Boundaries of Difference in the Vinland Sagas E.A. Williamsen Indiana University M osTTWENTiETH-CENTURY study ofthe Vinland sagas, lendinga saga and Eiriks sa£fa rauda, has been historical and archaeological in nature; scholars have been very concerned with the veracity ofthe narratives the sagas relate. Paleographers have compared the manuscripts—and even their content—to determine which ofthe two is older. Most scholars now seem to accept Jon Johannesson's assertion that Grxnlendinga saga is the older of the two dating from c. I2OO.' Historians have delved into chronicles to study more dryly factual accounts ofthe saga characters' doings to determine the histori- cal probability of these characters' undertaking the voyages related in the sagas.^ Ever since Gustav Storm's 1887 assertion that Vinland must have been in Nova Scotia, archaeologists have reconstruaed ships, retraced voyage routes, and tried somewhat obsessively to determine where Vinland actually is and what actual Native American tribes the Norsemen encountered. The proposed locations range from Maryland to Labrador and all points in between, and the natives are associated with either the Micmac or the Boethuk depending in part on the scholar's idea ofthe location in question.^ 1. Helgi I>orlaksson provides a succina overview ofthe dating debate with his own reasons for agreeing with J6hannesson in his "The Vinland Sagas in a Gantemporary Light." 2. Notably, Erik Wahlgren's "Fact and Fancy in the Vinland Sagas" attempts to verify the probable factuality ofthe main episodes ofthe sagas. 3. Mats G. Larsson recendy examined the saga details in an exhaustive comparison with the known facts about the shape ofthe Nova Scotia coastline, native inhabitants, climate and vegetation c. 1000. He concludes that the sagas probably cannot help us determine whether the L'Anse aux Meadows site is a settlement referred to in the sagas. Birgitta Linderoth Wallace suggests the L'Anse aux Meadows site "marks the northern entrance to Vinland and is the gateway to the riches of Vinland" (231).
Transcript
Boundaries of Difference in theVinland Sagas
E.A. Williamsen
Indiana University
MosTTWENTiETH-CENTURY study ofthe Vinland sagas,
lendinga saga and Eiriks sa£fa rauda, has been historical and
archaeological in nature; scholars have been very concerned
with the veracity ofthe narratives the sagas relate. Paleographers have
compared the manuscripts—and even their content—to determine which
ofthe two is older. Most scholars now seem to accept Jon Johannesson's
assertion that Grxnlendinga saga is the older of the two dating from
c. I2OO.' Historians have delved into chronicles to study more dryly
factual accounts ofthe saga characters' doings to determine the histori-
cal probability of these characters' undertaking the voyages related in
the sagas.^ Ever since Gustav Storm's 1887 assertion that Vinland must
have been in Nova Scotia, archaeologists have reconstruaed ships,
retraced voyage routes, and tried somewhat obsessively to determine
where Vinland actually is and what actual Native American tribes the
Norsemen encountered. The proposed locations range from Maryland to
Labrador and all points in between, and the natives are associated with
either the Micmac or the Boethuk depending in part on the scholar's
idea ofthe location in question.^
1. Helgi I>orlaksson provides a succina overview ofthe dating debate with his own reasons
for agreeing with J6hannesson in his "The Vinland Sagas in a Gantemporary Light."
2. Notably, Erik Wahlgren's "Fact and Fancy in the Vinland Sagas" attempts to verify the
probable factuality ofthe main episodes ofthe sagas.
3. Mats G. Larsson recendy examined the saga details in an exhaustive comparison with
the known facts about the shape ofthe Nova Scotia coastline, native inhabitants, climate
and vegetation c. 1000. He concludes that the sagas probably cannot help us determine
whether the L'Anse aux Meadows site is a settlement referred to in the sagas. Birgitta
Linderoth Wallace suggests the L'Anse aux Meadows site "marks the northern entrance
to Vinland and is the gateway to the riches of Vinland" (231).
