ESKIMO AND SKRJELING 



bodies and as dangerous opponents, quite worthy of mention 

 even for nobles, the harmless and timorous Skraslings of 

 Greenland were too well known to be used as interesting 

 material; they were met with in small, scattered bands, 

 and could be maltreated without any particular danger. 

 They belonged to the commonplace, and the commonplace was 

 what a saga writer had to avoid above all; it is for the 

 same reason that we scarcely hear anything about the 

 Greenlanders' and other Norsemen's whaling and sealing 

 and their expeditions for this purpose (e.g., to NorSrsetur) ; 

 Only here and there a few words are let fall about these 

 things, which to us would be of so much greater value than 

 all the tales of fighting and slaughter. But as regards 

 the Skraaelings of Greenland, there was the additional circum- 

 stance that they were heathens; consequently intercourse 

 with them was forbidden by the laws of the Church, and it 

 was therefore best to say nothing about it. Besides, they 

 were always regarded in Iceland as fairies or trolls, and, as 

 we have said, their name was translated by " Pygmaei," and 

 it has been the same with them as with huldrefolk and 

 goblins, who as a rule are not mentioned in the sagas either 

 in Iceland or Norway, though, of course, they were believed 

 in, and there can have been no lack of " authentic " stories 

 about them. In several passages of Icelandic literature the 

 Skraelings are alluded to as trolls; to kill them was perhaps 

 meritorious, but it was nothing to boast about. In the 

 " Floamanna-saga " it is related that Thorgils Orrabeinsfostre, 

 on his wonderful voyage along the east coast of Greenland, 

 one morning saw a large sea-monster stranded in a creek, 

 and two troll-hags (in skin-kirtles) were tying up big bundles 

 of it; he rushed up, and as one of them was lifting her 

 bundle he cut off her hand so that her burden fell, and she 

 ran away. They may be regarded as Eskimo. It is true 

 that this saga is so full of marvels and inventions (cf. Vol. I, p. 

 281) that we cannot atribute much historical value to it, but it 

 shows, nevertheless, the way in which they were looked upon. 



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