic annals that it seems passing strange this spouse
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: should have been so completely ignored by other Icelandic chronicles,
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: which have not failed to record Gudrid's marriage to torstein
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: Ericksen and subsequently to Torphin Karlsefni. Indeed, according to the
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: biography of this most noble lady, as written in the
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: saga of Erik the Red, there is no place for tory,
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: for Gudrid is said to have come to Greenland in
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: much less romantic fashion, namely as an unmarried woman in
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: the same ship with and under the protection of her
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: father Torbjorn. Another chronological error occurs in that paragraph of
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: the short story of Erik the Red, wherein it is
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: stated that after sixteen winters had lapsed from the time
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: when Erik the Red went to colonize Greenland Laife, Erik's
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: son sailed out from Greenland to Norway. He arrived in
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: drone time in the autumn when King Olaf Trigvesen was
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: come down from the north out of Haluguland it has
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: previously been stated in the same chronicle that Eric set
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: out to colonize Greenland fifteen years before Christianity was legally
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: adopted in Iceland, that is to say, in the year
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: nine eighty five. Once, it follows from the chronology that
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: lace voyage must have been undertaken in the year one
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: thousand one, But since Olaf Trigvesen was killed in the
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: autumn of the year one thousand, this is from the
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: context manifestly impossible. If we may suppose that the scribe
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: of the Flatty Book, by a careless verbal substitution, wrote
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: for at Bigya went to colonize instead of for at Leta.
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: When in search of the chronology of the narrative becomes reconcilable.
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: In the short story of the Greenlanders, inaccuracies of lesser
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: import occur, one of which at least appears to owe
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: its origin to a clerical blunder. In the narrative of
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: Freda's voyage, we are told that she waited upon the
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: brothers Helgi and Finbogi and persuaded them to join her
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: in an expedition to Wineland. According to the text, however,
• 14:55
  Speaker 1: she enters into an agreement governing the manning of their ships,
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: not with them, but with Karlsefni. Yet it is obvious
• 15:02
  Speaker 1: from the context that Karlsefni did not participate in the enterprise,
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: nor does it appear that he had any interest whatsoever
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: in the undertaking. The substitution of Karlsefni's name for that
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: of Helgi or Finbogi by a careless scribe may have
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: given rise to this lack of sequence, a blunder which
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: has crept into the genealogical list at the conclusion of
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: the history may perhaps owe its origin to a somewhat
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: similar cause. In this list, it will be noted Bishop
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: Torloch is called the grandson of Halfred, Snorri's daughter. In
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: the words of the manuscript, Halfred was the name of
• 15:40
  Speaker 1: the daughter of Snorri, Karlsefni's son. She was the mother
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: of Runolf, the father of Bishop Torloch. Now Runolf was
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: indeed the father of Bishop Torloch, but he was the
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: husband and not the son of Halfred. If we may
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: suppose the heedless insertion of the word mother in the
• 15:58
  Speaker 1: place of wife, the palp error as the text now stands,
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: would be removed. It has been conjectured that the Wineland
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: history of the Flottybook has been drawn from a more
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: primitive source than the narrative of the Discovery, which has
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: been preserved in the two manuscripts, Hawke's Book and AM
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: five fifty seven. Two passages in the Flottybook narrative lend
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: a certain measure of plausibility to this conjecture. In the
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: short story of Eric the Red, it is stated that
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: Eric called his landfall in Greenland Mediocoul. In the words
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: of the history. This is now called Black Sark. In
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: Hauke's book, this mountain is also called Black Sark. In
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: AM five fifty seven, it is called White Sark. Neither
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: of these manuscripts, however, recalls the earlier name again. In
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: the list of the descendants of Snorri, Karlsefni's Wineland born son,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: appended to the short Story of the Greenlanders, Bishop Brand
• 16:57
  Speaker 1: is so called without qualification, while in both texts of
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: the Saga of Eric the Red he is referred to
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: as Bishop Brand the Elder. The second Bishop Brand was
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: ordained in twelve sixty three. This fact, while it would,
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: without the other evidence which we possess, establish a date
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: prior to which neither Hauke's book nor a M. Five
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: fifty seven could have been written, seems at the same
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: time to afford negative evidence in support of the claim
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: for the riper antiquity of the source from which the
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: Flowdybook narrative was drawn. However, this may be the lapses
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: already noted, together with the introduction of such incidents as
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: that of the apparition of the big eyed Gudrid to
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: her namesake Karlsefni's spouse. The narrative of Freda's unpalliated treachery,
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: the account of Wineland grapes which produced intoxication and which
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: apparently ripened at all seasons of the year of honey
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: dew grass, and the like all seem to point either
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: to a deliberate or careless corruption of the primitive history. Nevertheless,
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: despite the discrepancies existing between the account of the Wineland
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: Discovery as it has been preserved in the Flattibook and
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: as it is given elsewhere, so striking a parallelism is
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: apparent in these different versions of this history in the
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: chief points of historical interest, as to point conclusively to
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: their common origin. The two disjoined accounts of the Flattybook
• 18:26
  Speaker 1: which relate to the Wineland Discovery are brought together in
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: the translation which follows end of introduction. Recording by expatriate
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: in Bangor, Maine, Part one of the Saga of the Greenlanders,
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: author unknown, translated by Arthur Middleton Reeves eighteen fifty six
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: to eighteen ninety one. This LibriVox recording is in the
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: public domain. Recording by X Patrin Triot in Bangor Maine,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: Part one, A Brief History of Erik the Red. There
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: was a man named Thorvald, a son of oswald UF's
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: son aiks Natori's son Torvald and Eirik the Red his
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: son left Jederen in Norway on account of manslaughter and
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: went to Iceland. At that time, Iceland was extensively colonized.
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: They first lived at Drangar on Hornstrands, and there Torvald died.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Erik then married tor Hilde, the daughter of Jorund and
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: Torbjorg the ship Chested, who was then married to Torbijorn
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: of the Haukadal family. Erik then removed from the north
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: and made his home at erik Stadir by Vaten's Horn.
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Erik and Torhild's son was called Laife. After the killing
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: of Ajulf the Fowl and Duelinghrofen, Erik was banished from
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Haukadal and betook himself westward to Braidefirth, setting in Aichsny
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: and erik Stadier. He loaned his outer deis boards to
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: Thorgest and could not get these again when he demanded them.
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: This gave rise to broils and battles between himself and Thorgust.
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: As erik Saga relates, eric was backed in the dispute
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: by Steyr torgrimsen Aolfha Swinni, the sons of Brand of
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: Alptafirth and Thorbiorn v Fielsen, while the Torgesters were upheld
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: by the sons of Tord the Yeller and Torgher of
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: hitardal Eric was declared an outlaw at Tournesseeing. He thereupon
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: equipped his ship for a voyage in Eriksvag, and when
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: he was ready to sail, Steer and the others accompanied
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: him out beyond the islands. Eric told them that it
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: was his purpose to go in search of that country
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: which Gunbiorn, son of Ulf the Crow, had seen when
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: he was driven westward across the main at the time
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: when he discovered Gunbiorn's skerries, he added that he would
• 21:01
  Speaker 1: return to his friends if he should succeed in finding
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: this country. Eirik sailed out from Snefelsioko and found the land.