452 SCANDINAVIAN STUDIES
In the shadow ofthe overwhelming concern with determining what
parts ofthe sagas are factual and what parts fictional, scholars have given
surprisingly little attention to these texts as literary rather than historical
artifacts. These sagas are ripe for such interpretation and offer the reader
interesting characters and high adventure. The narrative of exploration
of the unknown and encounters with unfamiliar peoples are perhaps
among the most striking features of these sagas. The heroes boldly enter
the new lands they discover, expecting a paradise that lures them because
of its difference from what they know. These differences and the route
are the main foci of the two sagas, but the route ultimately does not
lead to paradise. The Norsemen's often violent interactions with Native
Americans mar their explorations and attempts to settle; the travelers
react to the natives' racial Otherness by constructing boundaries, both
physical and mental, to keep the natives away. The boimdaries of dif-
ference constructed by the Norsemen finally push them away from this
land of plenty.
The Vinland sagas are narratives of travel and exploration in which the
charaaers take leave ofa familiar land to investigate a new one. According
to Casey Blanton's genre study Travel Writing: The Self and the World,
travel writing's main purpose in narrating such events throughout the
history ofthe genre has been to introduce the other to the narrative's
readers (xi). However, he states, early travel accounts, such as those of
the Middle Ages, are so tightly bound by their objects of devotion or
economics that they obscure the narrator's thoughts about his experi-
ences and fail properly to introduce otherness to the reader (3). Not
until the Renaissance, he claims, does a personal voice emerge in travel
literature to allow the important interplay between observer and observed
that characterizes the mature form ofthe genre (9). Meanwhile, Stephen
Greenblatt argues that the real difference between a medieval text like
the fourteenth-century Mandeville's Travels and those of Renaissance
and Enlightenment explorers is that Mandeville's text is not interested
in personal ownership ofthe lands described, although he would not
mind their "possession" by a Christian empire (27-8). While Greenblatt's
assessment of the diflference between medieval and later travel narra-
tives is problematic, his interpretation of Mandeville is made possible
by the interplay between observer and observed, which Blanton finds
important to the genre, even if the traveler's voice does not use quite
the same formulas as a nineteenth-century traveler might employ. The
medieval text becomes interpretable because ofthe specific feature that
B O U N D A R I E S O F D I F F E R E N C E 453
Blanton asserts does not exist in travel texts before the eighteenth cen-
tury. Although a medieval travel narrative might indeed be bound by a
religious or economic agenda, the text nonetheless presents otherness
to the reader. Even an encyclopedic compiler like "Sir John Mandeville"
depicts such interplay through his fictional eyewitness accounts that
allow the reader to see how a "selT' or the perception of the "same"
might be affected by cross-cultural encounters in the particular climate
ofthe Middle Ages. The "self" ofthe travel narrative is removed from
its familiar context and placed into strange or even dangerous situa-
tions that may call for a rethinking of assumptions, whether about the
foreign culture or about its own.*
Despite all the possibilities offered by medieval travel literature, few
scholars have applied themselves to its study. Meanwhile, travel scholar-
ship is burgeoning in other periods of study, particularly eighteenth- and
nineteenth-century studies, when the popularity ofthe Grand Tour was
at its height and literary travel journals abounded. Scholars like Mary
Lxjuise Pratt and Caren Kaplan have made interesting connections
between travel writing and imperialism, but often such scholars' focus
on particularly modern or postmodern aspects of travel has led them
to overlook pre-Enlightenment travel literature. Some early modern
scholars like Stephen Greenblatt are beginning to follow suit, though
they focus almost exclusively on material relating to the discovery and
exploration of the New World. In medieval studies, only a handful
of scholars have focused their attentions on travel narratives, and not
many among this small group have achieved studies of any length; the
4. Mary B. Campbell observes that the genre of travel narrative "is a genre that confronts,
at their extreme limit, representational tasks proper to a number of literary kinds: the
translation of experience into narrative and description, ofthe strange into the visible, of
observation into the verbal construction of fact; the deployment of personal voice in the
service of transmitting information (or the creation of devotional texts); the manipulation
of rhetorical figures for ends other than ornament. Some of these demands are familiar
to the 'participant-observers' of ethnography, others to writers and critics of fiaional
realism or historiography. All of them are important to the analysis of travel writing"
(6). Although the Vinland sagas largely lack the personal voice important to Campbell in
defining the genre, there is no doubt that the characters ofthe sagas have personalities,
as we can see through their reactions to the events that befall them in the new lands. The
sagas most definitely fulfill Campbell's first genre feature, the descriptive narrative that
translates observation into fact (or something very like faa). For an interesting analysis
of rhetorical figures in the sagas, see Jerold C. Frakes's "Vikings, Vinland, and the Dis-
course of Eurocentrism," in which Frakes identifies some ofthe ways in which the sagas's
representation of North America draws upon Latin tradition.
