The Norse discoverers of America : $b the Wineland sagas translated & discussedGathorne-Hardy, G. M. (Geoffrey Malcolm)
History
The Norse discoverers of America : $b the Wineland sagas translated & discussed
Gathorne-Hardy, G. M. (Geoffrey Malcolm)
America -- Discovery and exploration -- Norse
Almighty God, to whom alone
The hearts of all thy saints are known,
Sinless and just, to thee I pray
To guide me on my dangerous way:
Lord of the heavens that roof the land,
Hold o’er me thy protecting hand.
Herjulf settled at Herjulfsness; he was held in the greatest respect.
Eric the Red lived at Brattahlid; he was the most distinguished person
there, and was obeyed by all. Eric’s children were Leif, Thorvald, and
Thorstein, and a daughter named Freydis, who was married to a man named
Thorvard: they lived at Garda, where the cathedral is now: she was
a very haughty woman, but Thorvard was a man of no account; she was
married to him mainly for his money. People were heathen in Greenland
at that time.
Bjarni arrived in his ship at Eyrar in the summer of the same year
in the spring of which his father had sailed away. Bjarni was much
concerned at the news, and would not discharge his cargo. His crew
thereupon asked him what he meant to do; he replied that he meant to
keep to his custom of passing the winter with his parents, ‘and I
will’, said he, ‘take my ship on to Greenland, if you will accompany
me’. They all said that they would abide by his decision; upon which
Bjarni remarked, ‘Our voyage will be considered rash, since none of us
have been in Greenland waters.’ Notwithstanding this they put to sea as
soon as they had got ready, and they sailed for three days before the
land was laid; but then the fair wind ceased, and north winds and fogs
came on, and they did not know where they were going, and this went on
for many days. After this they saw the sun, and so were able to get
their bearings, whereupon they hoisted sail, and after sailing that day
they saw land, and they discussed among themselves what land this could
be, but Bjarni said he fancied that it could not be Greenland. They
asked him whether he would sail to this land or not. ‘I am for sailing
in close to the land’, he said, and on doing so they soon saw that the
land was not mountainous, and was covered with wood, and that there
were small knolls on it, whereupon they left the land on the port side,
and let the sheet turn towards it. Then after sailing two days they
saw another land. They asked Bjarni if he thought this was Greenland;
he said that he did not think this was Greenland any more than the
first place, ‘for it is said that there are very large glaciers in
Greenland’. They soon neared this land, and saw that it was a flat
country and covered with wood. At this point the fair wind dropped,
whereupon the crew suggested that they should land there: but Bjarni
would not. They considered that they were short both of wood and water.
‘You are in no want of either’, said Bjarni, but he got some abuse for
this from his crew. He ordered them to hoist sail, which was done, and
they turned the bows from the land, and sailed out to sea for three
days before a south-westerly breeze, when they saw the third land: now
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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