The Norsemen in the West

by R. M. Ballantyne

  CHAPTER SEVEN.

  SONGS AND SAGAS--VINLAND AT LAST!

  In days of old, just as in modern times, tars, when at sea, were wont toassemble on the "fo'c'sle," or forecastle, and spin yarns--as we haveseen--when the weather was fine and their work was done.

  One sunny afternoon, on the forecastle of Karlsefin's ship--which, bythe way, was called "_The Snake_," and had a snake's head and neck for afigure-head--there was assembled a group of seamen, among whom wereTyrker the Turk, one of Thorward's men named Swend, who was very stoutand heavy, and one of Karlsefin's men called Krake, who was a wildjocular man with a peculiar twang in his speech, the result of havingbeen long a prisoner in Ireland. We mention these men particularly,because it was they who took the chief part in conversations and instory-telling. The two Scots were also there, but they were very quiet,and talked little; nevertheless, they were interested and attentivelisteners. Olaf was there also, all eyes and ears,--for Olaf drank instories, and songs, and jests, as the sea-sand drinks water--so saidTyrker; but Krake immediately contradicted him, saying that when thesea-sand was full of water it drank no more, as was plain from the factthat it did not drink up the sea, whereas Olaf went on drinking and was_never_ satisfied.

  "Come, sing us a song, Krake," cried Tyrker, giving the former a slap onthe shoulder; "let us hear how the Danish kings were served by the Irishboys."

  "Not I," said Krake, firmly. "I've told ye two stories already. It'sHake's turn now to give us a song, or what else he pleases."

  "But you'll sing it after Hake has sung, won't you, Krake?" pleadedseveral of the men.

  "I'll not say `No' to that."

  Hake, who possessed a soft and deep bass voice of very fine quality, atonce acceded to the request for a song. Crossing his arms on his chest,and looking, as if in meditation, towards the eastern horizon, he sang,to one of his national airs, "The Land across the Sea."

  The deep pathos of Hake's voice, more than the words, melted these hardyNorsemen almost to tears, and for a few minutes effectually put toflight the spirit of fun that had prevailed.

  "That's your own composin', I'll be bound," said Krake, "an' sure it'snot bad. It's Scotland you mean, no doubt, by the land across the sea.Ah! I've heard much of that land. The natives are very fond of it,they say. It must be a fine country. I've heard Irishmen, who havebeen there, say that if it wasn't for Ireland they'd think it the finestcountry in the world."

  "No doubt," answered Hake with a laugh, "and I dare say Swend, there,would think it the finest country in the world after Norway."

  "Ha! Gamle Norge," [Old Norway] said Swend with enthusiasm, "there isno country like _that_ under the sun."

  "Except Greenland," said Olaf, stoutly.

  "Or Iceland," observed Biarne, who had joined the group. "Where can youshow such mountains--spouting fire, and smoke, and melted stones,--orsuch boiling fountains, ten feet thick and a hundred feet high, as wehave in Iceland?"

  "That's true," observed Krake, who was an Icelander.

  "Oh!" exclaimed Tyrker, with a peculiar twist of his ugly countenance,"Turkey is the land that beats all others completely."

  At this there was a general laugh.

  "Why, how can that be?" cried Swend, who was inclined to take up thequestion rather hotly. "What have you to boast of in Turkey?"

  "Eh! What have we _not_, is the question. What shall I say? Ha! wehave _grapes_ there; and we do make _such_ a drink of them--Oh!--"

  Here Tyrker screwed his face and figure into what was meant for acondition of ecstasy.

  "'Twere well that they had no grapes there, Tyrker," said Biarne, "forif all be true that Karlsefin tells us of that drink, they would bebetter without it."

  "I wish I had it!" remarked Tyrker, pathetically.

  "Well, it is said that we shall find grapes in Vinland," observed Swend,"and as we are told there is everything else there that man can desire,our new country will beat all the others put together,--so hurrah forVinland!"

  The cheer was given with right good-will, and then Tyrker reminded Krakeof his promise to sing a song. Krake, whose jovial spirits made himalways ready for anything, at once struck up to a rattling ditty:--

  THE DANISH KINGS.

  One night when one o' the Irish Kings Was sleeping in his bed, Six Danish Kings--so Sigvat sings-- Came an' cut off his head. The Irish boys they heard the noise, And flocked unto the shore; They caught the kings, and put out their eyes, And left them in their gore.

