Icelandic Sagas - Erik The Red, Part 2

Please enjoy the second half of the saga of Erik the Red! It is believed that the Icelandic Sagas were written down in the 13th and 14th centuries. They recount the family tales of Icelanders from the 10th and 11th centuries. The Norse explorer Erik the Red is credited with being the first European to found a settlement in Greenland...and one of his sons, Leif Erikson is credited with being the first European to find North America!

Transcript

Hello there.

Thank you so much for joining me for this reading of the second half of the saga of Erik the Red.

So this is a story from the Icelandic sagas,

Which were believed to have been written down in the 13th and 14th centuries,

And they tell the tales of various different Icelandic families from the 10th and 11th centuries.

Very interesting stories,

Lots of struggles and conflicts,

And different family histories.

And Erik the Red was renowned for being the first European to form a settlement in Greenland.

He's credited with that,

And one of his sons,

Leif Erikson,

Was credited with being the first European to encounter the Americas,

North America specifically.

So,

Very interesting family,

And we will continue now from chapter nine onwards in the saga of Erik the Red.

Chapter nine.

When summer was at hand,

They discussed about their journey and made an arrangement.

Þorhall,

The sportsman,

Wished to proceed northwards along Fyrðustrandir,

And of Kjallarnes,

And so seek Vinland.

But Kallseppni desired to proceed southwards,

Along the land and away from the east,

Because the land appeared to him the better the further south he went,

And he thought it also more advisable to explore in both directions.

Then did Þorhall make ready for his journey out by the islands,

And there volunteered for the expedition with him not more than nine men,

But with Kallseppni there went the remainder of the company.

And one day,

When Þorhall was carrying water to his ship,

He drank and recited this verse.

The clashes of weapons did say,

When I came here,

That I should have the best of drink,

Though it becomes me not to complain before the common people.

Eager god of the war helmet,

I am made to raise the bucket.

Wine has not moistened my beard,

Rather do I kneel at the fountain.

Afterwards,

They put to sea,

And Kallseppni accompanied them by the island.

Before they hoisted sail,

Þorhall recited a verse,

Go we back where our countrymen are.

Let us make the skilled hawk of the sand-heaven explore the broad ship-courses,

While the dauntless rousers of the sword-storm,

Who praise the land and cook whale,

Dwell on Fyrðustrandir.

Then they left,

And sailed northwards,

Along Fyrðustrandir and Kjallarnes,

And attempted there to sail against a wind from the west.

A gale came upon them,

However,

And drove them onwards against Ireland,

And there were they severely treated,

Enthralled and beaten.

Then Þorhall lost his life.

Chapter 10 Kallseppni proceeded southwards along the land,

With Snorri and Bjartni and the rest of the company.

They journeyed a long while,

And until they arrived at a river which came down from the land and fell into a lake,

And so on to the sea.

There were large islands off the mouth of the river,

And they could not come into the river except at high flood-tide.

Kallseppni and his people sailed to the mouth of the river,

And called the land Hop.

There they found fields of wild wheat,

Wherever there were low grounds,

And the vine in all places where there was rough rising ground.

Every rivulet there was full of fish.

They made holes where the land and water joined,

And where the tide went highest,

And when it ebbed they found halibut in the holes.

There was great plenty of wild animals of every form in the wood.

They were there half a month,

Amusing themselves,

And,

Not becoming aware of anything,

Their cattle they had with them,

And early one morning,

As they looked around,

They beheld nine canoes made of hides,

And snout-like staves were being brandished from the boats,

And they made a noise like flails,

And twisted round in the direction of the sun's motion.

Then Kallseppni said,

What will this betoken?

Snorri answered him,

It may be that it is a token of peace.

Let us take a white shield,

And go to meet them.

And so they did.

Then did they in the canoes row forwards,

And showed surprise at them,

And came to land.

They were short men,

Ill looking,

With their hair in disorderly fashion on their heads.

They were large-eyed and had broad cheeks,

And they stayed there a while in astonishment.

Afterwards they rowed away to the south,

Off the headland.

Chapter 11 They had built their settlements up above the lake,

And some of the dwellings were well within the land,

But some were near the lake.

Now they remained there that winter.

They had no snow whatever,

And all their cattle went out to graze,

Without keepers.

Now when spring began,

They beheld one morning early,

That a fleet of hide canoes was rowing from the south of the headland.

So many were they,

As if the sea were strewn with pieces of charcoal,

And there was also the brandishing of staves,

As before,

From each boat.

Then they held shields up,

And a market was formed between them,

And this people in their purchases preferred red cloth.

