Η Ανακάλυψη της Αμερικής από τους Βίκινγκς: Τα έπη της Βινλανδίας

by Unknown, Θάνος Σακκέτας (translator)

Αν για τον Κολόμβο ήταν μια ιστορική αδικία ότι η Αμερική δεν πήρε το όνομα του αλλά το όνομα ενός άλλου διάσημου Ιταλού θαλασσοπόρου, η αδικία αυτή είναι ελάχιστη μπροστά στο γεγονός ότι η Αμερική είχε ήδη ανακαλυφθεί μερικούς αιώνες πριν από γενναίους και με ισχνότερα τεχνικά μέσα θαλασσοπόρους, τους Βίκινγκς.
Τι ήταν άραγε αυτοί οι Βίκινγκς;
Στους πρώτους μεταχριστιανικούς αιώνες κάποια Άρια γερμανικά φύλα ήρθαν και εγκατασταθήκανε στα παράλια της Βόρειας Θάλασσας και της Βαλτικής. Νέα, ακμαία και ανόθευτη ακόμα φυλή, περιτριγυρισμένη από ένα σκληρό και αδυσώπητο φυσικό περιβάλλον, κινδυνεύοντας πάντα από τη δικαιολογημένη εχθρότητα των ντόπιων, που έβλέπαν στους νιόφερτους τον περιορισμό του ζωτικού τους χώρου και η οποία αγωνιζόταν με κάθε τρόπο να επιβιώσει και στις άγριες νύχτες του πολικού χειμώνα ύφαινε στη φαντασία της ιστορίες για κάποιο καλύτερο μέλλον.
Ο 8ος και 9ος μ.Χ. αιώνες, σταθήκανε γι’ αυτούς μια πηγή εμπειρίας και συγκρότησης. Σ’ αυτό το διάστημα ανακάλυψαν ως ποιο σημείο ήτανε δυνατοί αυτοί και ως πού έφτανε η αδυναμία των άλλων. Σ’ εκείνη, λοιπόν, τη χρονική περίοδο των πρώτων τους διερευνητικών ναυτικών εξορμήσεων γίνανε γνωστοί με τ’ όνομα «Βίκινγκς» και με αυτή την ονομασία η ιστορία αποδίνει την ιδιότητα τους ως πειρατές, θαλασσινούς πολεμιστές και θαλασσοπόρους εξερευνητές στα πρώτα εκείνα χρόνια της ασυνείδητης ακόμα ανάγκης για ζωτικό χώρο.
Τα δύο έπη (Γροιλανδίας-Έρικ) που περιλαμβάνονται στον τόμο αυτό γράφτηκαν γύρω στο 1200 μ.Χ. και αποτελούν μέρος ιστοριών που οι διηγήσεις τους ψυχαγωγούσαν τις απομονωμένες οικογένειες των αγροτικών περιοχών. Σύμφωνα με ιστορικές έρευνες οι διηγήσεις αυτές γράφονταν ύστερα από εντολές της εκκλησίας για να απασχολούν τον κόσμο από άλλες, παγανιστικού -κυρίως- χαρακτήρα, διασκεδάσεις. Τα έπη αυτά ιστορούν με ποιο τρόπο, ύστερα από πολλές περιπλανήσεις και συμπτωματικά ανακάλυψαν την Αμερική που την ονόμασαν Βίνλαντ (Γη των Αμπελιών) εξ αιτίας των άγριων αμπελιών που φύτρωναν παντού. Και αφηγούνται μ’ ένα λιτό και ρωμαλέο τρόπο τις δυσκολίες εγκατάστασης στη νέα γη, τις πολεμικές περιπέτειες με τους ερυθρόδερμους, που βλέποντας σωστά μιαν άμεση απειλή από την επικράτηση των νέων αποίκων, φρόντισαν να τους δημιουργήσουν έντονα προβλήματα, εξαναγκάζοντάς τους τελικά να την εγκαταλείψουν.

Genres: History, Classics, Nonfiction, Mythology, Medieval, Literature, Historical

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Books can be attributed to "Unknown" when the author or editor (as applicable) is not known and cannot be discovered. If at all possible, list at least one actual author or editor for a book instead of using "Unknown".

Books whose authorship is purposefully withheld should be attributed instead to Anonymous.

Reviews

[Antonomasia · Rating 4 out of 5]

More fun than most medieval historical sources. These two very short sagas are charmingly uneven and direct (and quite unlike the usual dry monkish texts that survive from this era outside Iceland). The focus on relatively ordinary laypeople is refreshing, though will be familiar to those who've already read Icelandic family sagas - all I'd read previously of those was a few chapters of Njal's Saga. The introduction describes family sagas as "the history of a republic in which all the original settlers had been nominally equal".

Yet they are odd texts to modern literary sensibilities, and could be disappointing if one expected them to conform - just as medieval doodles wouldn't fit the standards of 19th century painting. Both sagas make apparently random zooms on to the detail of certain events or individuals, who often aren't the main features, e.g.
Thorhall the Hunter; he had been in Eirik’s service for a long time, acting as his huntsman in summer, and had many responsibilities. He was a huge man, swarthy and uncouth; he was getting old now, bad-tempered and cunning, taciturn as a rule but abusive when he spoke, and always a trouble-maker. He had not had much to do with Christianity since it had come to Greenland. He was not particularly popular, but Eirik and he had always been close friends.
(More character background than many more significant players get.)

For all that the Graenlendinga Saga is described as 'primitive' in style, it feels measured in structure if labelled a 'Vinland Saga', because exploration takes place throughout. Whereas in Eirik's Saga (aka Eirik the Red's Saga), the interesting bit about Vinland is all bunched at the end - but that's because the voyage to, and life in Vinland is not directly about Eirik any more; the introduction keeps reminding us that the sagas are primarily about people.

As there is much lamentation that Magnus Magnusson & Hermann Pálsson's translation of Njal's Saga is out of print, I was delighted to find that some of their other saga translations still are in print (though Laxdaela isn't). This ebook of their Vinland Sagas is even half the price of the new translation. The 1965 introduction felt thoroughly vintage near the end, when they mention excavations at L'Anse aux Meadows as a new and recent endeavour; twenty years ago I was adding that name in games of Civilization II. (Alongside this is an outdated reference to a pair of married archaeologists as "Dr Helge Ingstad … and his wife", with her not named; ironic when female characters, such as the fearsome Freydis, are consistently named in the sagas and are pivotal in various episodes. The word 'primitive' is used in a few instances where anthropologists would now think better.) A 2003 Afterword by Magnusson is a memorial to Pálsson, who had died the previous year.

This is a very short book, which won't outstay its welcome if you are interested in a quick look at the original sources (and is also potentially useful for various obscure categories in reading challenges).
----
Themes:

Northern exploration
- the [Norse] descriptions of the Arctic regions (stretching from Russia to Greenland) and the eastern seaboard of the North American continent are nowhere to be found in contemporary geographical textbooks elsewhere in Europe – in which they were to remain terrae incognitae for a very long time.

- To Icelanders of the period, life in Greenland held a certain fascination; to them it was rather an exotic country, although not an unfamiliar one.