  _Chorus_--Oh! this is the way we served the kings, An' spoiled their pleasure, the dirty things, When they came to harry and flap their wings Upon the Irish shore-ore, Upon the Irish shore.

  Next year the Danes took terrible pains To wipe that stain away; They came with a fleet, their foes to meet, Across the stormy say. Each Irish carl great stones did hurl In such a mighty rain, The Danes went down, with a horrible stoun, An' never came up again!

  Oh! this is the way, etcetera.

  The men were still laughing and applauding Krake's song when Olaf, whochanced to look over the bow of the vessel, started up and shouted"Land, ho!" in a shrill voice, that rang through the whole ship.

  Instantly, the poop and forecastle were crowded, and there, on thestarboard bow, they saw a faint blue line of hills far away on thehorizon. Olaf got full credit for having discovered the land first onthis occasion; and for some time everything else was forgotten inspeculations as to what this new land would turn out to be; but thewind, which had been getting lighter every hour that day, died awayalmost to a calm, so that, as there was no prospect of reaching the landfor some hours, the men gradually fell back to their old places andoccupation.

  "Now, then, Krake," said Tyrker, "tell us the story about that king youwere talking of the other day; which was it? Harald--"

  "Ay, King Harald," said Krake, "and how he came to get the name ofGreyskin. Well, you must know that it's not many years ago since myfather, Sigurd, was a trader between Iceland and Norway. He went toother places too, sometimes--and once to Ireland, on which occasion itwas that I was taken prisoner and kept so long in the country, that Ibecame an Irishman. But after escaping and getting home I managed tochange back into an Icelander, as ye may see! Well, in my father'syounger days, before I was born--which was a pity! for he needed helpsorely at that time, and I would have been just the man to turn myselfhandy to any sort of work; however, it wasn't _my_ fault,--in hisyounger days, my father one summer went over from Iceland to Norway,--his ship loaded till she could hardly float, with skins and peltry,chiefly grey wolves. It's my opinion that the reason she didn't go downwas that they had packed her so tight there was no room for the water toget in and sink her. Anyway, over the sea she went and got safe toNorway.

  "At that time King Harald, one of the sons of Eric, reigned in Norway,after the death of King Hakon the Good. He and my father were greatfriends, but they had not met for some time; and not since Harald hadcome to his dignity. My father sailed to Hardanger, intending todispose of his pelts there if he could. Now, King Harald generally hadhis seat in Hordaland and Bogaland, and some of his brothers wereusually with him; but it chanced that year that they went to Hardanger,so my father and the king met, and had great doings, drinking beer andtalking about old times when they were boys together.

  "My father then went to the place where the greatest number of peoplewere met in the fiord, but nobody would buy any of his skins. Hecouldn't understand this at all, and was very much annoyed at it, and atnight when he was at supper with the king he tells him about it. Theking was in a funny humour that night. He had dashed his beard withbeer to a great extent, and laughed heartily sometimes without my fatherbeing able to see what was the joke. But my father was a knowing man.He knew well enough that people are sometimes given to hearty laughterwithout troubling themselves much about the joke--especially when theyare beery,--so he laughed too, out of friendliness, and was verysociable.

  "When my father went away the king promised t
o pay him a visit on boardof his ship next day, which he did, sure enough; and my father took careto let it be known that he was coming, so there was no lack of theprincipal people thereabouts. They had all come down together, by themerest chance, to the place where the ship lay, just to enjoy the freshair--being fresher there that day than at most other places on thefiord, no doubt!

  "King Harald came with a fully-manned boat, and a number of followers.He was very condescending and full of fun, as he had been the nightbefore. When he was going away he looked at the skins, and said to myfather, `Wilt thou give me a present of one of these wolf-skins?'

  "`Willingly,' says my father, `and as many more as you please.'

  "On this, the king wrapped himself up in a wolf-skin and went back tohis boat and rowed away. Immediately after, all the boats in his suitecame alongside and looked at the wolf-skins with great admiration, andevery man bought just such another wolf-skin as the king had got. In afew days so many people came to buy skins, that not half of them couldbe served with what they wanted, and the upshot was that my father'svessel was cleared out down to the keel, and thereafter the king went,as you know, by the name of Harald Greyskin.

  "But here we are, comrades," continued Krake, rising, "drawing near tothe land,--I'll have a look at it."