• 21:09
  Speaker 1: He gave the name of Mediuko to his landfall. This
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: is now called Black Sark. From thence he proceeded southward
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: along the coast in search of habitable land. He passed
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: the first winter at Erexe, near the middle of the
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: Eastern settlement. In the following spring he went to Eirexforth,
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: where he selected a dwelling place. In the summer, he
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: visited the western uninhabited country and assigned names to many
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: of the localities. The second winter he remained at Holmar
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: by Raffinsgnipa. In the third summer he sailed northward to
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: Snefell and all the way into Hoffinsfirth. Then he said
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: he had reached the head of Eireksfirth. He then returned
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: and passed the third winter in Eirexe at the mouth
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: of Eireksfirth. The next summer he sailed to Iceland, landing
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: in Breidafirth. He called the country which he had discovered Greenland,
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: because he said people would be attracted thither if the
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: country had a good name. Eric spent the winter in Iceland,
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: and the following summer set out to colonize the country.
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: He settled at Brotehild in Riksforth and learned men say
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: that in this same summer in which Eric set out
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: to settle Greenland, thirty five ships sailed out of Breidaferth
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: and Gorgarfirth. Fourteen of these arrived safely, some were driven back,
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: and some were lost. This was fifteen years before Christianity
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: was legally adopted in Iceland. During the same summer, Bishop
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: Frederic and Torvald Kodrandsen went abroad from Iceland. Of those
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: men who accompanied Eric to Greenland the following took possession
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: of land there Harriuf Herreeuf's Firth, he Dwelt at Herreeuf's Nest,
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: Katil Katil's Firth, Kraefenhraffen's Solvi, Solvadal Helgi, Torbronsen, Alptaferth, Torbiorn,
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: Gleamer Sieglufirth, Anar Anar'sfirth, Hofgrim Hofgrim's Firth, and vat narferfi
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: On Lugsfirth, while some went to the western settlement. Laif
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: the Lucky baptized. After that sixteen winters had lapsed from
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: the time when Erik the Red went to colonize Greenland. Laif,
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: Erik's son, sailed out from Greenland to Norway. He arrived
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: in drone time in the autumn when King Olof Trigvesen
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: was come down from the north out of haluguland Leif
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: put into Nidaros with his ship and set out at
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: once to visit the king. King Olof expounded the faith
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: to him, as he did to other heathen men who
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: came to visit him. It proved easy for the king
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: to persuade life, and he was accordingly baptized. Together with
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: all of his shipmates. Leif remained throughout the winter with
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: the king, by whom he was well entertained. Bjarny goes
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: in quest of Greenland. Heriulf was a son of bard Herufsun.
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: He was a kinsman of Ingulf, the first colonist. Ingulf
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: allotted land to Herryulf between vag and Raichioness, and he
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: dwelt at first at Drepstock. Herulf's wife's name was Torgerd,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: and their son, whose name was Bjarney, was a most
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: promising man. He formed an inclination for voyaging while he
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: was still young, and he prospered both in property and
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: public esteem. It was his custom to pass his winters
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: alternately abroad and with his father. Bjarny soon became the
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: owner of a trading ship, and during the last winter
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: that he spent in Norway, his father Herliuf determined to
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: accompany Erik on his voyage to Greenland, and made his
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: preparation to give up his farm upon the ship with
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Herulf was a Christian man from the hebrid He it
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: was who composed the sea roller song. Herryof settled at Herryusnis,
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: and was a most distinguished man. Erik the Red dwelt
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: at Bratehild when he was held in the highest esteem,
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: and all men paid him homage. These were Erik's children, Laife, Torvald,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: and Torstein, and a daughter whose name was Fratus. She
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: was wedded to a man named Torvard, and they dwelt
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: at Gardhar, where the episcopal seat now is. She was
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: a very haughty woman, while Torvard was a man of
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: little force of character, and Freydus had been wedded to
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: him chiefly because of his wealth. At that time the
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: people of Greenland were heathen. Bjarny arrived with his ship
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: at Ahrar in Iceland in the summer of the same year,
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: in the spring of which his father had sailed away.
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: Bjarny was much surprised when he heard this news and
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: would not discharge his cargo. Shipmates inquired of him what
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: he intended to do, and he replied that it was
• 26:04
  Speaker 1: his purpose to keep to his custom and make his
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: home for the winter with his father. And I will
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: take the ship to Greenland if you will bear me company.
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: They all replied that they would abide by his decision. Then,
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: said Bjarney, our voyage must be regarded as foolhardy, seeing
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: that no one of us has ever been in the
• 26:22
  Speaker 1: Greenland sea. Nevertheless, they put out to sea when they
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: were equipped for the voyage, and sailed for three days
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: until the land was hidden by the water. And there
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: the fair wind died out, and north winds arose and fogs,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: and they knew not whither they were drifting, and thus
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: it lasted from many dugaer. Then they saw the sun
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: again and were able to determine the quarters of the heavens.
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: They hoisted sail and sailed that duger through. Before they
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: saw land. They discussed among themselves what land it could be,
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: and Bjarny said that he did not believe that it
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: could be greenland. They asked whether he wished to sail
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: to this land or not. It is my council, said
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: he to sail close to the land. They did so,
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: and soon saw that the land was level and covered
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: with woods, and that there were small hillocks upon it.
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: They left the land on their larboard and let the
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: sheet turn toward the land. They sailed for two duger
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: before they saw another land they asked whether Bijarny thought
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: this was Greenland, Yet he replied that he did not
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: think this any more like Greenland than the former, because
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: in Greenland there are said to be many great ice mountains.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: They soon approached this land and saw that it was
• 27:37
  Speaker 1: a flat and wooded country. The fair wind failed them then,
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: and the crew took council together and concluded that it
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: would be wise to land there. But Bjarny would not
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: consent to this. They alleged that they were in need
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: of both wood and water. Ye have no lack of
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: either of these, says Bjarney, a course forsooth, which won
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: him blame among his shipmates. He bade them hoist sail,
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: which they did, and turning the prow from the land,
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: they sailed out upon the high seas with southwesterly gales
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: for three dugger. When they saw the third land. This
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: land was high and mountainous, with ice mountains upon it.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: They asked Bjarney then whether he would land there, and
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: he replied that he was not disposed to do so,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: because this land does not appear to me to offer
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: any attractions. Nor did they lower their sail, but held
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: their course off the land, and saw that it was
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: an island. They left this land astern and held out
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: to sea with the same fair wind. The wind waxed
• 28:37
  Speaker 1: a main, and Bjarny directed them to reef and not
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: to sail at a speed unbefitting their ship and rigging.
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: They sailed now for Ford Duger. When they saw the
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: fourth land again, they asked Bjarney whether he thought this
• 28:51
  Speaker 1: could be Greenland or not. Bjarney answers, this is likest
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Greenland according to that which has been reported to me
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: concerning it, and here we will steer to the land.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: They directed their course thither and landed in the evening
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: below a cape upon which there was a boat. And
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: there upon this cape dwelt Heruf, Bjarny's father. Whence the
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: cape took its name and was afterwards called Heryulfnas. Bjarny
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: now went to his father, gave up his voyaging, and
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: remained with his father while Heruf lived, and continued to
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: live there after his father. Here begins the brief history
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: of the Greenlanders. Next to this is now to be
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: told how Bjarny Heryofsen came out from Greenland on a
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: visit to Earl Eirik, by whom he was well received.