- It is also clear from all the evidence available that the climate of the north from the ninth to the twelfth centuries was warmer than it is even now, and did not begin to deteriorate until the fourteenth century.

- it was not until the fourteenth century that sailors were forced to abandon the old route from Snæfellsness to Angmagssalik entirely, because of the increasing danger of polar ice.

- A century after Thorfinn Karlsefni went to Vinland, its exact location seems to have been forgotten: the Icelandic Annals have an entry for the year 1121 – ‘Bishop Eirik of Greenland went in search of Vinland’ – which implies that the old sailing directions had become confused.

- in the year 1347 a ship that had been to Markland (Labrador?) was driven off course on its way back to Greenland and eventually found haven in Iceland, anchorless and with seventeen survivors on board. Timber from Markland, apparently, was not unknown in Greenland for centuries after the Vinland expeditions

- it could well be that stories about Vinland were current in the seaports of Europe in the fifteenth century, because throughout that period there was considerable, if illegal, trade between Iceland and Bristol and between Bristol and Portugal; and certainly the Icelanders themselves had not forgotten about Vinland, or the general direction in which it lay

- this exhausted outpost of Norse exploration, just beyond the fringe of European endurance … died such a horrible and lonely death while a new age of exploration was dawning in southern Europe

… and what they found there. (Eirik's Saga)
- Altogether there were 160 people taking part in this expedition (to Vinland)
Quite a lot.

- named it Straum Island. There were so many birds on it that one could scarcely set foot between their eggs.

- No one recognized what kind of a whale it was, not even Karlsefni, who was an expert on whales. The cooks boiled the meat, but when it was eaten it made them all ill.

Horror-movie stuff: sea full of maggots that eat the ship itself. (Not heard of this before, perhaps those who read more nautical literature have?)

- Bjarni Grimolfsson’s ship was blown into the Greenland Sea. They found themselves in waters infested with maggots, and before they knew it the ship was riddled under them and had begun to sink…
They had one ship’s-boat which had been treated with tar made from seal-blubber; it is said that shell-maggots cannot penetrate timber which has been so treated…
The boat, however, would not hold them all and so they agreed to this suggestion of drawing lots for places in it...
The Icelander stepped into the boat and Bjarni went back on board the ship; and it is said that Bjarni and all those who were on the ship with him perished there in the maggot sea.

A world with more equal military technologies
- (Intro) it is safe to assume that voyages to Labrador to fetch timber continued for a long time; it had not been the distance that had deterred colonization, but the Native Americans.

Eirik's Saga:
- Vinland where, it was said, there was excellent land to be had.
Outlook strikingly similar to later European colonisers: thinking that there was land for the taking. However, unlike those of 500 years later, they did not have guns and so they were on a relatively more equal footing with the indigenous people.

- Karlsefni and his men had realized by now that although the land was excellent they could never live there in safety or freedom from fear, because of the native inhabitants.

- It was a dog-eat-dog world, and things might not end well if you ended up elsewhere, either:
With that they parted company. Thorhall and his crew sailed northward past Furdustrands and Kjalarness, and tried to beat westward from there. But they ran into fierce headwinds and were driven right across to Ireland. There they were brutally beaten and enslaved; and there Thorhall died.

- Even those who should have had an excellent chance of getting away, were at risk of getting captured and enslaved:
When Leif Eirikson had been with King Olaf Tryggvason and had been asked to preach Christianity in Greenland, the king had given him a Scottish couple, a man called Haki and a woman called Hekja. The king told Leif to use them if he ever needed speed, for they could run faster than deer. Leif and Eirik had turned them over to Karlsefni for this expedition.
I always wonder how the fittest people from the past, who had to spend most of their days in physical activity, would compare with modern athletes.

Native Americans
Introduction: This twelfth-century identification of the Inuit natives of Greenland with the Native Americans of North America, based on the similarity between two primitive material cultures, is an interesting deduction.

From Eirik's Saga: the Norse have been in Vinland a while:
they caught sight of nine skin-boats; the men in them were waving sticks which made a noise like flails, and the motion was sunwise…

[Note: Native Americans are known to have used rattle-sticks during various rituals, which may well be the explanation of this threshing sound the Norsemen could hear.]

What the natives wanted most to buy was red cloth; they also wanted to buy swords and spears, but Karlsefni and Snorri forbade that…

The natives took a span of red cloth for each pelt, and tied the cloth round their heads. The trading went on like this for a while until the cloth began to run short; then Karlsefni and his men cut it up into pieces which were no more than a finger’s breadth wide

The Graenlendinga Saga says they traded milk, not cloth, for the pelts, and drank it on the spot. Cloth seems more logical to the modern reader, at least.

A later visit from the locals is less amicable:
This time all the sticks were being waved anti-clockwise and all the Skrælings were howling loudly…

Karlsefni and Snorri saw them hoist a large sphere on a pole; it was dark blue in colour. It came flying in over the heads of Karlsefni’s men and made an ugly din when it struck the ground. This terrified Karlsefni and his men so much that their only thought was to flee, and they retreated farther up the river.

Religion: a transitional period when Christianity and paganism co-existed
Another, even more strikingly detailed portrait of a minor character: Greenlandic prophetess Thorbjorg, in Eirik's Saga:
she wore a blue mantle fastened with straps and adorned with stones all the way down to the hem. She had a necklace of glass beads. On her head she wore a black lambskin hood lined with white cat’s-fur. She carried a staff with a brass-bound knob studded with stones. She wore a belt made of touchwood, from which hung a large pouch, and in this she kept the charms she needed for her witchcraft. On her feet were hairy calfskin shoes with long thick laces which had large tin buttons on the ends. She wore catskin gloves, with the white fur inside…
she was given a gruel made from goat’s milk, and a main dish of hearts from the various kinds of animals that were available there…
She used a brass spoon, and a knife with a walrus-tusk handle bound with two rings of copper; the blade had a broken point.
I was curious what attempts to recreate this costume would look like: some examples below.

Christian converts and pagans lived side-by-side, and the examples in these two sagas suggest it was generally civil, though sometimes uneasy, with Christians in particular setting boundaries for themselves.

- ‘This is the sort of knowledge and ceremony that I want nothing to do with,’ said Gudrid, ‘for I am a Christian.’ ‘It may well be,’ said Thorbjorg, ‘that you could be of help to others over this, and not be any the worse a woman for that. But I shall leave it to Thorkel to provide whatever is required.

Then Thorbjorn was sent for; he had refused to remain in the house while such pagan practices were being performed.

- Thjodhild refused to live with Eirik after she was converted, and this annoyed him greatly.

- Then Thorhall the Hunter walked over and said, ‘Has not Redbeard turned out to be more successful than your Christ? This was my reward for the poem I composed in honour of my patron, Thor; he has seldom failed me.

In these early days of Christianity, curious hybrid customs emerged, as here from Eirik's Saga:
Gudrid went in to see Thorstein... He whispered in her ear a few words that she alone could hear, and then said that blessed were they who were true to their faith, for that way came help and mercy; but, he said, there were many who did not observe the faith properly:
‘It is a bad custom, as has been done in Greenland since Christianity came here, to bury people in unconsecrated ground with scarcely any funeral rites. I want to be taken to church, along with the other people who have died here – all except Gardi, whom I want to have burned on a pyre as soon as possible, for he is responsible for all the hauntings that have gone on here this winter.’…
It had been the custom in Greenland since Christianity came there to bury people in unconsecrated ground near the farms where they died; a stake was driven into the ground above the dead person’s breast and later, when the priests arrived, the stake would be pulled out and holy water poured down the hole and funeral rites performed, however long after the burial it might then be.