  The country off which they soon cast anchor was flat and overgrown withwood; and the strand far around consisted of white sand, and was verylow towards the sea. Biarne said that it was the country to which Leifhad given the name of Markland, because it was well-wooded; theytherefore went ashore in the small boat, but finding nothing inparticular to attract their interest, they soon returned on board andagain put to sea with an onshore wind from the north-east. [Someantiquaries appear to be of opinion that Helloland must have beenNewfoundland, and Markland some part of Nova Scotia.]

  For two days they continued their voyage with the same wind, and thenmade land for the third time and found it to be an island. It wasblowing hard at the time, and Biarne advised that they should takeshelter there and wait for good weather. This they did, and, as before,a few of them landed to explore the country, but there was not much totake note of. Little Olaf, who was one of the explorers, observed dewon the grass, and, remembering that Leif had said that the dew on one ofthe islands which he met with was _sweet_, he shook some into the hollowof his hand and tasted it, but looked disappointed.

  "Are you thirsty, Olaf?" asked Karlsefin, who, with Biarne, walkedbeside him.

  "No, but I wondered if the dew would be sweet. My father said it was,on one of the islands he came to."

  "Foolish boy," said Biarne, laughing; "Leif did but speak in a figure.He was very hot and tired at the time, and found the dew sweet to histhirsty spirit as well as refreshing to his tongue."

  "Thus you see, Olaf," observed Karlsefin, with a sly look at Biarne,"whenever you chance to observe your father getting angry, and hear himsay that his beer is sour, you are not to suppose that it is reallysour, but must understand that it is only sour to his cross spirit aswell as disagreeable to his tongue."

  Olaf received this with a loud laugh, for, though he was puzzled for amoment by Biarne's explanation, he saw through the jest at once.

  "Well, Biarne," returned Olaf; "whether the dew was sweet to my father'stongue or to his spirit I cannot tell, but I remember that when he toldus about the sweet dew, he said it was near to the island where he foundit that the country he called Vinland lay. So, if this be the sweet-dewisland, Vinland cannot be far off."

  "The boy is sharp beyond his years," said Karlsefin, stopping abruptlyand looking at Biarne; "what thinkest thou of that?"

  "I think," replied the other, "that Olaf will be a great discoverer someday, for it seems to me not unlikely that he may be right."

  "Come, we shall soon see," said Karlsefin, turning round and hasteningback to the boat.

  Biarne either had not seen this particular spot on his former visit tothese shores, which is quite probable, or he may have forgotten it, forhe did not recognise it as he had done the first land they made; butbefore they left Ericsfiord, Leif had given them a very minute andcareful description of the appearance of the coast of Vinland,especially of that part of it where he had made good his landing and setup his booths, so that the explorers might be in a position to judgecorrectly when they should approach it. Nevertheless, as every oneknows, regions, even when well defined, may wear very different aspectswhen seen by different people, for the first time, from different pointsof view. So it was on this occasion. The voyagers had hit the island ashort distance further south than the spot where Leif came upon it, anddid not recognise it in the least. Indeed they had begun to doubtwhether it really was an island at all. But now that Olaf had awakenedtheir suspicions, they hastened eagerly on board the "_Snake_," andsailed round the coast until they came into a sound which lay betweenthe Island and a cape that jutted out northward from the land.

  "'Tis Vinland!" cried Biarne in an excited tone.

  "Don't be too sure of that," said Thorward, as a sudden burst ofsunshine lit up land and sea.

  "I cannot be too sure," cried Biarne, pointing to the land. "See, thereis the ness that Leif spoke of going out northwards from the land; thereis the island; here, between it and the ness, is the sound, and yonder,doubtless, is the mouth of the river which comes out of the lake wherethe son of Eric built his booths. Ho! Vinland! hurrah!" he shouted,enthusiastically waving his cap above his head.

  The men were not slow to echo his cheer, and they gave it forth not awhit less heartily.

  "'Tis a noble land to look upon," said Gudrid, who with the otherfemales of the party had been for some time gazing silently andwistfully towards it.

  "Perchance it may be a _great_ land some day," observed Karlsefin.

  "Who knows?" murmured Thorward in a contemplative tone.

  "Ay, who knows?" echoed Biarne; "time and luck can work wonders."

  "God's blessing can work wonders," said Karlsefin, impressively; "may Hegrant it to us while we sojourn here!"

  With that he gave orders to prepare to let go the anchor, but the sound,over which they were gliding slowly before a light wind, was veryshallow, and he had scarcely ceased speaking when the ship struck withconsiderable violence, and remained fast upon the sand.