454 SCANDINAVIAN STUDIES
collections of essays to which they have contributed, however, showthe range of the literature of travel, as they cover material from mapsto itineraries to romances to histories.'
Although the Vinland sagas lack the first-person, reflective narra-tive that defines the genre in the eighteenth century and beyond, thesagas are representations of travel that, as Blanton finds so important,do indeed introduce the other to the reader through their descrip-tions of both the new lands themselves and ofthe inhabitants of theselands. In the study of travel literature, the narrative in its simplest formrelates the events arising from traveling through space. According toSyed Manzurul Islam, "the presumed departure and arrival, in thevery process of their movement, paradoxically stages the thresholdto be crossed, and enacts 'the between' that divides and joins spatiallocations" {Ethics 5). In order to leave one place and enter another, thetraveler must cross some sort of border that delineates the home spacefrom the destination. This border may be a physical boundary, such asa mountain range or an ocean, or it may be an imaginary, constructedboundary of difference that divides the spaces identified as home andnon-home (Islam, Ethics 61). As Islam puts it, "before a narrative ofdifference can begin, the text must establish points of departure, linesof boundary, whose crossing enables the very possibility of representingotherness" ("Marco Polo" 2). All travel narratives are inherendy narra-tives of difference, in that the destination described is not perceived asidentical to the homeland—if it were, it would not be a destination. Ifthere exist no physical bovindaries to be crossed, then boundaries mustbe constructed, for without crossing boundaries, the traveler cannotarrive at his destination.
In Grwnlendinga saga and Eiriks sa^a rat^a,, the North AdanticOcean functions as a conspicuous physical boundary separating theGreenland explorers from the North American continent, which is theirgoal. The texts, however, construct additional boundaries to separatethe new lands from familiar Greenland. In Grxnlendinga saga, BjarniHerjolfsson discovers the North American continent accidentally onhis way to Greenland when he is blown off course and disoriented by
5. See Mary B. Campbell's JJie Witness and the Other World: Exotic European Travel Writing
400-1600:, Sylvia Tomasch and Sealy Gilles's Text and Territory: Geographical Imagination
in the European Middle Ages; Scott Westrem's Discovering New Worlds: Essays on Medieval
Exploration and Imagination.
B O U N D A R I E S O F D I F F E R E N C E 455
fog: "En ^a tok af byrina, ok lagdi a norrcenur ok ^okur, ok vissu jjeir
eigi, hvert at J)eir foru, ok skipti ̂ at mprgum doegrum" (246) [and dien
the wind died down and they were beset by storm and fog, and they
did not know where they were going for many days].* In Eirtks sa^a
rauda, Leifr Eiriksson experiences a similar disorientation on his way
from Norway to Greenland: "Lstr Leifr 1 haf ok er lengi liti ok hitti a
l9nd J3au, er hann vissi aflr enga van til" (211) [Leifr set out to sea was
tossed around for a long time and hit on lands where he did not know
there were any]. Bjarni can perhaps be forgiven for getting lost since
"engi var hefir komit 1 Groenlandshaf' (246) [none of us have come to
Greenland's sea], but Leifr is more familiar with the route to Greenland.
Still, neither can help the weather, and both discover hitherto unknown
lands. Jonathan Wooding has compared the fog Bjarni experiences to
mystical clouds that often befuddle adventurers in Irish voyage stories
(HI) . It seems just as logical to read Bjarni's and Leifr's dual disorientation
on the seas as the boundary each must initially cross in order to reach
the unknown lands of North America. If each had been able to keep to
his course through familiar waters, he would have reached Greenland
none the wiser, but the loss of direction each experiences separates him
from the known and opens up the unfamiliar.
