This decision created a great sensation among the audience,—Thorbjörn had long been popular—but they felt sure that Thorbjörn, having made this announcement so publicly, could not be prevailed upon to draw back. Thorbjörn made presents to the guests, after which the banquet came to an end and the men went back to their homes. Thorbjörn sold his estates and bought a ship which was lying at the mouth of Hraunhaven. Thirty men accompanied him on his voyage. Orm of Arnarstapi and his wife were there, and such of Thorbjörn’s friends as were unwilling to part with him. Thereupon they put to sea. The weather was fine when they set out, but when they came into the ocean the fair breeze took off and they were caught in a great storm, and they made slow progress during the summer. Next a plague attacked their party, and Orm and Halldis his wife and half of them died. The sea began to rise, and they underwent a great deal of exhaustion and misery in many ways, yet they reached Herjulfsness in Greenland just as the winter began. Now a man named Thorkel lived at Herjulfsness. He was a good man and the principal landowner. He took in Thorbjörn and all his crew for the winter. Thorkel entertained them liberally. Thorbjörn and all his crew were well satisfied. §5. GUDRID AND THE SIBYL Translation from the saga of Eric the Red, collated with Hauk’s Book. Passages italicized occur only in Hauk’s Book. At this time there was a great famine in Greenland; those men who had gone fishing had made but a small catch, while some did not return. There was in the settlement a woman named Thorbjörg; she was a prophetess, and was called the little sibyl. She had had nine sisters, who were all gifted with prophecy, but she alone remained alive. Thorbjörg was accustomed to attend banquets in the winter, and she was especially invited by those who were curious about their fate or the prospects of the season. And since Thorkel was the principal landowner there, he thought he would approach her to find out when these times of scarcity which were oppressing them would cease. Thorkel asked the prophetess to his house, where a good welcome was prepared for her, as was customary when this sort of woman was received. A throne was made ready for her, and a cushion laid beneath, in which there were hen’s feathers. Now when she came in the evening with the man who had been sent to fetch her she was attired as follows:—she had on a blue mantle, which was set with stones down to the hem; she had a rosary of glass on her neck and a black hood of lambskin lined with white catskin on her head, and she had a staff in her hand with a knob on it: it was ornamented with brass, and set with stones down from the knob: round her waist she had a belt of amadou on which was a great skin bag, in which she kept those charms which she needed for her art. On her feet she wore hairy calfskin shoes, the thongs of which were long