Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1940, Page 136

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the Saga the earlier of the two, but opinions differ widely as
to its age, some placing it at the beginning of the thirteenth cen-
tury, others at the middle or even the last quarter of that cen-
tury, the latter probably being nearer the truth. The Tale dates
apparently from ca. 1300, or somewhat later, yet it is only
known from a manuscript of the end of the fourteenth century.
The places where they were written are equally uncertain. Cer-
tain expressions in the Saga have been taken to point to western
Iceland as its original home, but that is far from being conclusive;
it might as well have been written in the south; it seems unlikely
that it originated in the north, where however the Tale in all
probability was written, thus representing the form of the tradi-
tion prevailing there. While the Saga refers to 110 persons as its
authority, the Tale in conclusion states that “Karlsefni of all men
has given the fullest account of the events connected with these
voyages” — a statement one would have rather expected from
the author of the Saga, since he devotes much more space to the
Karlsefni expedition than to the others. This information of the
Tale disposes, however, of the theory advanced by a few writers
that the Tale represents the tradition as preserved in Greenland
among the descendants of Erik the Red and afterwards brought
to Iceland where finally it was committed to parchment. Nor does
anything else point to such an origin of it, and its presentation
of the events is far from complimentary to that family, especi-
ally the story of Freydis and her evil doings. What the Tale
gives as its original source probably applies to the Saga as well.
Karlsefni and his companions must have been the first to tell
of these adventures to their countrymen at home, and some dif-
ferences in the presentation may possibly be due to who told
it in the beginning, whether Karlsefni himself or one of his fellow
voyagers. Thus, if the story of the loss of Bjarni Grimolfsson
and half of his crew is to be accepted as historical, it lies nearest
to ascribe it to his companion Thorhall Gamlason who accord-
ing to another saga is supposed to have settled in Húnavatnssýsla.
In the same way the account of the epidemic and the accompany-
ing horrors in the Western Settlement must in its origin be trace-
able to Gudrid, the wife of Karlsefni who, so far as we know,
was the only person in a position to tell of it in Iceland, and
it is noticeable that there is practically a full agreement between
the Saga and the Tale about this occurrence which shows that it