In exchange they had furs to give,

And skins quite grey.

They wished also to buy swords and lances,

But culsepny and snorry forbade it.

They offered for the cloth dark hides,

And took in exchange a span long of cloth,

And bound it round their heads.

And so matters went on for a while,

But when the stock of cloth began to grow small,

Then they split it asunder,

So that it was not more than a finger's breadth.

The skrylingar,

Esquimau,

Gave for it still quite as much,

Or more,

Than before.

Chapter 12.

Now it came to pass that a bull,

Which belonged to culsepny's people,

Rushed out of the wood,

And bellowed loudly at the same time.

The skrylingar,

Frightened thereat,

Rushed away to their canoes,

And rode south along the coast.

There was then nothing seen of them for three weeks together.

When that time was gone by,

There was seen approaching from the south a great crowd of skrylingar boats,

Coming down upon them like a stream,

The staves this time being all brandished in the direction opposite to the sun's motion,

And the skrylingar were all howling loudly.

Then took they,

And bare red shields,

To meet them.

They encountered one another,

And fought,

And there was a great shower of missiles.

The skrylingar had also war slings,

Or catapults.

Then culsepny and Snorri see that the skrylingar are bringing up poles,

With a very large bull attached to each,

To be compared in size to a sheep's stomach,

Dark in colour,

And these flew over culsepny's company towards the land,

And when they came down,

They struck the ground with a hideous noise.

This produced great terror in culsepny and his company,

So that their only impulse was to retreat up the country along the river,

Because it seemed as if crowds of skrylingar were driving at them from all sides,

And they stopped not until they came to certain cracks.

There they offered them stern resistance.

Freydis came out,

And saw how they were retreating.

She called out,

Why run you away from such worthless creatures,

Stout men that ye are,

When,

As seems to me likely,

You might slaughter them like so many cattle?

Let me but have a weapon.

I think I could fight better than any of you.

They gave no heed to what she said.

Freydis endeavoured to accompany them.

Still,

She soon lagged behind,

Because she was not well.

She went after them,

Into the wood,

And the skrylingar directed their pursuit after her.

She came upon a dead man,

Thorbrand,

Snorri's son,

With a flat stone fixed in his head.

His sword lay beside him,

So she took it up,

And prepared to defend herself therewith.

Then came the skrylingar upon her.

She let down her sark,

And struck her breast with the naked sword.

At this,

They were frightened,

Rushed off to their boats,

And fled away.

Karlsepni and the rest came up to her,

And praised her zeal.

Two of Karlsepni's men fell,

And four of the skrylingar.

Notwithstanding,

They had overpowered them by superior numbers.

After that,

They proceeded to their booths,

And began to reflect about the crowd of men which attacked them upon the land.

It appeared to them now that the one troop will have been that which came in the boats,

And the other troop will have been a delusion of sight.

The skrylingar also found a dead man,

And his axe lay beside him.

One of them struck a stone with it,

And broke the axe.

It seemed to them good for nothing,

As it did not withstand the stone,

And they threw it down.

Chapter Thirteen Karlsepni and his company were now of opinion,

That though the land might be choice and good,

There would be always war and terror overhanging them from those who dwelt there before them.

They were ready,

Therefore,

To move away,

With intent to go to their own land.

They sailed forth northwards,

And found five skrylingar in jackets of skin,

Sleeping near the sea.

And they had with them a chest,

And in it was marrow of animals mixed with blood.

And they considered that these must have been outlawed.

They slew them.

Afterwards they came to a headland,

And a multitude of wild animals,

And this headland appeared as if it might be a cake of cow dung,

Because the animals passed the winter there.

Now they came to Strömsfjörður,

Where also they had abundance of all kinds.

It is said by some that Bjartni and Freyðis remained there,

And a hundred men with them,

And went not further away.

But Karlsepni and Snorri journeyed southwards,

And forty men with them,

And after staying no longer than scarcely two months at Hopp,

Had come back the same summer.

Karlsepni set out with a single ship to seek Þorhall,

But the rest of the company remained behind.

He and his people went northwards of Kjallarnes,

And were then borne onwards towards the west,

And the land lay on their larboard side,

And was nothing but wilderness.

And when they had proceeded for a long time,

There was a river,

Which came down from the land,

Flowing from the east towards the west.

They directed their course within the river's mouth,

And lay opposite the southern bank.

Chapter Fourteen One morning,

Karlsepni's people beheld,

As it were,

A glittering,

Speak-above-the-open space in front of them,

And they shouted at it.

It stirred itself,

And it was a being of the race of men that have only one foot.

And he came down quickly to where they lay.