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: Bjarny gave an account of his travels upon the occasion
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: when he saw the lands, and the people thought that
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: he had been lacking in enterprise, since he had no
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: report to give concerning these countries, and the fact brought
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: him reproach. Bjarny was appointed one of the Earl's men
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: and went out to Greenland. The following summer. There was
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: now much talk about voyages of discovery. Leif, the son
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: of Eirik the Red of Bratehill, visited Bjarni Herieosen and
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: bought a ship of him and collected a crew, until
• 30:11
  Speaker 1: they formed altogether a company of thirty five men. Laife
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: invited his father, Erik, to become the leader of the expedition,
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: but Erik declined, saying that he was then stricken in years,
• 30:24
  Speaker 1: and adding that he was less able to endure the
• 30:26
  Speaker 1: exposure of sea life than he had been. Laife replied
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: that he would nevertheless be the one who would be
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: most apt to bring good luck, and Eric yielded to
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Laife's solicitations and rode from home when they were ready
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: to sail. When he was but a short distance from
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: the ship, the horse which Eric was riding stumbled, and
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: he was thrown from his back and wounded his foot,
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: whereupon he exclaimed, it is not designed for me to
• 30:51
  Speaker 1: discover more lands than the one in which we are
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: now living, nor can we now continue longer together. Eric
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: returned home to Brattehill, and Leif pursued his way to
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: the ship with his companion's thirty five men. One of
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: the company was a German named Tyrker. They put the
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: ship in order, and when they were ready, they sailed
• 31:12
  Speaker 1: out to sea and found first that land which Bjarny
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: and his shipmates found last. They sailed up to the
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: land and cast anchor and launched a boat and went ashore,
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: and saw no grass. There. Great ice mountains lay inland
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: back from the sea, and it was as a table
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: land of flat rock all the way from the sea
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: to the ice mountains, and the country seemed to them
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: to be entirely devoid of good qualities. Then said Leif
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: it is not come to pass with us in regard
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: to this land, as with Bjarny, that we have not
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: gone upon it to this country, I will now give
• 31:47
  Speaker 1: a name and call it Helluland they returned to the ship,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: put out to sea, and found a second land. They
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: sailed again to the land and came to anchor, and
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: launched the boat and went ashore. This was a level,
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: wooded land, and there were broad stretches of white sand
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: where they went, and the land was leveled by the sea.
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: Then said leif this land shall have a name after
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: its nature, and we will call it Markland. They returned
• 32:13
  Speaker 1: to the ship forthwith and sailed away upon the main
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: with northeast winds, and were out too duger before they
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: sighted land. They sailed toward this land and came to
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: an island which lay to the northward off the land.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: There they went ashore and looked about them, the weather
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: being fine, and they observed that there was dew upon
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: the grass, And it so happened that they touched the
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: dew with their hands, and touched their hands to their mouths,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: and it seemed to them that they had never before
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: tasted anything so sweet as this. They went aboard their
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: ship again and sailed into a certain sound which lay
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: between the island and a cape which jutted out from
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: the land on the north. And they stood in westering
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: past the cape at ebb tide. There were broad reaches
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: of shallow water there, and they ran their ship around there,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: and it was a long distance from the ship to
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: the ocean. Yet were they so anxious to go ashore
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: that they could not wait until the tide should rise
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: under their ship, but hastened to the land where a
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: certain river flows out from a lake. As soon as
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: the tide rose beneath their ship, however, they took the
• 33:19
  Speaker 1: boat and rowed to the ship, which they conveyed up
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: the river, and so into the lake, where they cast anchor,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: and carried their hammocks ashore from the ship, and built
• 33:28
  Speaker 1: themselves booths there. They afterwards determined to establish themselves there
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: for the winter, and they accordingly built a large house.
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: There was no lack of salmon there, either in the
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: river or in the lake, and larger salmon than they
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: had ever seen before. The country thereabouts seemed to be
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: possessed of such good qualities that cattle would need no
• 33:48
  Speaker 1: fodder there during the winters. There was no frost there
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: in the winters, and the grass withered but little. The
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: days and nights there were of more nearly equal length
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: than in Greenland or Iceland. On the shortest day of winter,
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: the sun was up between ach Tarshtad and Dagmalishtad. When
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: they had completed their house, Laif said to his companions,
• 34:10
  Speaker 1: I propose now to divide our company into two groups,
• 34:13
  Speaker 1: and to set about an exploration of the country. When
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: half of our party shall remain at home at the house,
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: while the other half shall investigate the land. And they
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: must not go beyond a point from which they can
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: return home the same evening, and are not to separate
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: from each other. Thus they did for a time. Laife himself,
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: by turns joined the exploring party or remained behind at
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: the house. Laif was a large and powerful man, and
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: of a most imposing bearing, a man of sagacity, and
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: a very just men in all things. End of Part one.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: Recording by expatriate in Bangor, Maine, Part two of the
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: Saga of the Greenlanders, author unknown, translated by Arthur Middleton
• 35:07
  Speaker 1: Reeves eighteen fifty six to eighteen ninety one. This LibriVox
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Recording by expatria in Bangor, Maine,
• 35:17
  Speaker 1: Part two. Leif the Lucky finds men upon a scarry
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: at sea. It was discovered one evening that one of
• 35:25
  Speaker 1: their company was missing, and this proved to be Tyrker,
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: the German. Laife was sorely troubled by this, for Tyrker
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: had lived with Laife and his father for a long time,
• 35:36
  Speaker 1: and had been very devoted to Laife when he was
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: a child. Leife severely reprimanded his companions and prepared to
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: go in search of him, taking twelve men with him.
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: They had proceeded but a short distance from the house
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: when they were met by Tyrker, whom they received most cordially.
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: Leife observed at once that his foster father was in
• 35:56
  Speaker 1: lively spirits. Tyrker had a prominent fours head, restless eyes,
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: small features, was diminutive in stature, and rather a sorry
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: looking individual withal but was nevertheless the most capable handicraftsman.
• 36:11
  Speaker 1: Leife addressed him and asked, wherefore art thou so belated
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: foster father mine and astray from the others. In the beginning,
• 36:19
  Speaker 1: Tyrker spoke for some time in German, rolling his eyes
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: and grinning, and they could not understand him. But after
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: a time he addressed them in the northern tongue. I
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: did not go much further than you, and yet I
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: have something of novelty to relate. I have found vines
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: and grapes. Is this indeed true, foster father, said Leife,
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: of a certainty, it is true, quoth he, for I
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: was born where there is no lack of either grapes
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: or vines. They slept the night through, and on the morrow,
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: Leif said to his shipmates, we will now divide our labors,
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: and each day will either gather grapes or cut vines
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: and fell trees, so as to obtain a cargo of
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: these for my ship. They acted upon this advice, and
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: it is said that their after boat was filled with grapes.