The disorienting storm, however, appears to work only once in this
fashion; subsequent storms do not bring would-be explorers any closer
to the new lands. In each saga, I>orsteinn Eiriksson attempts a journey
to the west and finds himself blown back to Greenland. The surest way
to reach the lands discovered by Bjarni or Leifr seems to be to get good
directions. Non-fiction travel narratives, especially pilgrimage guides,
are notorious for step-by-step instructions delineating the path: as Paul
Zumthor observes, "every Christian is called to join ... and those who
already belong exhort others to follow the szmepath. It is a question, in
fact, of a path, important only by virtue ofthe holy places that mark the
route" (810). Similarly, in Granlendin^a saga, Bjarni's discovery ofthe
North American coast is described in terms of landmarks and distances.
When the crew first sights land after the period of disorientation, Bjarni
advises them to sail close to the shore so that they can see if the land
looks like Greenland:
Ok svAgera, peir ok sd pat brdtt, at landit var djjgldu ok skdgi vaxit, ok
smdr hiedir d landinu, ok letu landit d bakborda ok letu skaut horfa d land.
6. The text of both sagas is taken from the Islenzk fomrit edition. Translations are my
iHtlaSipat enn Greenland. Hann kvazk eigi heldr £tlapetta Greenland en it
fyrra,—"pn at jgklar eru mjgk miklir sagdir a Granlandi." PeirnAlgudusk
hrdttpetta land ok sdpat vera slett land ok vidi vaxit.... Hann badpd vinda
se^l, ok svd vargqrt, ok settu framstafh frd landi ok sigla i haf utsynnings
byrprjii docgr ok sdpd land itpridja; en pat land var hdtt okfglldtt okjgkull
d; peir spyrjapd, efBjami vildi at landi Idtapar, en hann kvazk eigipat
vilja,—"pvi at mer Uzkpetta land dgagnv£nligt." Nti Iggdupeir eigi segl
sitt, halda med landinufram ok sd, at pat var eyland; settu enn stafn vid
pvi landi ok heldu i haf inn sama byr.... Sigldu nu fggur dwgr. Pd sd peir
land itforda. (246-7)
(And so they did and saw at once that the land was not mountain-ous and grown with forests and had small hills in the land, and theykept the land on their port side and sailed along the shore. Then theysailed for two days before they saw another land. They asked Bjarniif he thought it was Greenland. He said it did not seem more likeGreenland than the first—"because there are said to be many largeglaciers in Greenland." They approached the land quickly and sawthat it was a flat and wooded land.... He bade them to hoist the sail,and they did so and turned the stern towards the land and sailedseawards with a southwesterly wind for three days and saw the thirdland; and that land was high and mountainous with a glacier on it;they asked then, if Bjarni would stop at this land, but he said thathe would not,—"because this land seems unprofitable to me." Nowthey did not lower the sail, but sailed against the shore and saw thatit was an island; they set the stern along the land and sailed out tosea on the same wind.... Now they sailed for four days. Then theysaw the fourth land.)
This, finally, is Greenland. This description of Bjarni's experiences along
the unfamiliar coast provides fairly useful directions for travel. The
text here describes each land—wooded, mountainous, an island—the
distance between the lands in dtegr of sailing,'' and also the orientation
ofthe ship to the coast. It is no wonder that Leifr Eiriksson is able to
7. According to the Rim, a thirteenth-cenmry Scandinavian navigational manual, nautical
distance was measured in terms ofthe distance that could be rowed in a given duration of
time. A vikur was the distance that could be covered in two hours of rowing, and twelve
vikur equaled one degree of latitude or longitude. One dcegr was equal to twenty-four vikur
or 144 nautical miles. In nautical contexts, the term dosgr seems to be used exclusively to
indicate sailing distance, when dagr is used to express the amount of time in a day. See
Roald Morcken, "Old Norse Nautical Distance Tables in the Mediterranean Sea" and
Thorsteinn Vilhjalmsson, "Time and Travel in Old Norse Society."
