The reference to ‘Eric’s saga’ is part of a quotation, rather than an original observation. In fact, as Neckel puts it, ‘the (Flatey Book) narrative makes pretty strong departures from the Saga of Eric the Red. It knows on the one hand more, on the other less; above all, the same occurrences appear in quite different order and connexion’ ... ‘Between both accounts runs the remarkable relationship that while clearly harmonious in the main features they are widely separated from one another in details. The use of the older narrative by the younger is accordingly excluded.’ The motive apparently suggested by Mr. Dieserud and those who agree with him for the tone adopted in the Flatey Book is the glorification of the family of Eric the Red. The introduction of a prior discoverer to Leif does not seem likely to conduce to such a result, and one feels that a member of Eric’s family would hardly regard the story of Freydis with pride or pleasure. But let that pass. Those who adopt this position seem to be faced with a dilemma. No one outside Greenland had any interest in attempting such a task, while if—as I myself believe (see next chapter, p. 139)—this version comes in the main from a Greenland source, it is far more likely that it represents an independent tradition than that compilers in so inaccessible a country had access to the version current in Iceland. For these reasons we need have no hesitation in accepting the independence of the Flatey version, and in concluding with Vigfusson that ‘the correspondence of these distinct versions throws great light on the vitality and faithfulness of tradition, and is a strong confirmation of the credibility in main points of a saga which is especially important for historic reasons’.[71] _Date of the Flatey Book._