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: A cargo sufficient for the ship was cut, and when
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: the spring came they made their ship ready and sailed away,
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: and from its products, Laife gave the land a name
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: and called it wine Land. They sailed out to sea
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: and had fair winds until they sighted Greenland and the
• 37:23
  Speaker 1: fells below the glaciers. Then one of the men spoke
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: up and said, why do you steer the ship so
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: much into the wind? Laife answers, I have my mind
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: upon my steering, but on other matters as well. Do
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: ye not see anything out of the common? They replied
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: that they saw nothing strange. I do not know, says Leife,
• 37:43
  Speaker 1: whether it is a ship or a scarry that I
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: see now. They saw it and said that it must
• 37:49
  Speaker 1: be a scary. But he was so much keener of
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: sight than they that he was able to descern men
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: upon the scarry. I think it best to tax, says Leife,
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: so that we may draw near to them, that we
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: may be able to render them assistance if they should
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: stand in need of it, and if they should not
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: be peaceably disposed, we shall still have better command of
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: the situation than they. They approached the scarry and lowered
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: their sail cast anchor, and launched a second small boat,
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: which they had brought with them. Tyrker inquired who was
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: the elder of the party. He replied that his name
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: was Tory, and that he was a Norseman. But what
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: is thy name? Laif gave his name. Art Thou, a
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: son of Eric, the rhad of brought to Hilde, says he.
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: Laife responded that he was. It is now my wish,
• 38:38
  Speaker 1: says Life, to take you all into my ship, and
• 38:42
  Speaker 1: likewise so much of your possessions as the ship will hold.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: This offer was accepted, and with their ship thus laden,
• 38:49
  Speaker 1: they held away to Eirik's Firth and sailed until they
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: arrived at Bradehilde. Having discharged the cargo, Laife invited Tory,
• 38:58
  Speaker 1: with his wife Gudrid and three others to make their
• 39:01
  Speaker 1: home with him, and procured quarters for the other members
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: of the crew, both for his own and Torre's men.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: Leife rescued fifteen persons from the skerry. He was afterward
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: called Leif the Lucky. Leife had now goodly store both
• 39:17
  Speaker 1: of property and honor. There was serious illness that winter
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: in Torrey's party, and Tory and a great number of
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: his people died. Eric the Redd also died that winter.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: There was now much talk about Leif's Wineland journey, and
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: his brother Torvald held that the country had not been
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: sufficiently explored. Thereupon, Leif said to Torvald, if it be
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: thy will, brother, thou mayst go to Wineland with my ship.
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: But I wished the ship first to fetch the wood
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: which Tory had upon the skerry. And so it was done,
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: Torvald goes to Wineland. Now Torvald, with the advice of
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: his brother, Leife, prepared to make this voyage with thirty men.
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: They put their ship in order and sailed out to sea,
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: and there is no account of their voyage before their
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: arrival at Laif's Booths in Wineland. They laid up their
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: ship there and remained there quietly during the winter, supplying
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: themselves with food by fishing. In the spring, however, Torvald
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: said that they should put their ship in order, and
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: that a few men should take the after boat and
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: proceed along the western coast and explore the region thereabouts.
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: During the summer. They found it a fair well wooded country.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: It was but a short distance from the woods to
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: the sea, and there were white sands, as well as
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: great numbers of islands and shallows. They found neither dwelling
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: of man nor lair of beast, but in one of
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: the westerly islands they found a wooden building for the
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: shelter of grain. They found no other trace of human handiwork,
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: and they turned back and arrived at Laif's Booth in
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: the autumn. The following summer, Torvalds set out to the
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: east with the ship, and along the northern coast. They
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: were met by a high wind off a certain promontory
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: and were driven ashore there and damaged the keel of
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: their ship, and were compelled to remain there for a
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: long time and repair the injury to their vessel. Then
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: said Torvald to his companions, I propose that we raised
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: the keel upon this cape and call it Keelness. And
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: so they did. Then they sailed away to the eastward
• 41:27
  Speaker 1: off the land and into the mouth of the adjoining firth,
• 41:30
  Speaker 1: and to a headland which projected into the sea. There,
• 41:34
  Speaker 1: and which was entirely covered with woods. They found an
• 41:37
  Speaker 1: anchorage for their ship and put out the gangway to
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: the land, and Torvald and all his companions went ashore.
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: It is a fair region here, said he, and here
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: I should like to make my home. They then returned
• 41:50
  Speaker 1: to the ship and discovered on the sands in beyond
• 41:53
  Speaker 1: the headland three mounds. They went up to these and
• 41:57
  Speaker 1: saw that they were three skin canoes, three men under each.
• 42:02
  Speaker 1: They thereupon divided their party and succeeded in seizing all
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: of the men but one, who escaped with his canoe.
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: They killed the eight men, and then ascended the headland
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: again and looked about them, and discovered with the firth
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: certain hillocks, which they concluded must be habitations. They were
• 42:21
  Speaker 1: then so overpowered with sleep that they could not keep awake,
• 42:25
  Speaker 1: and all fell into a heavy slumber, from which they
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: were awakened by the sound of a cry uttered above them,
• 42:31
  Speaker 1: and the words of the cry were these awake, Torvald,
• 42:35
  Speaker 1: thou and all thy company, if thou wouldst save thy life,
• 42:38
  Speaker 1: and board thy ship with all thy men, and sailed
• 42:41
  Speaker 1: with all speed from the land. A countless number of
• 42:44
  Speaker 1: skin canoes then advanced toward them from the inner part
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: of the firth, whereupon Torvald exclaimed, we must put out
• 42:51
  Speaker 1: the war boards on both sides of the ship and
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: defend ourselves to the best of our ability. But offered
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: little attack. This they did, and the screllings, after they
• 43:01
  Speaker 1: had shot at them for a time, fled precipitately, each
• 43:05
  Speaker 1: as best he could. Torvald then inquired of his men
• 43:09
  Speaker 1: whether any of them had been wounded, and they informed
• 43:12
  Speaker 1: him that no one of them had received a wound.
• 43:15
  Speaker 1: I have been wounded in my armpit, says he. An
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: arrow flew in between the gunwale and the shield below
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: my arm Here is the shaft, and it will bring
• 43:23
  Speaker 1: me to my end. I counsel you now to retrace
• 43:27
  Speaker 1: your way with the utmost speed, But me ye shall
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: convey to that headland which seemed to me to offer
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: so pleasant a dwelling place. Thus it may be fulfilled
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: that the truth sprang to my lips when I expressed
• 43:40
  Speaker 1: the wish to abide there for a time. You shall
• 43:43
  Speaker 1: bury me there, and place a cross at my head
• 43:46
  Speaker 1: and another at my feet, and call it crossness forever after.