B O U N D A R I E S O F D I F F E R E N C E 457
retrace Bjarni's route backwards, "ok fundu J>a J)at land fyrst, er Jjeir
Bjarni fimdu si3ast" (249) [and found that land first which Bjarni and
his men found last]. I>orvaldr Eiriksson makes the third voyage in this
saga, but only after "umraQ" [consultation] with his brother; this guid-
ance seems to consist of good directions, for "er engi frasQgn um fer3
J)eira, fyrr en {)eir koma til Vinlands, til Leifsbiifla" (254) [nothing is
told of their journey until they came to Vinland, to Leifr's booths]. The
voyage is apparently uneventful enough that no stories need be told,
and Leifr's guidance has directed his brother unerringly to the booths
Leifr constructed in the new land. I>orfinnr Karlsefni also arrives in
Vinland without mishap; he may have gotten directions when asking
Leifr for the use of his booths (261).
In Eiriks saga rauda, the description of Leifr's discovery provides
no details like those in the narrative about Bjarni. Leifr simply chances
upon land (and a shipwreck), and goes home to Brattahh'3 (211-2). It
is not surprising, then, that his brother I>orsteinn is unable to find this
new place, running so far off course that he winds up closer to Ireland
than to America (213). Karlsefni, on the other hand, has less trouble.
Perhaps in spending the winter with Eirikr the Red, Karlsefni has gar-
nered directions to the western lands; he apparently has grown friendly
enough with Leifr that the former explorer presents him with the two
Scots, Haki and Hekja, and he may have gotten detailed directions as
well (222-3). The narrative about Karlsefni provides many more details
about the nature ofthe journey:
Peir sigldu til Vestri-byggdar ok paban til Bjameyjar. Padan sigldu peir
tvau dagr isudr. Pd sdpeir land ok skutu bdti ok kgnnudu landit, fundu
par hellur storar, ok margar tolfdlna vtdar. FjgWi var par melrakka. Peir
gdfu par nafh ok kglludu Helluland. Padan sigldu peir tvau dcegr, ok brd
til landsudrs dr sudri, ok fundu land skdgvaxit ok mgrg dyr d. Ey Id par
undan i landsudr; par drdpu peir einn bjgm ok kglludu par sipan Bjamey,
en landitMarkland. (222)
(They sailed to the western settlement and thence to Bjamey. From therethey sailed two days to the south. Then they saw land and launched theboat and explored the land and found there large flat slabs and manytwelve ells wide. There were many foxes there. They gave the land aname and called it Helluland (Stone-slab land). From there they sailedtwo days and set off to the south-east from the south, and found aforested land with many animals in it. An island lay there to the southof the land; there they killed a bear and called it then Bjamey [BearIsland] and the land Markland [Forest land].)
458 S C A N D I N A V I AN S T U D I E S
The narrative continues in this fashion, providing names and the reason-
ing behind them, compass direaions, and distances in dagr of sailing.
Karlsefni's route could conceivably be retraced as Bjarni's was.
torsteinn Eiriksson fails to reach the new lands in both sagas, appar-
entiy due to lack of direction. Granlendinga saga gives no indication
that I>orsteinn receives or attempts to get directions from Bjarni or
Leifr; unlike other travelers in this saga, who consult more experienced
explorers, I>orsteimi simply wishes to go, "ok sigla l haf, t>egar |)au em
buin, ok or landsyn" (257) [and sail out to sea, as soon as they were
prepared, and out of sight of land]. This method of traveling does not
pay off because I>orsteinn's ship spends the summer tossing on the seas
until it luckily reaches the Western Settlement of Greenland, not far
from where the party began the abortive journey (257). I>orsteinn has no
better luck in Einhsaga rauda, especially since his brother has apparently
failed to record any navigational aids for posterity (212-3). It is perhaps
Leifr's lack of directions that in this text renders Vinland a seemingly
unattainable goal; significantly, the verb leita (to search) is most often
used to launch departures for Vinland in this saga (Barnes, "Reinvent-
ing" 20). Certainly, only two voyages are attempted after Leifr's lucky
accident, but both Porsteinn and Karlsefni have plans merely to leita for
Leifr's lands (212; 221). A traveler needs checkpoints along his journey
in order to know that he is traveling in the right direction; those who
follow Bjarni's route in Granlendinga saga can be reasonably certain
that they will arrive in the lands he found. These route markers help
subsequent travelers construct the boundary between Greenland and
the new lands; by reaching each of these points, they know that they
are leaving familiarity behind and entering a new and different place.