Þorvald,

Son of Eirik the Red,

Sat at the tiller,

And the one-footer shot him with an arrow in the lower abdomen.

He drew out the arrow,

Then said Þorvald,

Good land have we reached,

And fat is it about the porch.

Then the one-footer leapt away again,

Northwards.

They chased after him,

And saw him occasionally,

But it seemed as if he would escape them.

He disappeared at a certain creek.

Then they turned back,

And one man spake this ditty,

Þorvald,

Our men chased,

All true it is,

A one-footer down to the shore,

But the wonderful man strove hard in the race.

Harken,

Karlsepni!

Then they journeyed away,

Back again northwards,

And saw,

As they thought,

The land of the one-footers.

They wished,

However,

No longer to risk their company.

They conjectured the mountains to be all one range,

Those,

That is,

Which were at hop,

And those which they now discovered,

Almost answering to one another,

And it was the same distance to them on both sides from Strömsfjörður.

They journeyed back,

And were in Strömsfjörður the third winter,

Then fell the men greatly into backsliding.

They,

Who were wifeless,

Pressed their claims at the hands of those who were married.

Snorri,

Karlsepni's son,

Was born the first autumn,

And he was three winters old when they began their journey home.

Now,

When they sailed from Vinland,

They had a southern wind,

And reached Markland,

And found five skrælingar.

One was a bearded man,

Two were women,

Two children.

Karlsepni's people caught the children,

But the others escaped and sunk down into the earth,

And they took the children with them,

And taught them their speech,

And they were baptised.

The children called their mother Vætildi,

And their father Yvægi.

They said that kings ruled over the land of the skrælingar,

One of whom was called Avaltamon,

And the other Vattidida.

They said also that there were no houses,

And the people lived in caves or holes.

They said,

Moreover,

That there was a land on the other side,

Over against their land,

And the people there were dressed in white garments,

Uttered loud cries,

Bare long poles,

And wore fringes.

This was supposed to be Kvittramannaland,

White man's land.

Then came they to Greenland,

And remained with Eirik the Red during the winter.

Chapter 15.

Bjarni,

Grimulf's son,

And his men were carried into the Irish Ocean,

And came into a part where the sea was infested by shipworms.

They did not find it out before the ship was eaten through under them.

Then they debated what plan they should follow.

They had a ship's boat,

Which was smeared with tar,

Made of seal fat.

It is said that the shipworm will not bore into the wood which has been smeared with the seal tar.

The counsel and advice of most of the men was to ship into the boat as many men as it would hold.

Now,

When that was tried,

The boat held not more than half the men.

Then Bjarni advised that it should be decided by the casting of lots,

And not by the rank of the men,

Which of them should go into the boat.

And inasmuch as every man there wished to go into the boat,

Though it could not hold all of them,

Therefore they accepted the plan to cast lots who should leave the ship for the boat.

And the lot so fell that Bjarni and nearly half the men with him were chosen for the boat.

So then those left the ship and went into the boat who had been chosen by lots so to do.

And when the men were come into the boat,

A young man,

An Icelander,

Who had been a fellow traveller of Bjarni,

Said,

Dost thou intend,

Bjarni,

To separate thyself here from me?

It must needs be so now,

Bjarni answered.

He replied,

Because in such case thou didst not so promise me when I set out from Iceland with thee from the homestead of my father.

Bjarni answered,

I do not,

However,

See here any other plan.

But what plan dost thou suggest?

He replied,

I propose this plan,

That we two make a change in our places and thou come here and I will go there.

Bjarni answered,

So shall it be.

And this I see,

That thou labourest willingly for life,

And that it seems to thee a grievous thing to face death.

Then they changed places.

The man went into the boat and Bjarni back into the ship.

And it is said that Bjarni perished there in the Wormsea,

And they who were with him in the ship,

But the boat and those who were in it went on their journey until they reached land and told this story afterwards.

Chapter 16 The next summer Karlsepni set out for Iceland and Snorri with him,

And went home to his house in Reynines.

His mother considered that he had made a shabby match,

And she was not at home the first winter.

But when she found that Gudrith was a lady without peer,

She went home,

And their intercourse was happy.

The daughter of Snorri,

Karlsepni's son,

Was Hafrith,

Mother of Bishop Thorlak,

The son of Runolf.

Hafrith and Runolf had a son whose name was Thorbjörn.

His daughter was Thorin,

Mother of Bishop Bjarn.

Thorgeir was the name of a son of Snorri,

Karlsepni's son.

He was father of Yngvild,

The mother of the first bishop,

Brand.

And here ends this story.