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: At that time Christianity had obtained in Greenland. Erik the
• 43:55
  Speaker 1: Red died, however, before the introduction of Christianity, died, and
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: when they had carried out his injunctions, they took their
• 44:03
  Speaker 1: departure and rejoined their companions, and they told each other
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: of the experiences which had befallen them. They remained there
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: during the winter and gathered grapes and wood with which
• 44:14
  Speaker 1: to freight the ship. In the following spring, they returned
• 44:18
  Speaker 1: to Greenland and arrived with their ship in Eireksforth, where
• 44:22
  Speaker 1: they were able to recount great tidings to Laife. Torstain
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: Eriksson dies in the western settlement. In the meantime, it
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: had come to pass in Greenland that Torstain of Riksforth
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: had married and taken to wife Gudrid Torbiorn's daughter, She
• 44:41
  Speaker 1: who had been the spouse of Tory Eastman. As has
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: been already related now, torstein Eriksson, being minded to make
• 44:49
  Speaker 1: the voyage to Wineland after the body of his brother,
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: Torvald equipped the same ship and selected a crew of
• 44:55
  Speaker 1: twenty five men of good size and strength, and taking
• 44:59
  Speaker 1: with him his wife Gudrid. When all was in readiness,
• 45:02
  Speaker 1: they sailed out into the open ocean, and out of
• 45:05
  Speaker 1: sight of land. They were driven hither and thither over
• 45:09
  Speaker 1: the sea all that summer and lost all reckoning, and
• 45:13
  Speaker 1: at the end of the first week of winter they
• 45:15
  Speaker 1: made the land at Leasuffirth in Greenland, in the western settlement.
• 45:19
  Speaker 1: Torstain set out in search of quarters for his crew
• 45:23
  Speaker 1: and succeeded in procuring homes for all of his shipmates,
• 45:26
  Speaker 1: but he and his wife were unprovided for and remained
• 45:30
  Speaker 1: together upon the ship for two or more days. At
• 45:33
  Speaker 1: this time Christianity was still in its infancy in Greenland.
• 45:37
  Speaker 1: It befell early one morning that men came to their tent,
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: and the leader inquired who the people were within the tent.
• 45:45
  Speaker 1: Torstain replies, we are Twain, says he, But who is
• 45:48
  Speaker 1: it who asks? My name is Torstain, and I am
• 45:52
  Speaker 1: known as Torstain the Swarthy and my errand hither is
• 45:56
  Speaker 1: to offer you, too, husband and wife, a home with me.
• 46:00
  Speaker 1: Torstain replied that he would consult with his wife, and
• 46:03
  Speaker 1: she bidding him beside, He accepted the invitation. I will
• 46:07
  Speaker 1: come after you on the morrow with a sumpter horse,
• 46:10
  Speaker 1: for I am not lacking in means wherewith to provide
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: for you both, although it will be lonely living with me,
• 46:16
  Speaker 1: since there are but two of us, my wife and myself.
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: For I, forsooth, am a very hard man to get
• 46:21
  Speaker 1: on with. Moreover, my faith is not the same as yours,
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: albeit methinks that that is the better to which you hold.
• 46:29
  Speaker 1: He returned for them on the morrow with the beast,
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: and they took up their home with Torstain the Swarthy,
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: and were well treated by him. Gudrid was a woman
• 46:38
  Speaker 1: of fine presence and a clever woman, and very happy
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: in adapting herself to strangers. Early in the winter, torstain
• 46:46
  Speaker 1: Eriksson's party was visited by sickness, and many of his
• 46:50
  Speaker 1: companions died. He caused coffins to be made for the
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: bodies of the dead and had them conveyed to the
• 46:56
  Speaker 1: ship and bestowed there, for it is my purpose to
• 46:59
  Speaker 1: have all the bodies taken to eiriksforth in the summer.
• 47:03
  Speaker 1: It was not long before illness appeared in Torstain's home,
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: and his wife, whose name was Grimhilde, was first taken sick.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: She was a very vigorous woman and as strong as
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: a man, but the sickness mastered her, and soon thereafter
• 47:18
  Speaker 1: Torstain Eriksen was seized with the illness, and they both
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: lay ill at the same time, and Grimhild Torstain the
• 47:26
  Speaker 1: Swarthy's wife died, And when she was dead, Torstain went
• 47:30
  Speaker 1: out of the room to procure a deal upon which
• 47:33
  Speaker 1: to lay the corpse. Thereupon Gudrid spoke, do not be
• 47:37
  Speaker 1: absent long, Torstain, mind, says she. He replied that so
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: it should be. Torstaen. Eriksen then exclaimed, our housewife is
• 47:46
  Speaker 1: acting now in a marvelous fashion, for she is raising
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: herself up on her elbow and stretching out her feet
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: from the side of the bed and groping after her shoes.
• 47:56
  Speaker 1: At that moment Torstain, the master of the house, entered,
• 48:00
  Speaker 1: and Grimhild laid herself down, wherewithal every timber in the
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: room creaked. Torstain now fashioned a coffin for Grimhild's body
• 48:09
  Speaker 1: and bore it away and cared for it. He was
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: a big man and strong, but it called for all
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: his strength to enable him to remove the corpse from
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: the house. The illness grew upon Torstain Ericksen, and he
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: died whereat his wife Gudrid, was sorely grieved. They were
• 48:26
  Speaker 1: all in the room at the time, and Gudrid was
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: seated upon a chair before the bench upon which her
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: husband Torstain was lying. Torstain, the master of the house,
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: then taking Gudrid in his arms, carried her from the
• 48:40
  Speaker 1: chair and seated himself with her upon another bench over
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: against her husband's body, and exerted himself in divers ways
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: to console her, and endeavored to reassure her, and promised
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: her that he would accompany her to eiriksforth with the
• 48:54
  Speaker 1: body of her husband Torstain and those of his companions.
• 48:58
  Speaker 1: I will likewise summon other persons hither, says he, to
• 49:02
  Speaker 1: attend upon thee and entertain thee. She thanked him. Then
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: Torstain Ericksen sat up and exclaimed, whereas Gudrid thrice he
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: repeated the question but Gudrid made no response. She then
• 49:15
  Speaker 1: asked Torstain the Master, shall I give answer to his
• 49:19
  Speaker 1: question or not? Torstain the Master bade her make no reply,
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: and he then crossed the floor and seated himself upon
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: the chair with Gudrid in his lap, and spoke, saying,
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: what dost thou wish namesake? After a little while, Torstain replies,
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: I desire to tell Gudrid of the fate which is
• 49:38
  Speaker 1: in store for her to the end that she may
• 49:41
  Speaker 1: be better reconciled to my death. For I am indeed
• 49:44
  Speaker 1: come to a goodly resting place. This I have to
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: tell thee Gudrid, that thou art to marry an Icelander,
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: and that ye are to have a long wedded life
• 49:54
  Speaker 1: together and a numerous and noble progeny, illustrious and famous
• 49:59
  Speaker 1: of good and sweet virtues. Ye shall go from Greenland
• 50:03
  Speaker 1: to Norway, and thence to Iceland, where ye shall build
• 50:06
  Speaker 1: your home. There ye shall dwelt together for a long time.
