l8 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. 10/ 



wonders what they did about the broken ribs, and if Eric partook of 

 those "high spirits" with which, as the chronicler assures us, they all 

 set out. According to the Flat Island Book, however, in falling from 

 his horse Eric merely wounded his foot and yet he gave up his inten- 

 tion to go to sea and returned home. 



The two narratives are in substantial agreement as to the size of 

 the crew which Thorstein had and their trials. 



Thorstein and Gudrid spent the next winter at Lysufirth and 

 the remarkable events which took place there are detailed at length 

 by both of our chroniclers. As just stated, they differ as to the time 

 when Thorstein and Gudrid were married and the time when they 

 went to Lysufirth. The Saga states that they removed because Thor- 

 stein owned an estate there jointly with another Thorstein called 

 Thorstein the Swarthy. According to the Flat Island Book they 

 landed at Lysufirth and were unable to find lodgings for the winter 

 until the other Thorstein took them in. The narratives agree, however, 

 in saying that Thorstein Ericsson and the wife of Thorstein the 

 Swarthy died that winter, that the corpses of both came to life 

 afterward, and that Thorstein Ericsson then informed Gudrid that 

 she was to marry an Icelander and have illustrious progeny. How- 

 ever, they differ in enough details to show that we have separate 

 streams of tradition. According to the Saga, Thorstein the Swarthy's 

 wife was named Sigrid ; according to the other document it was Grim- 

 hild. The Saga alone tells us that she saw the spirits of her dead com- 

 panions and of herself as a prelude to her own death, and that the 

 principal among them was the overseer of the estate, Gard, who was 

 responsible for the various apparitions. In consequence Thorstein in- 

 structs his wife that Gard's body is to be burned but that the others 

 must be taken to Ericsfirth to be buried in consecrated ground. In 

 the Flat Island Book Thorstein is made to foretell to his wife not 

 merely her marriage to an Icelander but a later pilgrimage to "the 

 South," that is, to Rome, and that she will finally take the veil. Both 

 agree as to the final disposition of the bodies and also in stating that 

 Gudrid went to live at Brattahlid, though the Saga informs us that 

 she stayed with Eric, while the Flat Island Book says Leif, having 

 previously entered a note to the effect that Eric was dead. In this 

 last item the Saga appears to have been correct. 



At this point Thorfinn Karlsefni, the central figure of the Saga 

 and the most important one in the Flat Island Book, comes upon the 

 scene from Iceland. His ancestry is given with considerable care by 

 both chroniclers. It seems that he was a successful trader, and one 