Other customs and details of life
- That common saga background phrase: that a man left a place 'because of some killings', and the complicated stories it could mean:
Eirik’s slaves started a landslide that destroyed the farm of a man called Valthjof, at Valthjofstead; so Eyjolf Saur, one of Valthjof’s kinsmen, killed the slaves at Skeidsbrekkur, above Vatnshorn. For this, Eirik killed Eyjolf Saur; he also killed Hrafn the Dueller, at Leikskalar. Geirstein and Odd of Jorvi, who were Eyjolf’s kinsmen, took action over his killing, and Eirik was banished from Haukadale.
So, either a slave rebellion or an accident led to a feud.

He then asked for his bench-boards back, but they were not returned; so Eirik went to Breidabolstead and seized them. Thorgest pursued him, and they fought a battle near the farmstead at Drangar. Two of Thorgest’s sons and several other men were killed there.
Scandinavian furniture was a lot more trouble in those days, there being much less of it, and taking far longer to make.

Women going to the loo together:
One evening Sigrid wanted to go outside to the privy that was opposite the main door. Gudrid went with her.

A leader's role back then could also involve encouraging positive thinking:
- Then Eirik said, ‘You were much more cheerful in the summer when you were sailing out of the fjord than we are now; but there are still many good things in store for us.’

- They returned to Straumfjord and spent the third winter there. But now quarrels broke out frequently; those who were unmarried kept pestering the married men.
Huh? Why? To get pissed, like in a Will Ferrell movie?

- What people did indoors in winter and and at Christmas:
the Christmas feast was extended into a wedding feast. They all had a splendid time at Brattahlid that winter; there was much chess-playing and story-telling, and many other entertainments that enrich a household.

[Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve actually read the Vinland Sagas before, though not in this translation. Back in the 90s I was also lucky enough to visit the site of the Norse settlement at L’Anse Aux Meadows, in Newfoundland. You might say the subject interests me!

This translation confirms my previous impression, which is that I prefer the Greenlanders’ Saga to Eirik The Red’s Saga. The former is a bit more grounded in reality, whereas the latter has been embellished to include stories of mythical beasts and the like, something medieval storytellers were fond of doing. These two Sagas aren’t the greatest pieces of literature, but they are of course priceless records of the extraordinary Norse voyages to North America.

This edition comes with a longish but excellent introduction by the translators, Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Pálsson, two Icelanders who spent most of their lives living in Edinburgh.

[J.L. Sutton · Rating 3 out of 5]

These sagas provide great context for the Norse discovery of America. They also offer a glimpse at the character and motivation of some of the chief figures in this age of discovery, especially Erik the Red and Leif Erikson. The sagas also reveal importance of the colonization of Iceland and how this colonization led to further exploration.

[Marquise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very interesting sagas, and very easy to read despite the style being rather dry, the passages too brief and devoid of details when describing anything.

This Penguin Classics edition comprises two sagas, the Groenlandinga Saga and the Saga of Erik the Red, the first dealing with the discovery and early settlement of Greenland and the second with the immediately following accidental discovery of Vinland (actual North America), both by intrepid Norwegian vikings sailing out of their most recent colony of Iceland. Although the main man in both is Leif Eiriksson ("Leif the Lucky"), eldest son of Eirik Thorvaldsson ("Eirik the Red"), it's not only about him or his father's exploits. Both sagas also gives credit to the first Norseman who sighted America, Bjarni Herfjölfsson (though he never landed, just sighted the land) and includes the voyages of the next four people after Leif who sailed to and tried to establish themselves in Vinland: Thorvald Eiriksson, another of Eirik the Red's sons, and Thorstein Eiriksson, also a son of the same whom illness prevented from reaching Vinland; then Thorfinn Karlsefni, the first who attempted to establish permanent colonies and settle down in Vinland, going as far as fathering a child while in the precarious little Norse settlement, who'd be the first European born in America if the saga is true; and Freydis Eiriksdóttir, daughter of the Red. Yes, there was actually a woman amongst the discoverers. 'Tis a pity she turned out to be . . . er, something else.

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

“He named the country he had discovered Greenland, for he said that people would be much more tempted to go there if it had an attractive name.”

Eirik the Red was exiled from Iceland in the 10th century after skirmishes with neighbors and being declared an outlaw, and he founded the colony in Greenland. Bjarni Herjolfsson was blown off course on his way to Greenland in 985 or 986 and sighted unknown lands. Eirik’s son, Leif the Lucky, made an expedition to this new land and named it Vinland after the grapes that grew there. Later Leif’s brother-in-law, Thorfinn Karlsefni, created a settlement there, probably in the New England area of Canada. In the 1960s archaeological evidence of Norse settlement from about 1000 was found at L'anse aux Meadows, Newfoundland, by Dr Helge Ingstad, former governor of Greenland, and his archaeologist wife, Ann Stine Ingstad.

The settlement in Greenland died out after about five hundred years due to increasingly cold weather in the 14th Century, the return of the Inuits to the south, and the annexing of Greenland and Iceland by Norway. This reduced Greenland’s independence and created a financial burden on a resource poor country. The Americas were rediscovered by Columbus in 1492. It is uncertain whether he knew of its location from the Vikings.

This was a short and engaging book which after an introduction explaining the background gives the translation of two Norse stories: the Grœnlendinga Saga written in about 1190, and Eirik’s Saga, written around 70 years later. The sagas focus on the personalities of the adventurers and their deeds, and also the qualities of the land explored. They were intended to be educational about history and geographical locations as well as providing entertainment. The sagas tell us of the Viking explorers, and we are also presented stories of the women, the remarkable Gudrid, and the scheming and vicious Freydis. I thoroughly enjoyed the Vinland Sagas and found them to be very accessible, simple and surprisingly readable.

[Skallagrimsen]

These ancient accounts of Viking settlers in North America, of their struggles against the unforgiving elements and their conflicts with the indigenous peoples, are underappreciated, in my view, as the very earliest Westerns. Nine centuries before The Virginian by Owen Wister, some of the foundational tropes of the genre were established by The Vinland Sagas.

[— sab · Rating 3 out of 5]

“let our ocean-striding ship explore the broad tracts of the sea.”

