142 



THE KING'S MIRROR 







Father. The answer to your query as to what people 

 go to seek in that country and why they fare thither 

 through such great perils is to be sought iiman's three- 

 fold nature. One motive is fame and rivalry, for it is in 

 the nature of man to seek places where great dangers 

 may be met, and thus to win fame. A second motive is 

 curiosity, for it is also in man's nature to wish to see 

 and experience the things that he has heard about, and 

 thus to learn whether the facts are as told or not. The 

 third is desire for gain; for men seek wealth wherever 

 they have heard that gain is to be gotten, though, on 

 the other hand, there may be great dangers toojBut 

 in Greenland it is this way, as you probably know, that 

 whatever comes from other lands is high in price, for 

 this land lies so distant from other countries that men 

 seldom visit it. And everything that is needed to im- 

 - prove the land must be purchased abroad,[both iron and 

 all the timber used in building houses Jin return for their 



/wares the merchants bring back the /folio wing products: 

 buckskin, or hides, sealskins, and rope of the kind that 

 \ we talked about earlier which is called " leather rope " 

 / and is cut from the fish called walrus, and also the teeth 

 - of the walrus. J 



As to {whether any sort of grain can grow there, my 

 belief is that the country draws but little profit from 

 that source.] And yet there are men among those who 

 are counted the wealthiest and most prominent who 

 "** ^5/-?" ave tr i e( l to sow grain as an experiment; but(the great 

 ;^ // ma J r ity in that country do not know what bread is, 

 having never seen it.]You have also asked about the ex- 

 tent of the land and whether it is mainland or an island; 