Since such route markers are not known, in Eiriks saga rauda it is never
certain whether the boundaries have been crossed, and travelers after
Leifr can merely look for what they have been told is out there.
Not just the method of travel, but the object of a traveler's quest
also defines that traveler and the way the destination is perceived: "They
do not all travel the same route: there are as many routes as there are
travelers. A commercial traveler might take the same track as a pilgrim
but they would be traveling along different routes" (Islam, Ethics 55).
When Bjarni arrives in Greenland with his tale of discovery in Granlend-
inga saga, his story sparks "mikil umroeSa um landaleitan" (248) [much
discussion about land discovery]; this interest in new lands seems to be
purely curiosity. When Leifr retraces Bjarni's route, though, his focus
B O U N D A R I E S O F D I F F E R E N C E 459
seems to be profit. Helluland, with its rocks and glaciers, "syndisk J>eim
... vera goeSalaust" (249) [seemed to them to be unprofitable]: it is use-
less. Similarly, Markland is designated as such for its rich forests (250),
and Vinland for its grapes (253).* These "images of plenitude" reflect a
The final voyage described in this saga is also motivated by profit.
Nu teksk umrada at nyju um Vinlandsferd, pvi at suferdpykkir btedi^dd til
jjdr ok virdin^ar... Par er nu til at taka, atFreydis Eirtksdottir£er6i ferd
sina heiman or Ggrdum ok for tilfundar vidpd bradr, Helgia ok Finnbo^a,
ok beiddipd, atpeirfwri til Vtnlands mc&farkostsinn, ok hafa helminggaia
allra vid hana, peira er par fengisk. (264)
(Now talk began anew about a Vinland voyage, because this journeyseemed good for both wealth and honor.... It must now be told thatFreydis Eiriksdottir made a trip from her home in Gardar and went tomeet with the brothers Helgi and Finnbogi and proposed to them thatthey all should go to Vinland with the brothers' ship and share withher half of all the goods which they might take there.)
The trip has been profitable to all the others who have attempted it, as
witnessed by the loads of wood and grapes brought back by Leifr and
I>orvaldr's men (253; 257). Now their sister is ready to cash in, though
agreeing to split the profits with these two brothers. Freydis is por-
trayed as "not a colonist but a seeker after wealth on a wild frontier"
(Wahlgren 59), and she is willing to take great risks to achieve that
wealth. This profit motive is typical; as Wooding notes, "most explora-
tions [by medieval North Europeans] did not lead to settlement, but
to short-term exploitation.... The desire for short-term extractive use
of paradisaical lands explains the transient character of the Vinland
settlements" (98). Most ofthe Vinland voyages related in these sagas
are nothing if not transient.
Some ofthe voyagers in the sagas, however, do seem at least somewhat
interested in settling. In Grankndinga saga, I>orvaldr Eiriksson and his
crew explore the land until they reach a forested cape of which I>orvaldr
says, "her er fagrt, ok her vilda ek boe minn reisa" (255) [it is fair here,
and here I will set up my farm]. Geraldine Barnes sees ̂ orvaldr's setting
8. There is, of course, much argument on the length of the "i" in Vinland, and thuswhether the name refers to vines or to meadows, both of which seem to be features ofthe land Leifr explores. This ongoing discussion will be addressed at greater length laterin this paper.
46o SCANDINAVIAN S T U D I E S
up the damaged keel of his ship in this area as "enacting a variation on
such rituals of settlement as the claiming of land where the high-seat
pillars are washed ashore," such as that na.mted'm Landndmabdk (Viking
II) . Similarly, when he is mortally wounded by the skrdingar whom he
finds on what is now "his" land, I>orvaldr asks that his men bury him
where he wanted his farm to be (256). The land-taking ritual is again to
be modified with the crosses he asks to be erected on his grave (Barnes,
Viking 13). In the same saga, I>orfinnr Karlsefni expresses an interest in
settlement, though without enacting any rituals to claim his land. The
description of his exploration is introduced with the statement that,
although the men are not averse to profit, "{)eir hpfSu me3 ser alls konar
fenaS, ^vi at |)eir £etlu3u at byggja landit, ef J)eir msetti |)at" (261) [they
had with them all kinds of livestock, because they intended to settle the
land if they could do it]. Karlsefni's group stays in Vinland for three
years, and at least one child is born there (Karlsefni and Gudridr's son
Snorri) before the expedition decides to return to Greenland.