[Абрахам Хосебр · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Саги про Вінланд. Шляхами Ейріка Рудого, Торфінна Сподіваного і Лейва Щасливого"
Перекладач Віталій Кривоніс
Редактор Семен Бондар
Науковий редактор Віталій Щепанський
Ілюстратор Іван Кипибіда
Видавництво "Пломінь"

"Той спершу довго белькотів німецькою, крутив очима і корчив мармизи. Але ніхто не розумів, що він каже. Тоді промовив він північною мовою:
-Я забрів не набагато далі за вас. Але можу розповісти дещо цікаве. Я знайшов виноградну лозу і ягоди.
-Це точно, вихователю? - спитав Лейв.
-Та вже ж точнісінько, - сказав Тюркір, - адже я виріс там, де не бракує ні винної лози, ані винограду.
Тож вони переночували, а вранці Лейв сказав товаришам:
-Віднині маємо дві справи: одного дня - збираємо виноград, наступного - рубаємо дерева і валимо ліс, щоб було чим навантажити мій корабель.
Так вони й зробили. Сказано, що їхній човен ущерть був напханий виноградом. А порубану деревину повантажили на корабель.
І коли це зробили, то почали готуватися до відбуття. Лейв дав назву цій країні на честь її багатства і нарік її Вінландом. Потім вони вийшли під вітрилом у море і мали попутний вітер, поки не побачили Гренландію і гори під льодовиками."

Коли подібну книжку бере до рук сучасний читач, то неодмінно наразиться на кілька стін спротиву,які наче бойові дошки кораблів - захисні щити не пропускатимуть його до скарбів.

Перша стіна - стіна часу, події описані в сагах давні, переплетені з мітами, де ще чутно відгуки сконалої віри предків, а християнізовані герої б'ються між собою, з корінними скрелінґами, а також воюють в не менш палких боях власних душ де Рудобородий бореться з Розіп'ятим.

Друга стіна - стіна культурна. Ці історії на вдивовижу брутальні. Хоча чому "на вдивовижу", хіба ж не цього ми очікували після "Едд" та культурних стереотипів, якими обросли воїни в рогатих шоломах. Тут багато моторошних сцен: зрада Фрейдіс і вбивство нею п'ятьох безборонних жінок, ожилі мерці, міжусобиці, підступні засідки.

Третя стіна - переважна сухість стилю і відсутність типової наративної матриці до якої нас привчила сучасна література. Тут достобіса перелічувань імен, які зливаються між собою, купа географічних топонімів, які важко вимовити. Різка закінчуваність подій, ґвалтовність смертей, раптова поява пісень з закрученими кенінґами.

Але читача рятує делікатний переклад, коментарі та естетичні ілюстрації на яких влячно спочиває натомлене око.
Суть саг, їхня жорстка та розрізнена поезія пізнаються з кожною наступною сторінкою.

Вельми цікаво зображено конфлікт між питомою нордичною вірою та нововведеним на той час християнством. Вочевидь, що кит викликаний Торхаллем виявляється неїстівним для християн:

"Тоді десь подівся Торхалль Мисливець. Його шукали три доби й зрештою знайшли на верхівці якоїсь скелі. Він лежав там, дивився вгору, роззявивши рота й ніздрі, й щось мурмотів. Його спитали, чого він туди видерся. Той нічого не відповів. Вони попросили його повернутися з ними, і так він і зробив.
Трохи згодом прибило до берега кита, і вони пішли його різати, але ніхто не знав, який саме це кит. А коли куховари наварили ворвані, то тим, хто її куштував, зробилося зле. Тоді мовив Торхалль:

- Рудобородий кращий за вашого Христа. Це я дістав за своє ремесло скальда, за слова на честь Тора, в якого я певно вірую. Він рідко мене підводить.

І коли люди таке дізналися, то викинули кита геть і звернули молитви свої до Бога. Тоді випогодилось, і стало можливо ходити на веслах, і вже не бракувало їм здобичі, бо завелася звірина на землі, яйця у гніздах, а в морі — риба."

Є тут і захопливі бойові сцени з неочікуваними перипетіями. Чого наприклад вартує магічна волаюча катапульта скрелінґів і героїчне використання цицьок, як зброї хороброю Фрейдіс:

"Скрелінґи скочили з човнів, зійшлися з людьми Сподіваного, і почалася битва. Зчинилося справжнісіньке градобиття, бо скрелінґи мали пращі. Потім побачили люди Сподіваного, що скрелін-ги несуть на жердині здоровенний вузол, завбільшки з овечий шлунок, синій на колір, і запустили його з жердини, і він пролетів над військом Сподіваного, а коли впав на землю, то страхітливо завив. Це так перелякало Сподіваного і його військо, що вони нічого іншого не жадали, окрім як вшитися, тож вони відійшли вгору над рікою, бо їм здавалося, що скрелінґи пруть на них з усією міццю й зусібіч, і не спинялися, поки не дісталися якихось брил, і стали там в оборону.
Фрейдіс вийшла назовні й побачила, що люди Сподіваного відступають, і заволала:

-Чому ви, такі достойники, біжите від цих убогих людисьок? Ви ж могли перебити їх, як худобу. Була б у мене зброя, то я, певно, билася 6 ліпше, ніж кожен з вас!

Вони не звернули на її слова жодної уваги. Фрейдіс хотіла піти за ними, але барилася, бо була тоді нездорова. Все ж пішла вона за ними до лісу, а скрелінги кинулися до неї. Вона побачила поруч себе мерця. То був Торбранд Сноррасон, з його голови стирчав камінь. Біля нього лежав меч. Вона підняла його і приготувалася за-хищатись. Тоді скрелінги наблизилися до неї. Вона вивалила з плаття цицьку і стала плескати по ній мечем. Це так нажахало скрелінгів, що вони кинулися до своїх човнів і повеслували геть. Сподіваний і його люди дуже хвалили Фрейдіс за її вчинок."

Ще один цікавий епізод - поява фюльґ'ї - духовного доппельґанґера Ґудрід. Цікаво відкривати для себе походження слів, наприклад Вардлок (спів) і варлок (чаклун).

Дві перші саги: "Про ґренландців" та "Ейріка Рудого" перегукуються між собою. Це типово для саг, наприклад в Едді героїчні саги також повторюються, переплітаються і взаємодоповнюються, як пасма стародавнього гобелену.

Третя частина - "Сага про людей з Флої", яка мені сподобалася найбільше, відразу ж починається, як старозаповітня історія про Йова. Нововведений до християнства чоловік Торґільс бачить в свої снах бога Тора, якому він зрадив і відмовляє йому в поклонінні, за що Тор нищить його худобу. Цікавий парадокс: сам головний герой носить в імені частку свого покинутого бога, те ж саме можна сказати про його сина Торлейва, дочку Торню і дружину Торей.
Вдруге Тор з'являється Торґільсу перед відплиттям і погрожує короблетрощею, якщо той не повернеться до старої віри, на що перший відповідає: "— Вийди звідси, чортяко. Той мені допоможе, Хто звільнив усіх людей Своєю кров'ю."
На цьому поневіряння Торґільса не закінчуються: Тор насилає на нього голод, хвороби, деякі з членів команди стають афтрґанґами - живими мерцями, помирає його дружина і донька. Є й місце для дива: чоловік відрізає собі сосок і годує онука молоком:

"Аж раптом чують вони пронизливий крик з ліжка Торей. Підійшли вони й побачили, що вона не дихає, а маля смокче мертві груди. Оглянули її та знайшли невеличку рану, нанесену тонколезим ножем. Усе було в крові. Це видиво здалося Торґільсу найгіршим горем, що лише може статися на світі. Торей поховали поруч із Гудрун. Від припасів не лишилося й сліду.
Вночі Торгільс мав доглядати малого, і сказав, що не бачить, як йому далі жити:

- А найбільше ранить мене, що я не можу нічим йому зарадити. Ану відріжуно я собі сосок, щоб подовжити малому життя.

