WINELAND THE GOOD 



Whether we regard Wineland as merely a mythical country, 

 or as a country actually discovered to which the name of the 

 mythical land was transferred, this limited dissemination of it in 

 literature and on maps is striking. It shows that knowledge of 

 the myth, or of the country with the mythical name, belonged 

 to older times, was not very widely spread outside the Scandi- 

 navian countries and Ireland, and was afterwards forgotten, in 

 spite of the frequent communication that existed between the 

 intellectual world of the North and that of the South [cf. Jos. 

 Fischer, 1902, pp. 106 f.]. 



While probably the name of Hvitramanna-land is still 

 preserved in the fairy-tale of Hvittenland, it is possibly the name 

 of Wineland that has been preserved in that " Vinland " 

 which is mentioned in the Faroese lay of " Finnur hinn 

 FriSi " ; ^ but if so, it is the only known instance of its 

 occurrence in popular poetry. The Norwegian jarl's son, 

 Finnur hinn FriSi (Finn the Fair), courts Ingebjorg, the 

 daughter of an Irish king; she is beautiful as the sun, and 

 the color of her maiden cheeks is like blood dropped from 

 snow.2 She makes answer : " Hadst thou slain the Wine- 

 kings, then shouldst thou wed me." To Wineland is a far 

 voyage, with currents and mighty billows. But Finn begs 

 his brother, Halfdan, to go with him over the Wineland sea. 

 They hoist their silken sail, and never lower it till they arrive 

 at Wineland. There they found the three Wine-kings. 

 Thorstein, the first, came on a black horse, but Finn tore him 

 off at the navel; the second, Ivint, also came on a black 

 horse. But the third transformed himself into a flying 

 dragon; arrows flew from each of his feathers, and he killed 

 many of their men. The worst was that he shot venom from 

 his mouth under Finn's coat of mail, who, though he could 

 not be killed by arms, had to die. He then drew a golden 

 ring from his arm and sent it by Halfdan to Ingebjorg, 



1 Cf. Hammershaimb, 1855, PP- loS f-J Rafn, Antiqu. Americ, pp. 330 f. 



2 This image of blood upon snow is taken from Irish mediaeval texts, as 

 Moltke Moe informs me. 



33 



