112 DANIEL Bruun. 
But these moments passed all too quickly: 
“Soon she who watched the fire 
upon the door knocked hard: 
Now it is quite time 
that all speech stops.” 
The bitter hour of parting came: 
“To the ship he bore Katla 
and straight it sailed away.” 
In time it reached Iceland, and Katla once more took up her residence 
at Saudafell, where she wasted away in sorrow, and died after having 
given birth to Helgi’s son, whom he acknowledged later, when the 
twelve year old child was sent to Greenland. 
It is related of Helgi, that he in his old age at last found that peace 
of mind he so long had been deprived of. That highly intelligent man 
was the object of great estimation, and Icelanders who came trading, to 
Greenland, generally spent the winter at his house. 
Bard Helgi is said to have had a son born in Greenland, who also 
became a poet. 
Besides one knows fragments of a so called Nordrsetudrapa which 
is composed by a certain Sveinn during a stay at Greipar. The preserv- 
ed verses speak wildly and strongly of the howling of the wind and the 
roaring of the waves round the glaciers, which project into the sea, up 
there in the high north, — about: 
“Æger’s (1. e.: the sea’s) light-hearted daughters, who collected 
and spun the high mountains’ hard frozen whirls.” 
Through the poetical tales about the life in the desert regions 
in the north, we have got a distinct impression that these parts, which 
as well as being the goal for lively hunting expeditions in the light 
summer nights, was the scene of tragical events, and outlaws’ winter 
residences, through long periods have taken hold of their fancy. 
We will now relate about another Icelander, who in the time of 
King Harold Hardrade came to Greenland, where he bought a polar 
bear. Later on he went with it to Norway and Denmark, where he 
presented it to King Sven Estridsson, as it is told in a charming tale 
about him. 
The commercial intercourse between Greenland and Scandinavia 
could at times take place without greater misfortunes and within a 
reasonable span of time; but through the dangers and uncertainties 
of the ice, navigation entailed an ever increasing amount of disasters, 
of which we have an example in: 
The tale of Lika-Lodinn. 