Так він і зробив, і спершу з грудей цебеніла кров, затим якась мішанина, а затим уже пішло і молоко, і ллялося, поки малий не наситився."

Чим вам не середньовічний Пелікан-Ісус, що годує кров'ю власних дітей?

Та на цьому пригоди й дива не закінчуються, далі Торґільса чекає зустріч з тролихами, магічне знаходження води (як в Мойсея в пустелі), дві битви з білими ведмедями (песик білий та дебелий), зустріч з Ейріком та бійка з розбійниками-вікінгами. Ще один цікавий епізод - тлумачення сновидінь, з яких найхимернішим є сон про цибулю, що росте з коліна (sic!).

Про переклад - він ідеальний, не сухий (на скільки це можливо для суворих саг), з цікавими слівцями, де треба - весело-іронічний. Кривоніс відірвався на повну і зробив свою справу з любов'ю, чого тільки вартує вдало увіпхана "непозбувна бентега" чи "народисько непевний і на лихе проворний".

Чудово попрацювали обидва коментатори Щепанський та Бондар. Ну і не можна обійти увагою ідеальну обкладинку та ілюстрації Івана Кипибіди. Можливо я помиляюся, але корабель під супером це таке елегантне підморгування обкладинці першого українського видання "Одіссеї" від "Дніпра". Книга по всіх параметрах виглядає багатою та елітарною - ляссе, супер, софттач під низом, карти на форзацах, дерева родоводів - перлина книгозбірні кожно серйозного читача.

Для мене будь які давні тексти - це велика насолода і натхнення, а тим більше, ось такі - з любов'ю зроблені унікальні проєкти. Тому, рекомендую до обов'язкового замовлення та прочитання всім інтелектуалам, естетам і просто поціновувачам якісної літератури.

І тут цій сазі кінець.

[Melanti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm fascinated by history and pseudoarcheology, so this seemed like a great way of dipping my toe into the Icelandic Sagas, which I've been meaning to get around to for quite a while now. It was fascinating to read both accounts and try to contemplate & imagine where all along the coast they'd been, what all they'd seen, and what future encampments we might be able to find in the future.

This particular edition was pretty cool in that it had footnotes confirming the existence of various structures mentioned in the verses - chapels, barns, etc - and the excellent (though dated) introduction that gives an abbreviated history of Iceland & Greenland.

That being said, I think I would have enjoyed Eirik's saga on its own merits more if I hadn't read them back to back. Reading them back to back makes it easier to compare the conflicting historical accounts which is good for historical purposes but it just highlights the parts where Christianity was shoe-horned in, giving it a bigger role than it probably had in reality.

An extra star awarded just because I love pseudoarcheology despite fully acknowledging the validity of the pseudo prefix. (I can't help it... it's just so entertaining to read about the Knights Templar exploring the Grand Canyon or Ancient Egyptians having light bulbs.)

[Ann Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

The only reason this gets three stars is that the writing is very straight forward. I wish these sagas had been expanded on a lot, with a better narrative, but the contents of the sagas are brilliant. Norwegians, Icelanders and Greenlanders going to the new world, 500 years before Colombus. The fact that we have any writings on this at all, where a lot of details seem to be corroborated by archeological finds, is crazy. And awesome. This edition also has a great introduction.

[TR · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative and sometimes humorous account of Viking excursions into North America. The high point is the fighting between Vikings and Indians.

Be sure not to pass over the introduction, as it gives a useful background to the saga.

[Grada (BoekenTrol) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked these two short sagas.
It is fascinating to read stories that are this old and find that they are very readable. They are at times a bit short, I tend to think that details in this version/the original/the story that survived were left out, because the people that read them knew them already, living in the same area in the same time fame.
I liked it also, that there were quite a few descriptions of the characters in the saga, and what others thought of their actions.
All in all a nice getting to know this kind of stories.

[Clark · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit boring and strangely written but maybe that’s what happens when you read something from the 12th century. good history lesson though I guess?

[David Sarkies · Rating 4 out of 5]

Viking adventures across the Atlantic Ocean
27 September 2010

I have long heard the rumours that the Vikings had discovered North America long before Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic but I had always assumed that it was little more than a single expedition of which nothing more came about. However, this little book, which contains two Viking texts: Eirik's Saga and the Graenlendinga Saga says otherwise. Both of these texts tell the same story, however there are a few differences (in that Eirik's Saga seems to be more of a text telling how Christianity came to Greenland while the Graenlendinga Saga is more focused on the journeys of the Vikings). Both stories begin with the discovery and colonisation of Greenland and then the subsequent journeys to North America, or Vinland, as it was called back then.

It is debatable as to how authentic the stories in this book are, though it is quite clear, specifically with the descriptions of the lands encountered, that the events really did happen. In fact, the Graenlendinga saga is quite descriptive with both the lands discovered and the people discovering the land. It is interesting that the writer of this saga spends time giving a description of the main characters (something which tends to be missing from other ancient texts).

Another thing that I found interesting was the discovery of Greenland. I was told as a child that Greenland was called Greenland so that people would go there instead of to Iceland, which was a much more habitable island. However, according to these sagas, the island got the name to encourage people to emigrate and settle there. The voyages beyond Greenland to Vinland (as I shall call it) were voyages of exploration, though Vinland was originally discovered when a Viking ship was sent off course in a storm. They attempted to establish settlements in Vinland, but hostile natives and the distance made such colonies difficult to support. When the little ice age arrived, the Vikings found that the conditions in Greenland became much more hostile, and thus that passage to Vinland was closed.

The native Americans in this text are called Skaelings. While I think this name sounds much better than Indian, it should be remember that Skaeling is actually quite a derogative term. Therefore, Native American is probably the better term, though the most respectful term would be relating them to their particular nations (of which there were many).

What these sagas demonstrate is that the Vikings where quite a cultured and capable people. Eirik's saga tells of how Christianity came to Iceland and then to Greenland, and it was because of Christianity that these sagas were written (it was preferable to dancing). I always considered Vikings to be big hairy brutes with horned helmets that raided coastal Europe killing people. However these sagas (and no doubt many of the others) demonstrate that not only where they incredibly competent sailors, but that they were also a very sophisticated people with a rich cultural heritage.

[Mattia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read these for the early descriptions of North America and its Indigenous people, expecting them to be rather dry, like a lot of historical documents, but the sagas were written as entertainment and they are still an entertaining read, even with the passage of centuries and the problem of translation.

The descriptions of North America turned out to be scant and opaque - it's mostly a setting for stories about Norse men and women. The description of the trip across the North Atlantic is very brief as well - the ships leave Greenland, they pass a landmark or two, and bing they're in Vinland and Freydis is plotting murder. Eirik the Red gets banished three times from three different places for murder and fighting on the first page. And then spends the next page naming the geographical features of western Greenland after himself (he named the continent "green" to try to entice people to go there). A demon whale is summoned and a number of corpses sit up and prophesy; here's Thorstein telling his widow Gudrid her future:

Then the corpse of Thorstein Eiriksson suddenly sat up and said, 'Where is Gudrid?'

He said this three times, but Gudrid gave no answer. Then she said to Thorstein the Black, 'Should I answer him or not?'