• 50:09
  Speaker 1: But thou shalt outlive him, and shalt then go abroad
• 50:13
  Speaker 1: into the South, and shalt return to Iceland again to
• 50:16
  Speaker 1: thy home, and there a church shall then be raised,
• 50:19
  Speaker 1: and thou shalt abide there and take the veil, and
• 50:22
  Speaker 1: there thou shalt die. When he had thus spoken, Torstain
• 50:26
  Speaker 1: sank back again, and his body was laid out for
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: burial and borne to the ship. Torstain the Master faithfully
• 50:34
  Speaker 1: performed all his promises to Gudrid. He sold his lands
• 50:38
  Speaker 1: and live stock in the spring, and accompanied Gudrid to
• 50:42
  Speaker 1: the ship with all his possessions. He put the ship
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: in order, procured a crew, and then sailed to Eireksforth.
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: The bodies of the dead were now buried at the church,
• 50:53
  Speaker 1: and Gudrid then went home to Laife at Bradehilde, while
• 50:56
  Speaker 1: Torstain the Swarthy made a home for himself on Eireksforth,
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: and remained there as long as he lived, and was
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: looked upon as a very superior man. End of Part two.
• 51:08
  Speaker 1: Recording by expatriot in Bangor, Maine. Part three of the
• 51:19
  Speaker 1: Saga of the Greenlanders, author unknown, translated by Arthur Middleton
• 51:25
  Speaker 1: Reeves eighteen fifty six to eighteen ninety one. This LibriVox
• 51:30
  Speaker 1: recording is in the public domain. Recording by expatriot in Bangor, Maine,
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: Part three of the Wineland Voyages of Torfen and his
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: companions that same summer a ship came from Norway to Greenland.
• 51:46
  Speaker 1: The skipper's name was Torfin Karlsefni. He was a son
• 51:50
  Speaker 1: of Toward Horsehead and a grandson of Snorri, the son
• 51:53
  Speaker 1: of Tord of Holde. Trfin Karlsefni, who was a very
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: wealthy man, passed the winter at broughteheld with Leif Eriksson.
• 52:02
  Speaker 1: He very soon set his heart upon Gudrid and sought
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: her hand in marriage. She referred him to Lafe for
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: her answer, and was subsequently betrothed to him, and their
• 52:12
  Speaker 1: marriage was celebrated that same winter. A renewed discussion arose
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: concerning a Wineland voyage, and the folk urged Karlsefni to
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: make the venture, Gudrid joining with the others. He determined
• 52:26
  Speaker 1: to undertake the voyage and assembled a company of sixty
• 52:30
  Speaker 1: men and five women, and entered into an agreement with
• 52:33
  Speaker 1: his shipmates that they should each share equally in all
• 52:36
  Speaker 1: the spoils of the enterprise. They took with them all
• 52:39
  Speaker 1: kinds of cattle, as it was their intention to settle
• 52:42
  Speaker 1: the country if they could. Karlsefni asked Laif for the
• 52:47
  Speaker 1: house in Wineland, and he replied that he would lend it,
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: but not give it. They sailed out to sea with
• 52:53
  Speaker 1: a ship and arrived safe and sound at Laifspooths, and
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: carried their hammocks ashore. There They were soon provided with
• 53:00
  Speaker 1: an abundant and goodly supply of food. For a whale
• 53:03
  Speaker 1: of good size and quality was driven ashore there, and
• 53:07
  Speaker 1: they secured it and flensed it, and had then no
• 53:10
  Speaker 1: lack of provisions. The cattle were turned out upon the land,
• 53:14
  Speaker 1: and the mails soon became very restless and vicious. They
• 53:17
  Speaker 1: had brought a bull with them. Karlsefni caused trees to
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: be felled and to be hewed into timbers, wherewith to
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: load his ship, and the wood was placed upon a
• 53:27
  Speaker 1: cliff to dry. They gathered somewhat of all of the
• 53:31
  Speaker 1: valuable products of the land, grapes and all kinds of
• 53:34
  Speaker 1: game and fish and other good things. In the summer
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: succeeding the first winter, screellings were discovered. A great troop
• 53:42
  Speaker 1: of men came forth from out of the woods. The
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: cattle were hard by, and the bull began to bellow
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: and roar with a great noise whereat the screellings were
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: frightened and ran away with their packs, wherein were gray furs, sables,
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: and all kinds of peltries. They fled towards Karl Sephni's
• 54:00
  Speaker 1: dwelling and sought to effect an entrance into the house,
• 54:04
  Speaker 1: but Karlsefni caused the doors to be defended against them.
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: Neither people could understand the other's language. The Screllings put
• 54:12
  Speaker 1: down their bundles then and loosed them and offered their
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: wares for barter, and were especially anxious to exchange these
• 54:18
  Speaker 1: for weapons. But Karlsefni forbade his men to sell their weapons,
• 54:23
  Speaker 1: and taking counsel with himself, he bade the women carry
• 54:26
  Speaker 1: out milk to the Screllings, which they no sooner saw
• 54:29
  Speaker 1: than they wanted to buy it, and nothing else. Now
• 54:32
  Speaker 1: the outcome of the Scrullings trading was that they carried
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: their wares away in their stomachs, while they left their
• 54:39
  Speaker 1: packs and peltries behind with Karlsefni and his companions, and
• 54:43
  Speaker 1: having accomplished this exchange, they went away. Now it is
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: to be told that Carlsefni caused a strong wooden palisade
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: to be constructed and set up around the house. It
• 54:54
  Speaker 1: was at this time that Gudrid, Karlsefni's wife, gave birth
• 54:58
  Speaker 1: to a male child, and the boy was called Snory.
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: In the early part of the second winter, the scrullings
• 55:04
  Speaker 1: came to them again, and these were now much more
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: numerous than before, and brought with them the same wares
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: as at first. Then, said Karlsefni to the women, do
• 55:14
  Speaker 1: you carry out now the same food which proved so
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: profitable before? And naught else? When they saw this, they
• 55:21
  Speaker 1: cast their packs in over the palisade. Gudrid was sitting
• 55:25
  Speaker 1: within in the doorway, beside the cradle of her infant
• 55:28
  Speaker 1: son's Snory, when a shadow fell upon the door, and
• 55:32
  Speaker 1: a woman in a black namkirdle entered. She was short
• 55:36
  Speaker 1: in stature and wore a filet about her head. Her
• 55:38
  Speaker 1: hair was of a light chestnut color, and she was
• 55:41
  Speaker 1: pale of hue, and so big eyed that never before
• 55:45
  Speaker 1: had eyes so large been seen in a human skull.
• 55:49
  Speaker 1: She went up to where Gudrid was seated and said,
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: what is thy name? My name is Gudrid, But what
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: is thy name? My name is Gudrid, says she The housewife.
• 55:59
  Speaker 1: Gudrand motioned her with her hand to a seat beside her.
• 56:03
  Speaker 1: But it so happened that at that very instant Gudrid
• 56:07
  Speaker 1: heard a great crash, whereupon the woman vanished, and at
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: that same moment one of the Scrullings, who had tried
• 56:13
  Speaker 1: to seize their weapons, was killed by one of Karlsefni's followers.