In Eiriks saga rauda, Karlsefni is again the one expedition leader who
expresses an interest in settling the new lands. In this saga he takes with
him a much larger group than any other mentioned in either saga—"^ora
tigu manna ok hundraQ" (222) [forty men and a'hundred'], which seems
to be one hundred sixty in all.' As in Granlendinga saga, the travelers
"h9f9u me3 ser alls konar fenaS" (224) [they had with them all kinds
of livestock], which they move about the area with them as they look
for an ideal location: "Fe sitt hpfQu Jieir med ser" (227) [they had their
livestock with them]. Again, they spend three winters in the new land
before they depart for home. Although Karlsefni himself shows inter-
est in settling, the same is not true of all his companions. I>6rhallr the
Huntsman is disappointed in what he sees in the new lands, apparently
because they lack the scope for profit he expected. Frustrated by a hard
winter and a rotten whale, I>6rhallr recites a bitter verse to the land:
Hafa kvgdu mik meidar
malmpings, es komk hingat,
mer samir Iddfyr lydum
lasta, drykk inn bazta;
Bilds hattar verdr byttu
9. This figure is according to the footnote in the fslenzkfbmrit edition of Eirtks saga rauda
(222). The word hundra normaily means one hundred twenty.
BOUNDARIES OF DIFFERENCE 461
Beidi-Tyr at reida;
heldr's svdt krypk at keldu;
komat vin dgrgn mina. (225)
(With promises of fine drinksthe war-trees wheedled,spurring me to journeyto these scanty shores.War-oak ofthe helmet god,I now wield but a bucket.No sweet wine do I supstooping at the spring.)'"
After hearing tales of the grapes and self-sown wheat found by Leifr
(211), I>6rhallr understandably expects to find such things in this land
himself and probably to be able to turn a profit on them. Instead of
wine, however, he finds himself drinking water. Barnes suggests that
in Eiriks saga rauda 'Finland is not so much 'lost' as never decisively
found. Neither the reader nor Leifr's successors ever lay eyes directly
upon it" (Viking 25). It can be argued that Hop, the plenteous land which
Karlsefni discovers after parting from I>6rhallr, is that which provided
Leifr with his souvenirs, but even it has only "vinvidr" [vines], and not
actual grapes (227). Admittedly, Haki and Hekja do return from their
three-day sprint with a handful of grapes, but the Norsemen never seem
to follow them back to the grapes' vines, rather simply sailing away
down the coast (223). I>6rhallr is perhaps justifiably grumpy because
this land does not live up to expectations.
In Eiriks saga rauda, the same souvenirs that make I>6rhallr so
unhappy are also concrete proof that Leifr has discovered a land very
different from Greenland and Iceland. In Granlendinga saga, even the
rather distant descriptions Bjarni gives ofthe wooded lands he sees are
enough to spark interest at home. His crew wants to go ashore onto
the wooded land right away: "Pa roeddu hasetar fiat, at {)eim J)6tti Jiat
rad, at taka {)at land; en Bjarni vill ^at eigi. I>eir |)6ttusk bsSi ^urfa vi5
ok vatn. At engu eru J)er J)vi obirgir,' segir Bjarni; en {)6 fekk hann af
{5V1 n9kkut amaeli af hasetum smum" (246-7) [Then the crew suggested
that it seemed advisable to take that land; but Bjarni would not. They
claimed to need both wood and water. "You are not unprovided with
these," said Bjarni; but he took for this some reproach from his crew].
