IN NORTHERN MISTS 



rived in Ireland late in the autumn, stayed that winter at Dublin, and sailed 

 next summer to Iceland [cf. Gronl. his. Mind., i. 769 f.]. 



It is clear that Bjorn Breidvikinge-kjasmpe here is the 

 same as Are Marsson in the " Landnama," who was also driven 

 by storms to Hvitramanna-land, had to stay there all his 

 life, and according to the report of Thorfinn, Earl of Orkney, 

 (ob. circa 1064) had been recognized (by travelers like 

 Gudleif?), and was much honored there. This incident of 

 the travelers coming to an unknown island and there finding 

 a man who has been absent a long while has parallels in 

 many Irish legends. Thus, it may be mentioned that Brandan, 

 in the " Navigatio," comes to the convent-island of Alibius, 

 with the twenty-four Irish monks of old days, and meets 

 there the old white-haired man who was prior of the convent 

 and had been there for eighty years, but who does not tell 

 his name. Brandan asks leave to sail on, but this is not 

 permitted until they have celebrated Christmas there [Schroder, 

 i87i,pp. 15 f.]-' 



The resemblance between the two names *' GuS-Leifr " 

 (Gudleif = God-Leif) and " Leifr hinn Heppni " (Leif the 

 Lucky) also deserves notice, as perhaps it is not merely acci- 

 dental. One sails during the last years of St. Olaf from Ireland 

 to Iceland and is carried south-westward to Hvitramanna-land ; 

 the other sails during the last years of Olaf Tryggvason from 

 Norway to Greenland and is carried south-westward to Wine- 

 land the Good. 



It might also be thought to be more than a mere coincidence that, while 

 Leif Ericson is given the surname of " hinn Heppni," a closely related surname 

 is mentioned in connection with Gudleif in the " Eyrbyggja Saga," where he is 

 called " GuSleifr GuSlaugsson bins auc5ga " (i.e., son of Gudlaug the rich). In 

 the one case, of course, it is the man himself, in the other the father, who 

 bears the surname. " AuSigr " means rich, but originally it had the meaning 



1 Before the convent on this island Brandan and his companions were met 

 by the monks "with cross, and cloaks [white clothes?], and hymns"; cf. the 

 men in white clothes, who cried aloud and carried poles in Eric the Red's Saga. 

 On the " Strong Men's Island " they also sang psalms, and one generation 

 wore white clothes. 

 50 



