The news of Bjarne's voyage and of his discovery of land
seems to have been carried presently to the Norsemen in
Iceland and in Europe. In fact, Bjarne himself made a
voyage to Norway, and, on account of what he had done,
figured there as a person of some importance. But people
blamed Bjarne because he had not landed on the new coasts,
and had taken so little pains to find out more about the
region of hills and forests which lay to the south and
west of Greenland. Naturally others were tempted to follow
the matter further. Among these was Leif, son of Eric
the Red. Leif went to Greenland, found Bjarne, bought
his ship, and manned it with a crew of thirty-five. Leif's
father, Eric, now lived in Greenland, and Leif asked him
to take command of the expedition. He thought, the saga
says, that, since Eric had found Greenland, he would
bring good luck to the new venture. For the time, Eric
consented, but when all was ready, and he was riding down
to the shore to embark, his horse stumbled and he fell
from the saddle and hurt his foot. Eric took this as an
omen of evil, and would not go; but Leif and his crew of
thirty-five set sail towards the south-west.
Pages:
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78