• 56:18
  Speaker 1: At this the Screllings fled precipitately, leaving their garments and
• 56:22
  Speaker 1: wares behind them, and not a soul save Gudrid alone
• 56:26
  Speaker 1: beheld this woman. Now we must needs take counsel together,
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: says Karlsefni, For that I believe they will visit us
• 56:33
  Speaker 1: a third time in great numbers and attack us. Let
• 56:36
  Speaker 1: us now adopt this plan. Ten of our numbers shall
• 56:39
  Speaker 1: go out upon the cape and show themselves there, while
• 56:43
  Speaker 1: the remainder of our company shall go into the woods
• 56:46
  Speaker 1: and hewe a clearing for our cattle. When the troop
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: approaches them from the forest. We will also take our
• 56:53
  Speaker 1: bull and let him go in advance of us. The
• 56:56
  Speaker 1: lay of the land was such that the proposed meeting
• 56:59
  Speaker 1: place had the lake upon the one side and the
• 57:02
  Speaker 1: forest upon the other. Karlsefni's advice was now carried into execution.
• 57:08
  Speaker 1: The Sprellings advanced to the spot which Karlsefni had selected
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: for the encounter, and a battle was fought there, in
• 57:15
  Speaker 1: which great numbers of the band of the Spreullings were slain.
• 57:19
  Speaker 1: There was one man among the Scrullings, of large size
• 57:22
  Speaker 1: and fine bearing, whom Karlsefni concluded must be their chief.
• 57:27
  Speaker 1: One of the Scrullings picked up an axe, and having
• 57:29
  Speaker 1: looked at it for a time, he brandished it about
• 57:32
  Speaker 1: one of his companions and hewed at him, and on
• 57:35
  Speaker 1: the instant the man fell dead. Thereupon, the big man
• 57:39
  Speaker 1: seized the axe, and after examining it for a moment,
• 57:42
  Speaker 1: he hurled it as far as he could out into
• 57:44
  Speaker 1: the sea. Then they fled helter skelter into the woods,
• 57:48
  Speaker 1: and thus their intercourse came to an end. Karlsefni and
• 57:52
  Speaker 1: his party remained there throughout the winter, but in the
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: spring Karlsefni announced that he was not minded to remain
• 57:59
  Speaker 1: there longer, but would return to Greenland. They now made
• 58:03
  Speaker 1: ready for the voyage and carried away with them much
• 58:06
  Speaker 1: booty and vines, and grapes and peltries. They sailed out
• 58:10
  Speaker 1: upon the high seas and brought their ships safely to Riksfirth,
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: where they remained during the winter. Fretus causes the brothers
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: to be put to death. There was now much talk
• 58:23
  Speaker 1: anew about a wine Land voyage, for this was reckoned
• 58:26
  Speaker 1: both a profitable and an honorable enterprise. The same summer
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: that Karlsefni arrived from Wineland, a ship from Norway arrived
• 58:35
  Speaker 1: in Greenland. The ship was commanded by two brothers, Helgi
• 58:39
  Speaker 1: and Finbogi, who passed the winter in Greenland. They were
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: descended from an Icelandic family of the East Firths. It
• 58:47
  Speaker 1: is now to be added that Fritus Erik's daughter set
• 58:51
  Speaker 1: out from her home at Gardhar and waited upon the
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: brothers Helgi and Finbogi, and invited them to sail with
• 58:57
  Speaker 1: their vessel to Wineland and to share with her equally
• 59:00
  Speaker 1: all of the good things which they might succeed in
• 59:03
  Speaker 1: obtaining there. To this they agreed, and she departed thence
• 59:07
  Speaker 1: to visit her brother Laife and ask him to give
• 59:10
  Speaker 1: her the house which he had caused to be erected
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: in Wineland. But he made her the same answer as
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: that which he had given Karlsefni, saying that he would
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: lend the house, but not give it. It was stipulated
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: between Karlsefni and Fredus that each should have on shipboard
• 59:25
  Speaker 1: thirty able bodied men besides the women. But Fredas immediately
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: violated this compact by concealing five men more than this number,
• 59:35
  Speaker 1: and this the brothers did not discover before they arrived
• 59:38
  Speaker 1: in Wineland. They now put out to sea, having agreed
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: beforehand that they would sail in company if possible, and
• 59:45
  Speaker 1: although they were not far apart from each other, the
• 59:47
  Speaker 1: brothers arrived somewhat in advance and carried their belongings up
• 59:51
  Speaker 1: to Laife's house. Now, when Fretus arrived, her ship was
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: discharged and the baggage carried up to the house, whereupon
• 59:59
  Speaker 1: Fredus exclaimed, why did you carry your baggage in here?
• 1:00:03
  Speaker 1: Since we believed, said they, that all promises made to
• 1:00:06
  Speaker 1: us would be kept. It was to me that life
• 1:00:09
  Speaker 1: loaned the house, says she, and not to you. Whereupon
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: Helgi exclaimed, we brothers cannot hope to rival thee in
• 1:00:17
  Speaker 1: wrong dealing. They thereupon carried their baggage forth and built
• 1:00:21
  Speaker 1: a hut above the sea on the bank of the lake,
• 1:00:24
  Speaker 1: and put all in order about it. While Fredus caused
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: wood to be filled with which to load her ship.
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: The winter now set in, and the brothers suggested that
• 1:00:33
  Speaker 1: they should amuse themselves by playing games. This they did
• 1:00:38
  Speaker 1: for a while, until the folk began to disagree, when
• 1:00:41
  Speaker 1: dissensions arose between them, and the games came to an end,
• 1:00:44
  Speaker 1: and the visits between the houses ceased, And thus it
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: continued far into the winter. One morning, early Fredus arose
• 1:00:52
  Speaker 1: from her bed and dressed herself, but did not put
• 1:00:55
  Speaker 1: on her shoes and stockings. A heavy dew had fallen,
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: and she took her husband's cloak and wrapped it about her,
• 1:01:03
  Speaker 1: and then walked to the brother's house and up to
• 1:01:05
  Speaker 1: the door, which had been only partly closed by one
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: of the men who had gone out a short time before.
• 1:01:10
  Speaker 1: She pushed the door open and stood silently in the
• 1:01:13
  Speaker 1: doorway for a time. Finnbogi, who was lying on the
• 1:01:17
  Speaker 1: innermost side of the room, was awake, and said, what
• 1:01:20
  Speaker 1: dost thou wish here? Freydus? She answers, I wish thee
• 1:01:24
  Speaker 1: to rise and go out with me, for I would
• 1:01:25
  Speaker 1: speak with thee. He did so, and they walked to
• 1:01:29
  Speaker 1: a tree which lay close by the wall of the house,
• 1:01:32
  Speaker 1: and seated themselves upon it. How art thou pleased here,
• 1:01:35
  Speaker 1: says she? He answered, I am well pleased with the
• 1:01:39
  Speaker 1: fruitfulness of the land, but I am ill content with
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: the breach which has come between us. For methinks there
• 1:01:45
  Speaker 1: has been no cause for it. It is even as
• 1:01:48
  Speaker 1: thou sayest, said she, And so it seems to me.
