The Icelandic Canadian - 01.03.1981, Side 25

THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
23
dally the contrast between paganism and
Christianity, has been moved more to the
forefront, e.g. In Eirik’s saga Leif’s good
luck has clearly religious overtones. “He
showed his magnanimity and goodness by
bringing Christianity to the country and by
rescuing these men: he was called Leif the
Lucky.” (p. 86) Graenlendinga saga on the
other hand makes no mention of Leif being a
missionary.
The voyage of Thorfinn Karlsefni is,
however, afforded the greatest space, the
members of the later voyages in Graenlen-
dinga saga have been added to his expedi-
tion, increasing the number of people he
brought to Vinland from 65 to 160. In addi-
tion, Thorfinn was no longer the sole leader
of the voyage. The people set out in two
ships and there is a clear religious rift be-
tween them. What in Graenlendinga saga is
merely a test of character has in Eirik’s saga
evolved into a contest between Christ and
Thor. The settlers ran out of food and the
pagan, Thorhall the Hunter, spirited a whale
out of the sea. When he proudly boasted that
Redbeard had proved more supportive than
Christ, Thorfinn and his followers refused
to eat the meat and committed themselves to
the mercy of God. But those who ate of the
meat all became ill.
As the two groups could not agree on
where to look for Vinland, they soon parted.
Significantly the pagans turned north.
Theirs was a way of life belonging to the
North. On the other hand Thorfinn and his
men decided to look for better lands further
south and sailed right into the land of the
Unipeds and other legendary countries. The
pagans got what they deserved but Thorfinn
found Vinland.
Karlsefni himself told the story
The inconsistencies and contradictions
between the two sagas and the many fabu-
lous elements found in both of them do not
necessarily have to discredit them complete-
ly as a historical source. The difference
between them attest to different times and
outlook but the similarities are also many
and bear witness to either a common tradi-
tion or the fact that the author of Eirik’s Saga
had used freely the material from Graen-
lendinga saga, molding it to suit his purpose
and adding what he knew from other
sources, both native and foreign.
Graenlendinga saga ends by saying: “It
was Karlsefni himself who told more fully
the story of all these voyages which has been
to some extent recorded here.” (p. 72)
There is really no reason to doubt this state-
ment. Thorfinn Karlsefni and his wife
Gudrid went back to Iceland and settled in
Skagafjordur where their descendants pros-
pered. Bishop Brandur Saemundsson of
Holar was a grandson of Snorri, who was
bom in Vinland and it is likely that Graen-
lendinga saga was either written by him or
under his auspices.
It is tempting to believe that the descen-
dants of Karlsefni and Gudrid warmed
themselves on cold winter nights by tales of
their forefathers’ exploits and of voyages to
lands with self-sown fields and grapes in
abundance. That dream was, perhaps, still
in the minds of those people that 800 years
later decided to seek their fortune in the
wilderness of Canada.
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