The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1981, Page 11

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
9
FROM THE VINLAND SAGAS
LEIF EXPLORES VINLAND
translated by Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Palsson
Harmondsworth, England: Penguin Books, 1965.
Some time later, Bjami Herjolfsson
sailed from Greenland to Norway and visit-
ed Earl Eirik,1 who received him well.
Bjami told the earl about his voyage and the
lands he had sighted. People thought he had
shown great lack of curiosity, since he could
tell them nothing about these countries, and
he was criticized for this. Bjami was made a
retainer at the earl’s court, and went back to
Greenland the following summer.
There was now great talk of discovering
new countries. Leif, the son of Eirik the Red
of Brattahlid, went to see Bjami Herjolfsson
and bought his ship from him, and engaged
a crew of thirty-five.
Leif asked his father Eirik to lead this
expedition too, but Eirik was rather reluc-
tant: he said he was getting old, and could
endure hardships less easily than he used to.
Leif replied that Eirik would still command
more luck2 than any of his kinsmen. And in
the end, Eirik let Leif have his way.
As soon as they were ready, Eirik rode off
to the ship in which was only a short dis-
tance away. But the horse he was riding
stumbled and he was thrown, injuring his
leg.
“lam not meant to discover more coun-
tries than this one we now live in,” said
Eirik. “This is as far as we go together.” 3
Eirik returned to Brattahlid, but Leif went
aboard the ship with his crew of thirty-five.
Among them was a Southerner called
Tyrkir.4
They made their ship ready and put out to
sea. The first landfall they made was the
country that Bjami had sighted last. They
sailed right up to the shore and cast anchor,
then lowered a boat and landed. There was
no grass to be seen, and the hinterland was
covered with great glaciers, and between
glaciers and shore the land was like one
great slab of rock. It seemed to them a
worthless country.
Then Leif said, “Now we have done bet-
ter than Bjami where this country is con-
cerned — we at least have set foot on it. I
shall give this country a name and call it
Helluland.” 5
They returned to their ship and put to sea,
and sighted a second land. Once again they
sailed right up to it and cast anchor, lowered
a boat and went ashore. This country was
flat and wooded, with white sandy beaches
wherever they went; and the land sloped
down to the sea.
Leif said, “This country shall be named
after its natural resources: it shall be called
Markland. ’ ’6
They hurried back to their ship as quickly
as possible and sailed away to sea in a north-
east wind for two days until they sighted
land again. They sailed towards it and came
to an island which lay to the north of it.
They went ashore and looked about them.
The weather was fine. There was dew on the
grass, and the first thing they did was to get
some of it on their hands and put it to their
lips, and to them it seemed the sweetest
thing they had ever tasted. Then they went
back to their ship and sailed into the sound
that lay between the island and the headland
jutting out to the north.
They steered a westerly course round the
headland. There were extensive shallows
there and at low tide their ship was left high
and dry, with the sea almost out of sight. But
they were so impatient to land that they
could not bear to wait for the rising tide to
float the ship; they ran ashore to a place