He told her not to reply. Then he walked across the room and sat down on the stool with Gudrid on his knee and said, 'What is it you want, namesake?'

After a pause Thorstein Eiriksson replied, 'I am anxious to tell Gudrid her destiny, so that she may resign herself better to my death, for I have now come to a happy place of repose. I have this to say to you, Gudrid: you will marry an Icelander and you will have a long life together and your progeny will be great and vigorous, bright and excellent, sweet and fragrant. You and your husband will go from Greenland to Norway and from there to Iceland, where you will make your home and live for a long time. You will survive your husband and go on a pilgrimage to Rome, then return to your farm in Iceland; a church will be built there and you will be ordained a nun and stay there until you die.'

Then Thorstein fell back. His body was laid out and taken to the ship.

(Graenlendinga Saga, pg 63-64)

And then halfway through, everyone converts to Christianity, and there are Christmas celebrations in Greenland and crosses being erected to show how Christian their patron is. But the corpses do not stop sitting up and prophesying; there's actually more sorcery in the story, because it's something people are concerned about now. The changing belief systems and syncretism were possibly my favourite part of the sagas.

Next up to read: The Sagas of Icelanders (contains ten sagas and tales, is cheap and easy to find).

[Illiterate · Rating 2 out of 5]

A blend of family history and national chronicle. Disjointed.

[Amy French · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting sagas and introduction to Norse sagas and myths. Also, kind of cool that it also has a bit of history that isn't discussed as much.

[Pete daPixie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm being generous here, giving this 3 stars. This Penquin Classic only reads for around 100 pages. The first 50ish contains Magnus Magnusson's Introduction, and that was the best part of the book. Magnus writes of the two Vinland Saga's, their dates, their origins and the contemporary histories of Norway, Iceland, Greenland and the British Isles. He also includes the archaeological discoveries that back up the saga stories.
So...in 985, as Forkbeard was cuninge in Denmark, the year perhaps Cnut was born, Olaf Tryggvason not King of Norway for another decade, Aethelred was unready in England, getting married that year. Eirik the Red was colonizing Greenland, when Bjarni Herjolfsson pipped C.C. by four hundred years and maybe discovered New Brunswick.
Halu micel Vikinga! Douglas and Curtis just don't make it.

[Yibbie · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve had a mild curiosity about the first European discoverers of America for years now, and I’m not sure why it took me so long to get around to their own account of it. It was interesting in a dry sort of way. I don’t know enough about Norwegian history to place these people in any sort of historical setting, so I did appreciate the introductions of each section.
It’s an interesting mix of fact and mythology. We get accurate navigational details and mythical animals, Catholic legend and Pagan rites, heroes and villains. The last part of the book was more interesting, just because it has more details. Whether it is more accurate than the rest who knows.
Unfortunately, I listened to it as an audiobook. I had trouble sometimes separating characters and locations. I would also hope that there were maps. That would have been really helpful.

[Jake M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

This title contains the Saga of the Greenlanders and the Saga of Erik the Red which depict Norse exploration of Greenland and Vinland/North America. Much of the title consists of a historiographical overview of the sagas written in the early 1960's. While this is a dated analysis, especially as the Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows was being unearthed at the time of publication, it nonetheless describes the importance of the following sagas as historical sources and literary forms. This compilation provides further value through its footnotes in addition to other reference materials such as notes on place names and maps. The sagas themselves are fascinating accounts of eccentric personalities, their explorations of northern frontiers and essential reading for anyone interested in Norse history and exploration.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Vikings were the first Europeans in the New World. It did not end well, and there are even two different versions of how it failed. There is some light flashing of the Native Americans by the only Viking lady there in order to scare them away. It's the right level of Icelandic crazy with a dash of swashbuckling and being totally out of their depth in a strange new land.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars. The first saga, that of Eirik the Red, is a bit misleading, as Eirik doesn’t play a major role beyond his exile and founding of Greenland. The first half of the saga is a rather dull laundry-list of names -- warriors who married and begat children, etc. It really begins to pick up with the prophetess and Lief’s exploits, and then comes to an abrupt end.

The Saga of the Greenlanders is much more interesting and detailed in the description of the founding of Vinland (likely in Newfoundland) and the bizarre incidents that might be true (finding grapes?) and might not (a one-legged bandit who terrorizes the vikings?). The account also contains an amusing number of guys named Thorstein.

I found both sagas to have a striking amount of casual violence that is almost comical: “They came upon eight natives, killed them, and then continued down the stream,” etc. These accounts portray vikings (or at the least the ones exiled to Greenland and beyond) as brutish, vile cretins who have some sailing and survival skills. I hope that reading more of these sagas, and some works of history from contemporary sources, can give me greater insight and perhaps offer some different perspectives that might lead me to a more well-rounded view of their culture.

[Maya · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really fascinating: I read the new translation which isn't listed on Goodreads, but I had no idea about this Norse & Native American interaction in the 10th Century! Really interesting to consider how the historical stories are told with some epic frameworks and styles, when it wasn't ancient history at the time of writing by any stretch. The role of women is also quite striking too.

(SW London libraries are strangely good for Icelandic history & mythology it's becoming my niche by pure accident)

[Goran Lowie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really quite interesting! Half of the book was the introduction and other information, but it's essential to reading the book, I think.

[Emma Fudacz · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read for class... not the worst thing ever but still a snoozefest

[Samuel Leask]

Good translation

[Tentatively, Convenience · Rating 4 out of 5]

review of
The Vinland Sagas - The Norse Discovery of America
by tENTATIVELY, a cONVENIENCE - April 5, 2024

For the complete review go here: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/CriticV...

The only Icelandic saga I read before these was Grettir's Saga wch I found somewhat interesting & likened to a biker gang novel - brute force & outlawry. These 2 sagas were similar - w/o the depth of detail of Grettir's Saga (or, at least, as I very vaguely remember it). Of course, the thing most people (myself included) are likely to find of interest here is what's taken to be the accounts of the Norse stumbling across what's now known as North America 5 centuries before Christopher Columbus's celebrated 'discovery'. Like Columbus, the Norsemen took it for granted that slaughtering the inhabitants was their 'right' as 'superior' peoples. The best part of this bk, for me, was the scholarly intro.

"The two medieval Icelandic sagas translated in this volume tell one of the most fascinating stories in the history of exploration - the discovery and attempted colonization of America by Norsemen, five centuries before Christopher Columbus. In spare and vigorous prose they record Europe's first surprised glimpse of the eastern shores of the North American continent and the Red Indian natives who inhabited them." - p 7

The pre-European-invasion Native Americans (PEINAs) didn't have a written language. Too bad, I'd love to read their side of the story.