• 1:01:51
  Speaker 1: But my errand to thee, is that I wish to
• 1:01:53
  Speaker 1: exchange ships with you brothers, for that ye have a
• 1:01:56
  Speaker 1: larger ship than I, and I wish to depart from
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: here to this I must acceed, said he, if it
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: is thy pleasure. Therewith, they parted, and she returned home
• 1:02:08
  Speaker 1: in Finbogi to his bed. She climbed up into bed
• 1:02:12
  Speaker 1: and awakened Torvard with her cold feet, and he asked
• 1:02:15
  Speaker 1: her why she was so cold and wet. She answered
• 1:02:18
  Speaker 1: with great passion. I have been to the brothers, said she,
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: to try to buy their ship, for I wish to
• 1:02:23
  Speaker 1: have a larger vessel. But they received my overtures so
• 1:02:27
  Speaker 1: ill that they struck me and handled me very roughly.
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: What time, thou, poor wretch, will neither avenge my shame
• 1:02:34
  Speaker 1: nor thy own. And I find perforce that I am
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: no longer in Greenland. Moreover, I shall part from thee
• 1:02:41
  Speaker 1: unless thou wakest vengeance for this. And now he could
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: stand her taunts no longer, and ordered the men to
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: rise at once and take their weapons, and this they did.
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: And they then proceeded directly to the house of the
• 1:02:54
  Speaker 1: brothers and entered it while the folk were asleep, and
• 1:02:57
  Speaker 1: seized and bound them, and led each one out when
• 1:03:00
  Speaker 1: he was bound, And as they came out, Fredus caused
• 1:03:04
  Speaker 1: each one to be slain. In this wise all of
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: the men were put to death, and only the women
• 1:03:10
  Speaker 1: were left, and these no one would kill. At this
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: Fretus exclaimed, hand me an axe. This was done, and
• 1:03:17
  Speaker 1: she fell upon the five women and left them dead.
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: They returned home after this dreadful deed, and it was
• 1:03:24
  Speaker 1: very evident that Fredus was well content with her work.
• 1:03:28
  Speaker 1: She addressed her companion, saying, if it be ordain for
• 1:03:31
  Speaker 1: us to come again to Greenland, I shall contrive the
• 1:03:34
  Speaker 1: death of any man who shall speak of these events.
• 1:03:37
  Speaker 1: We must give it out that we left them living
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: here when we came away early in the spring. They
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: equipped the ship which had belonged to the brothers, and
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: freighted it with all of the products of the land
• 1:03:48
  Speaker 1: which they could obtain and which the ship would carry.
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: Then they put out to sea, and after a prosperous voyage,
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: arrived with their ship in Eiriksforth early in the summer.
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: Sephnie was there with his ship all ready to sail,
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: and was awaiting a fair wind. And people say that
• 1:04:06
  Speaker 1: a ship richer laden than that which he commanded never
• 1:04:09
  Speaker 1: left Greenland. Concerning Fretus, Fredus now went to her home,
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: since it had remained unharmed during her absence. She bestowed
• 1:04:21
  Speaker 1: liberal gifts upon all her companions, for she was anxious
• 1:04:24
  Speaker 1: to screen her guilt. She now established herself at her home,
• 1:04:29
  Speaker 1: but her companions were not also close mouthed concerning their
• 1:04:32
  Speaker 1: misdeeds and wickedness that rumors did not get abroad. At last,
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: these finally reached her brother Laithe, and he thought it
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: a most shameful story. He thereupon took three of the
• 1:04:44
  Speaker 1: men who had been of Fratus's party and forced them
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: all at the same time to a confession of the affair,
• 1:04:50
  Speaker 1: and their stories entirely agreed. I have no heart, says Lafe,
• 1:04:54
  Speaker 1: to punish my sister Fredus as she deserves. But this
• 1:04:58
  Speaker 1: I predicted them that there is little prosperity in store
• 1:05:01
  Speaker 1: for their offspring. Hence it came to pass that no
• 1:05:04
  Speaker 1: one from that time forward thought them worthy of aught
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: but evil. It now remains to take up the story
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: from the time when Karlsefni made his ship ready and
• 1:05:14
  Speaker 1: sailed out to sea. He had a successful voyage and
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: arrived in Norway safe and sound. He remained there during
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: the winter and sold his wares, and both he and
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: his wife were received with great favor by the most
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: distinguished men of Norway. The following spring he put his
• 1:05:31
  Speaker 1: ship in order for the voyage to Iceland. And when
• 1:05:34
  Speaker 1: all his preparations had been made, and his ship was
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: lying at the wharf awaiting favorable winds, there came to
• 1:05:41
  Speaker 1: him a Southerner, a native of Bremen in the Saxon Land,
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: who wished to buy his house Neat. I do not
• 1:05:48
  Speaker 1: wish to sell it, said he. I will give the
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: half of a mork in gold for it, says a Southerner.
• 1:05:54
  Speaker 1: This Karlsefni thought a good offer, and accordingly closed the bargain.
• 1:05:59
  Speaker 1: The Southerner went his way with a house Neat, and
• 1:06:02
  Speaker 1: Karlsefni knew not what it was, but it was Mosore
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: come from Wineland. Karlsefni sailed away and arrived with his
• 1:06:11
  Speaker 1: ship in the north of Iceland and Skagafirth. His vessel
• 1:06:15
  Speaker 1: was beached there during the winter, and in the spring
• 1:06:18
  Speaker 1: he bought Glombier Land and made his home there and
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: dwelt there as long as he lived, and was a
• 1:06:23
  Speaker 1: man of the greatest prominence. From him and his wife Gudrid,
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: a numerous and goodly lineage is descended. After Karlsefni's death, Gudrid,
• 1:06:33
  Speaker 1: together with her son Snorri, who was born in Wineland,
• 1:06:37
  Speaker 1: took charge of the farmstead, and when Snorri was married,
• 1:06:41
  Speaker 1: Gudrid went abroad and made a pilgrimage to the south,
• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: after which she returned again to the home of her
• 1:06:46
  Speaker 1: son Snorri, who had caused a church to be built
• 1:06:49
  Speaker 1: at Glambier. Gudrid then took the veil and became an
• 1:06:53
  Speaker 1: anchorite and lived there the rest of her days. Snorri
• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: had a son named Torger, who he was the father of. Ingveld,
• 1:07:01
  Speaker 1: the mother of Bishop brand Alfred, was the name of
• 1:07:05
  Speaker 1: the daughter of Snorri, Karlsefni's son. She was the mother
• 1:07:08
  Speaker 1: of Runolf. Bishop Torlock's father, Bjorn, was the name of
• 1:07:13
  Speaker 1: another son of Karlsefni and Gudrid. He was the father
• 1:07:17
  Speaker 1: of Torun, the mother of Bishop Biorn. Many men are
• 1:07:21
  Speaker 1: descended from Karlsefni, and he has been blessed with a
• 1:07:25
  Speaker 1: numerous and famous posterity. And of all men, Karlsefni has
• 1:07:29
  Speaker 1: given the most exact accounts of all these voyages, of
• 1:07:33
  Speaker 1: which something has now been recounted. End of Part three
• 1:07:39
  Speaker 1: recording by expatriate in Bangor, Maine. End of the Saga
• 1:07:45
  Speaker 1: of the Greenlanders, author unknown, translated by Arthur Middleton Reeves
• 1:07:51
  Speaker 1: eighteen fifty six to eighteen ninety one,