Page:Great Men and Famous Women Volume 5.djvu/95

 LEIF ERICSON 58 launched a second small boat, which they had brought with them. Tyrker in- quired who was the leader of the party. He replied that his name was Thare, and that he was a Norwegian. ' But what is thy name ? ' Leif gave his name. ' Art thou a son of Eric the Red, of Brattahlid ? ' says he. Leif replied that he was. ' It is now my wish,' Leif continued, ' to take you all into my ship, and likewise as much of your possessions as the ship will hold.' " This offer was accepted, and [with their ship] thus laden, they held their course toward Ericsfirth, and sailed until they arrived at Brattahlid. Having discharged his cargo, Leif invited Thare, with his wife, Gudrid, and three others to make their home with him, and procured quarters for the other members of the crew, both for his own and Thare's men. Leif rescued fifteen men from the skerry. He was from that time forth called Leif the Lucky." The time of Leif's voyage to Wineland has been fixed at 1000 A.D. For we learn that it took place while Olaf Tryggveson (995-1000 A.D.) was king in Nor- way ; and scarcely less than four or five years could have elapsed since Leif's first meeting with the king in Drontheim, shortly after the death of his predecessor, Earl Hakon. The remainder of the Saga of Eric the Red is occupied with an account of the successive Wineland voyages of Thorwald Ericson, the brother of Leif, Thor- finn Karlsefne, and of Leif's sister, Freydis, who was as quarrelsome, proud, and pugnacious as her father. The Indians (called by the Norsemen Skrellings), who had failed to disturb Leif, made demonstrations of hostility against Thorfinn Karlsefne, and after the loss of several of his men, compelled him to abandon the attempt at a permanent settlement. The tradition of these Wineland voyages continued, however, to be trans- mitted from generation to generation in Iceland, and in the early part of the four- teenth century was committed to writing. It will be seen that the saga to which I have referred was not written prima- rily with a view to establish Leif's claim to be the discoverer of Wineland. In the first place the story, in the shape in which we have it, is more than a century and a half older than the Columbian discovery, and there could, accordingly, be no great glory in having found a country which had since been lost. Secondly, the saga is (like most Icelandic sagas) a family chronicle, purporting to relate all matters of interest pertaining to the race of Eric the Red. The Wineland voy- ages are treated as remarkable incidents in this chronicle, but they hardly occupy any more space than properly belongs to them in a family history which is con- cerned with a great many other things besides. The importance of this as cor- roborating the authenticity of the narrative, can scarcely be over-estimated.