"What he and his crew of thirty-five found there delighted them: wild grapes in profusion, rolling grasslands, vast stretches of towering timber, an abundance of game of all kinds, rivers teeming with giant salmon, meadows rich with a harvest of wild wheat, and a climate so kind that winter frosts were hardly known; even the dew seemed to them sweeter than anything they had ever tasted before. And Leif the Lucky, exulting in his find, named the country Vinland : 'Wineland', the land of grapes." - p 7

It's interesting, I don't recall any accts of the PEINAs having alcoholism - did they not ferment grapes? Is North America still "Wineland"? Much to my surprise, the USA, Russia, & France don't even make it into the top 15:

#1: Romania
#2: Georgia
#3: Czech Republic
#4: Latvia
#5: Germany
#6: Uganda
#7: Seychelles
#8: Austria
#9: Bulgaria
#10: Lithuania
#11: Ireland
#12: Poland
#13: Luxembourg
#14: Laos
#15: Moldova
- https://www.alcoholrehabguide.org/blo...

But, of course, different websites give different statistics:

Hungary - 21.2%
Russia - 20.9%
Belarus - 18.8%
Latvia - 15.5%
United States - 13.9%
South Korea - 13.9%
Slovenia - 13.9%
Poland - 12.8%
Slovakia - 12.2%
Estonia - 12.2%
- https://worldpopulationreview.com/cou...

That's a significantly different line-up, isn't it?! The United States is tied w/ South Korea & Slovenia! We'll have to do something about that. Maybe if the next president were a woman Viking it wd help.

"In 870 a Norwegian called Ingolf Arnarson, impelled to take hasty leave of his homeland because of a killing, became Iceland's first permanent settler, making his home on the site of the present capital, Reykjavik. A host of immigrants of Norse and Celtic stock followed him, and within sixty years the Age of Setllement, as it is called, was over. By 930, it has been estimated, Iceland had a population of perhaps 30,000 and had developed into a nation; in that year there was established a parliamentary commonwealth which lasted for over 300 years, a unique republican system of aristo-democratic government based on a national assembly (the Althing)." - p 13

I don't talk about it much but I have BIG PLANS too. After rents & house-purchasing become so prohibitively expensive in Pittsburgh that even millionaires can't afford it I'm going to declare my house the new center of the capital here, tENTjavik, &, well.. maybe I shdn't outline the rest - why spoil the surprise?! The assembly will be called, of course, the Nothing. The only thing I probably won't be able to iron out is that the local road work will still be ongoing w/ no end in sight.

"Iceland exported wool, tweed, sheepskins, hides, cheese, tallow, falcons, and sulphur in exchange for timber, tar, metals, flour, malt, honey, wine, beer, and linen.

"But Iceland also had a very important 'invisible' export at this time — court poetry. From the tenth century onwards, every single known court poet in Scandanavia came from Iceland." - p 14

I find that truly fascinating. What if things had gone differently & Iceland's main 'invisible' export had been, eg, dirty jokes about frigid polar bears? Wd there still be an alcoholism problem in the USA today?! I think not.

"prudently he named the country Greenland ('he said that people would be much more tempted to go there if it had an attractive name'). As a result of his account, he found no lack of volunteers in the western districts of Iceland to answer his call; and in the summer of 985 or 986 a fleet of twenty-five ships carrying several hundred prospective settlers who had sold up their farms in Iceland set sail for Greenland.

"Was it all just a confidence trick by a salesman eager to build himself an empire? 'Greenland' is a misnomer for the icy regions of the huge new country, and it is easy to suspect that Eirik the Red deliberately misled his countrymen" - p 18

I'm leaving out alot, there's no point in my telling you the whole story. There's a pattern: so'n'so kills somebody or another, is forced to leave, takes some people w/ him eventually who follow him probably b/c he's an energetic & convincing kindof a guy. They accidentally discover someplace that may or may not be a giant ice cube, & another place that may be Wineland & the next thing you know some alcoholic beverage w/ ice-cubes is born! More people get murdered. It's all so humdrum. Some people who get killed are Skraeling.

"The term Skraeling means something like 'wretch', a contemptuous term applied to the indigenous natives of a country, rather like 'savages'. It is quite clear from the Vinland Sagas that the Skraelings of North America were not the same as the Eskimoes of Greenland, however, but Red Indians" - p 27

The use of "Red Indians" seems quite strange. It was always my impression that the indigenous peoples of the Americas were called "Indians" b/c Columbus thought that he had landed in India - but that little boo-boo didn't happen until 500 yrs after the Vikings brought their axe culture to North America. Given that this intro by Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Pálsson is from 1965 one wd expect that they might be able to come up w/ a more accurate name.

"But the Skraelings had the last word, evidently. Despite the Norsemen's superiority of weapons, it was the constant threat of attack by the natives that finally discouraged the attempt to colonize Vinland." - p 28

The sagas, of course, being over a thousand yrs old by the time of their publication in this form, had undergone various transformations at the hands of various interpreters & updaters. Just think of the King James version of Candy.

"The Swedish scholar Sven B. F. Jansson, in his book Sagorna om Vinland (vol. I, Lund, 1944), made a detailed comparison of the two manuscripts which proved conclusively that Hauksbók, far from being the more faithful copy of the original, had been extensively edited and revised by Hauk Erlendsson and his two secretaries. He discovered that when Hauk Erlendsson himself wielded the pen, the saga had been drastically shortened (by twenty-five percent), and that when the handwriting of the second secretary took over, the saga had been considerably lengthened (by fifteen per cent); whereas in the passages for which the first secretary had been responsible very little tampering had taken place — only a lengthening by some three per cent." - p 30

You've heard of Writer's Impotence, but what about Writer's Tumescence & Writer's Detumescence?

"Saga-writing began early in the twelfth century as an adjunct to the writing of 'learned works' (froeoi)" [correct spelling on my part missing] "which was being fostered by the Icelandic Church. Sagas were encouraged as serious popular entertainment in an effort by the church authorities to discourage the grosser forms of popular amusement (such as dancing), and to combat the ignorance of the people. And because of the peculiar social conditions of medieval Iceland, saga-writing quickly devloped into a huge national literature."

[..]

""when Ari the Learned wrote the first vernacular history of Iceland, he had to make a decisive break with the European habit in which he had been trained; he had to write the history of a republic in which all the original settlers had been nominally equal. It was not the ancestors and the exploits of one exclusive ruling family of which he was writing, but the ancestors and exploits of every family in the country." - p 35

Again, fascinating. Encouraging reading over dancing. What about reading & dancing at the same time? This was obviously before the idea of car-sickness came along. I'm tempted to follow in the footsteps of Ari the Learned & to write a history of my neighborhood in wch every family gets their fair time.

"Secondly, Iceland had not yet had time to develop a rigid social and cultural caste system. Priests were farmers, aristocrats were priests, farmers were poets, and poets were peasants. Books were never the exclusive possession of any one class, nor was literacy. For instance, the school that was founded at Holar, in the north of Iceland, at the beginning of the twelfth century had a wide scatter of pupils, including women; and mention is specifically made of a church carpenter there, one Thorodd Gamlason, who became highly proficient in Latin. This policy of widespread general education meant that there was a large reservoir of literary capacity available for the conversion of oral material into written sagas." - p 36

I like the egalitarianism of that but if there were aristocrats who were priests who were farmers who were poets who were peasants does that mean that there were aristocrats who were peasants & did they tap the reservoir w/ axes? & then there's the question of what's authentic & what's not.

