The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1971, Qupperneq 30

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
WINTER 1971
Sveinbjorn S. Olafsson
Eirik The Red
Eirik the Red is a familiar, heroic
name in history; few persons today
know much more about this unusual
and complex man of the 10th Century,
other than that he discovered and
colonized Greenland. Icelandic Sagas
stress his deeds and accomplishments
more than the man himself, but when
the Sagas are searched, Eirik takes on
flesh and blood, no myth or legend,
but a hot-headed red head, a man of
conflicting emotions — violence and
peace. He died in 1002 A.D., in a
manner not characteristic of a Viking.
He died in bed, his sword by his side,
a victim of old age.
It wasn’t as if Eirik hadn’t tried for
Valhalla. In the prime of his life,
a matchless sailor, navigator extra-
ordinary, fearless explorer, leader of
men, he was also a man of violence.
Eirik and his father, Thorvald, came
to Iceland in about 960 A.D. from Jae-
deren in southern Norway. They were
outlawed from their native land for
homicide, an event not unusual in
Scandinavia in the 10th Century. Eirik
hardly could have played a major role
in 'the killing, for he was only ten
or twelve years old at the time.
The best land in Iceland was taken
by them. Eirik and his father were
forced to move from place to place,
at first. Although his family was
wealthy and powerful, Eirik’s father
had been stripped of all his possessions
when forced to leave his native land.
Eirik solved this problem by marry-
ing a maiden from a wealthy and in-
fluential family in Iceland, Thjodhild.
Eirik now purchased a farm in
Haukadal, in Western Iceland, and
named their farmstead Eiriksstadir.
Here a son, Leif, was born. (The four
walls of the house are still discernible
—having been built of turf and stone.
Some 900 years later, my father was
born across the valley opposite Eiriks-
stadir).
Eirik’s life was never tranquil for
long. His slaves caused a landslide fall
upon a farm owned by a man named
Vathjof, destroying it. The Sagas do
not give a reason for 'this dastardly act.
It is likely bad blood existed between
Eirik and Valthjof. A kinsman of Val-
thjof, Eyolf Saur by name, retaliated
by killing Eirik’s slaves. Not waiting
to count to ten, Eirik grabbed his axe
and killed Eyolf Saur, and for good
measure, also Hrafn the Duelist. Hrafn
had fought many duels—successfully,
but he met his match in Eirik the Red.
Although Eirik did not start the
quarrel nor the killing, he was banish-
ed from Haukadal by -the local as-
sembly.
Once again, Eirik relocated and
built a new home. He took possession
of two islands in Breidafjord in wes-
tern Iceland.
While he was building, a friend,
Thorgest, asked to borrow his bench-
boards. (They are panels on which
were carved figures of Norse deities,
Odinn, Thor and others. They were
nailed in front of the benches that ran
down either side of the main room).