WINELAND THE GOOD 



Wineland voyages is a mosaic of one feature after another 

 gathered from east and west. Is there, then, anything left 

 that may be genuine? To this it may be answered that 

 even if the romance of the voyages be for the most 

 part invented — to some extent, perhaps, from ancient lays — 

 the chief persons themselves may be more or less historical. 

 It is nevertheless curious that it should be reserved to father 

 and son first to discover and settle Greenland, and then 

 accidentally to discover Wineland. That to Leif, the 

 young leader, should further be attributed the introduction 

 of Christianity, and that he should thus represent the new 

 faith in opposition to his father, the old leader, who repre- 

 sented heathendom, may also seem a remarkable coincidence, 

 but it may find an explanation in the probability of a new 

 faith being introduced by men of influence, and just as in 

 Norway it was done by kings, so in Greenland it was 

 naturally the work of the future chief of the free state. 

 Although it is strange that such a circumstance should not be 

 mentioned when Leif's name occurs in the oldest authorities 

 (" Landnama"), this may thus appear probable. On the other 

 hand, no such explanation can be found for the circumstance 

 that he of all others should accidentally discover America. It 

 would be somewhat different if, as in the " Gronlendinga- 

 f'attr," Leif had of set purpose gone out to find new land, like 

 his father. It is also curious that in the saga we hear no 

 more either of Leif or his ship on the new voyages, after his 

 accidental discovery, while it is another, Karlsevne, who 

 becomes the hero. It looks as though the tale of Leif had 

 been inserted without proper connection. In the " Gron- 

 lendinga-f^attr," too, this discovery is attributed to another 

 man, Bjarne Herjolfsson, which shows that the tradition 

 about Leif was not firmly rooted. It may be supposed that 

 there was a tradition in Iceland of the discovery of new land 

 to the south-west of Greenland, and this became connected 

 with the legends of the fortunate " Wineland the Good." 

 Popular belief then searched for a name with which to 



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