"But even when all this is said, we are still left with much of the historical value in the sagas. There can be no doubt that the characters who play the leading roles in them actually existed; they are well-authenticated historical figures. There can be no doubt that they made journeys along the northern rim of the Atlantic and came upon a series of landfalls far to the west of the edge of European civilization. And there can be no doubt that the place where they attempted to found a Norse colony was somewhere along the Atlantic seaboard of the North American continent." - p 41

Finally, we get to the "Graenlendinga Saga" itself.

"Eirik was banished from Haukadale after killing Eyjolf Saur and Hrafn the Dueller, so he went to Breidafjord and settled on Oxen Island, at Eirikstead. He lent his bench-boards3
to Thorgest of Beidabolstead, but when he asked for them back they were not returned, which gave rise to quarrelling and fights between them, as Eirik's Saga describes.4 Eirik was supported by Styr Thorgrimson, Eyjolf of Svin Island, Thorbjorn Vifilsson, and the sons of Thorbrand of Alptafjord; Thorgest was supported by Thorgeir of Hitardale, and the sons of Thord Gellir.

"Eirik was sentenced to outlawry at the Thorsness Assembly. He prepared his ship in Eiriksbay for a sea voyage, amd when he was ready, Styr and the others accompanied him out beyond the islands. Eirik told them he was going to search for the land that Gunnbjorn, the son of Ulf Crow, had sighted when he was driven westwards off course and discovered the Gunnbjarnar Skerries; he added that he would come back to visit his friends if he found this country."

"3. Bench-boards : presumably, carved decorative panels affixed to the front of the benches that ran down either side of the main room.

"4. A very debatable reference : it can hardly refer to Eirik's Saga in its present form, because its account of Eirik's adventures in Iceland (Chapter 2) is very little fuller than here. This first chapter of Graenlendinga Saga, and the first two chapters of Eirik's Saga, are interpolations borrowed from Landnámabók (see pp. 31-2); many scholars believe that there must have been a lost Eirik's Saga which told the story of Eirik's life much more fully, and that the brief account in Landnámabók may well have been a condensed summary of it." - pp 49-50

One might think that these Vikings did very little but rob & murder but there are some instances of their saving people as well.

"'I want to sail close into the wind in order to reach these people,' he said. 'If they need our help, it is our duty to give it; but if they are hostile, then the advantages are all on our side and none on theirs.'

"They approached the reef, lowered sail, anchored, and put out another small boat they had brought with them. Tyrkir asked the men who their leader was.

"The leader replied that his name was Thorir and that he was a Norwegian by birth. 'What is your name?' he asked.

"Leif named himself in return.

"'Are you the son of Eirik the Red of Brattahild?'

'Leif said that he was. 'And now,' he said. 'I want to invite you all aboard my ship, with as much of your belongings as the ship will take.'" - pp 58-59

"Leif rescued fifteen people in all from the reef. From then on he was called Leif the Lucky. He gained greatly in wealth and reputation." - p 59

Now Leif's brother Thorvald was a different sort.

"On their way back to the ship they noticed three humps on the sandy beach just in from the headland. When they went closer they found that these were three skin-boats, with three men under each of them. Thorvald and his men divided forces and captured all three of them except one, who escaped in his boat. They killed the other eight and returned to the headland, from which they scanned the surrounding country. They could make out a number of humps father up the fjord and concluded that these were settlements.

"Then they were overwhelmed by such a heavy drowsiness that they could not stay awake, and they all fell asleep — until they were awakened by a voice that shouted, 'Wake up, Thorvald, and all your men, if you want to stay alive! Get to your ship with all your company and get away as fast as you can!" - p 60

When in doubt, kill 'em all! I find the 2nd paragraph interesting since it seems to imply a supernatural agency: 1st, w/ the uncontrollable falling asleep, 2nd, w/ the being awakened by an unknown voice. They were, indeed, about to be attacked by the fellow tribesmen of the people they'd just killed.

Now, in Eirik's Saga, a similar acct of a 1st meeting w/ the indigenous peoples:

"But early one morning as they looked around they caught sight of nine skin-boats; the men in them were waving sticks which made a noise like flails, and the motion was sunwise.

"Karlsefni said, 'What can this signify?'

"'It could well be a token of peace,' said Snorri. 'Let us take a white shield and go to meet them with it.'

"They did so. The newcomers rowed towards them and stared at them in amazement as they came ashore. They were small and evil-looking, and their hair was coarse; they had large eyes and broad cheekbones. They stayed there for a while, marvelling, and then rowed away south round the headland." - p 98

That's quite a loaded passage! Imagine two cultures unknown to each other approaching each other. Imagine what gestures each wd make to signify whatever they thought best. It seems to me that "waving sticks which made a noise" wd be more likely an attempt to scare the other off than a "token of peace". Then it seems to me that a "white shield" wd hardly be a universal symbol of peace. Whatever. Neither of them killed each other, that seems like a good start to me. & what about this "evil-looking" business?! What possible 'objective' basis cd such a judgment call have?! But back to Graenlendinga Saga.

"Soon they had plenty of good supplies, for a fine big rorqual was driven ashore; they went down and cut it up, and so there was no shortage of food." - p 65

&, what?, pray tell, is a "rorqual"?

"Rorquals (/ˈrɔːrkwəlz/) are the largest group of baleen whales, comprising the family Balaenopteridae, which contains ten extant species in three genera. They include the largest known animal that has ever lived, the blue whale, which can reach 180 tonnes (200 short tons), and the fin whale, which reaches 120 tonnes (130 short tons); even the smallest of the group, the northern minke whale, reaches 9 tonnes (10 short tons)." - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rorqual

That's what I figured.. but you never know, it might've meant a snake w/ TVs for eyes or some such.

& then there's Freydis. She manipulates a whole shipload of idiots into killing another shipload of suckers so that she can be richer. No femme fatale in noir has anything on her.

"Freydis returned to her farm, which had in no way suffered during her absence. She loaded all her companions with money, for she wanted them to keep her crimes secret; and then she settled down on her farm.

"But her companions were not all discreet enough to say nothing about these evil crimes and prevent them from becoming known. Eventually word reached the ears of her brother Leif, who thought it a hideous story. He seized three of Freydis' men and tortured them into revealing everything that had happened; their stories tallied exactly." - p 70

Was that really the only way "the Lucky" cd find out the truth?! Sheesh. Freydis doesn't get punished, Leif didn't have the heart to punish his sister. Well, moving onto the other saga about this biz, Eirik's Saga:

"Eirik's slaves started a landslide that destroyed the farm of a man called Valthjof, at Valthjofstead; so Eyjolf Saur, one of Valthjof's kinsmen, killed the slaves at Skeidsbrekkar, above Vatnshorn. For this, Eirik killed Ayjolf Saur; he also killed Hrafn the Dueller, at Leikskaler, Geirstein and Odd of Jorvi, who were Eyjolf's kinsmen, took action over his killing and Eirik was banished from Haukadale." - p 76

For the complete review go here: http://idioideo.pleintekst.nl/CriticV...

[Gnomeo · Rating 4 out of 5]

bad vibes, good info
Uni reading: damn right I’m counting this.

[Rik Van Rhee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Klein oud boekje gevonden in een tweedehands winkel. Erg interessant om over de gewoonten en schrijfstijl te leren van oud-IJslandse en oud-Groenlandse schrijvers.

[Mehm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yo I think I read the wrong one