IN NORTHERN MISTS 



tion of the striking juxtaposition of the two leading features 

 of the latter, the wild vine and the self-sown wheat, 

 which are identical with the two leading features in the 

 description of the Insulae Fortunatae. If it were permis- 

 sible to prove in this way that the ancient Norsemen 

 reached the east coast of North America, then it might be 

 concluded with almost equal right that the Greeks and 

 Romans of antiquity were there; for they already had the 

 same two features in their descriptions of the fortunate isles 

 in the west. It should be remembered that wheat was not 

 a commonly known cereal in the north, where it was not 

 cultivated, and it would hardly be natural for the Icelanders 

 to use that particular name for a wild species of corn. Both 

 wheat and grapes or vines were to them foreign ideas, and the 

 remarkable juxtaposition of these very two words shows that 

 they came together from southern Europe, where, as has 

 been said, we find them in Isidore, and where wine and wheat 

 were important commercial products which one often finds 

 mentioned together. 



If we now proceed further in the description of the Wine- 

 land voyages in the Saga of Eric the Red, we come to the 

 encounters with the Skraelings. These encounters are, of 

 course, three in number: first they come to see, then to 

 trade, and then to fight; this again recalls the fairy tale. 

 The narrative itself of the battle with the Skraelings has 

 borrowed features. The Skraelings' catapults make one think 

 of the civilized countries of Europe, where catapults (i.e., 



they were familiar in Iceland. On the other hand, it is possible that the 

 " masurr " of the sagas only meant valbirch. But apart from this, how can the 

 sagas' description of Wineland — where no snow fell, where there was hardly 

 any frost, the grass scarcely withered, and the cattle were out the whole win- 

 ter — be applied to Labrador? Or where are Markland or Helluland to be 

 looked for, or FurSustrandir and Kjalames? Nor do we gain any more con- 

 nection in the voyage as a whole. It will therefore be seen that, even if Prof. 

 Fernald had been right in his interpretation of the three words above men- 

 tioned, this would not help us much; and when we find that these very features 

 of the vine and the wheat are derived from classical myths, such attempts at 

 explanation become of minor interest. 



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