10. The translation of this skaldic verse is Keneva Kunz's (668).
462 SCANDINAVIAN S T U D I E S
Bjarni's lack of adventure is similarly criticized when he reports his
find to Earl Eirikr: "I>6tti mgnnum harm verit hafa oforvititin, er harm
hafSi ekki at segja af J)eim l9ndum, ok fekk harm af Jjvi npkkut amseli"
(248) [Men thought he had been uncurious since he had nothing to
say of those lands, and he took some reproach for this]. The sight of
such richly wooded lands must have been irresistible to the two groups
of Icelanders who criticize Bjarni's lack of curiosity. These new lands
are vasdy different from the Icelanders' own homeland; in Bjarni's
understated phrase, "J)at myndi eigi Greenland" (246) [that could not
be Greenland].
Later in Granlendinga saga, Leifr Eiriksson emphasizes the Other-
ness ofthe new lands by giving them names descriptive of their natural
features. Helluland is not so different from Greenland, except that it
does not even have any grass and so can only be named after its stones.
Markland "var slett ok skogi vaxit" [was flat and forested] and can thus
be named attractively"afkostum" [according to its good qualities] (250).
Vfnland is named is a similar fashion. Erik Wahlgren suggests that Leifr
names lands as his father does by singling out the best features ofthe
lands in order to attract potential settlers (32). Certainly lands covered
in forests, meadows, and vines would sound most attractive to dwellers
ofthe far north. In the context of land naming, it seems appropriate to
discuss the nature ofthe ongoing linguistic argument about the mean-
ing of "vin-" in the word "Vi'nland." For some sixty years, scholars have
been trading opinions on the length ofthe "i" in this word. If a short
"i," the land of plenty is, in fact a "Meadow-land," while the long "i"
would indicate a "Wine-land" or "Vine-land."" The discussion is moot
here; either way, Leifr names the land for a distinctive feature that would
seem attractive to potential settlers, though meadows are not, perhaps,
as spectacular as grapevines to the prospective ex-Icelander.
In addition to trees, meadows, and vines, Leifr also finds sweet
dew on the grasses, an abundance offish in the lakes and rivers, warm
weather, and a long period of daylight in the wintertime (251): "With
its honey-sweet dew, choice land ... plentiful streams, frost-free winter,
and barely withered grass, LeiPs Vinland in [Grcenlendinga saga] ...
u. Wahlgren discusses this debate on pages 44-53 of his article, though he seems fairly
certain that the "i" is long, since he argues that the simplex vin was archaic well before AD
1000, when the voyages would have taken place (44). The muddled debate continues,
however, and an updated summary ofthe arguments can be found in Alan Crozier, "The
*Vtnland Hypothesis: A Reply to the Historians."
B O U N D A R I E S O F D I F F E R E N C E 463
contains echoes of descriptions of the Earthly Paradise in a number
of classical and medieval sources" (Barnes, "Vinland" 84-5). Karlsefni
discovers the bounty ofthe land on his own voyage later in the saga,
and the providential stranding ofa reasonably fresh whale on the beach
seems to emphasize the paradisaical state ofthe land: "I>eir h9f9u 9II
goedi af landkostum, [jeim er par varu, bsQi af vinberjum ok alls konar
vei3um ok gcecSum" (261) [They had all good things from the land's
bounty which was there, both from grapes and from all kinds of hunt-
ing and other good things]. The land provides for its visitors, and even
the skittish natives are obliging enough to bring some rich furs to the
Norsemen.
In Einh saga rauda, Leifr expresses more curiosity than Bjarni and
goes ashore on at least one ofthe strange shores he discovers: "Varu
J)ar hveitiakrar sjalfsanir ok vinvidr vaxinn. I>ar varu {)au tre, er m9surr
heita, ok hpfSu peir af {)essu 9IIU ngkkur merki, sum tre sva mikil, at 1 hus
vani l9g3" (211) [There were self-sown wheatfields and vines growing.
There were those trees that are called maples, and they took from all
of these some samples; some trees were so great that they could make
a whole house]. The adventurer takes samples ofthe native flora away
with him as tangible evidence ofthe bounty of this new land. Neither
the self-sown wheat, nor the grapevine, nor the huge maple tree is usual
in Greenland botany. In this saga, it is Karlsefni who names the lands,
but he follows the same pattern as Leifr in Grcenlendingasaga in naming
the lands for the resources they offer. At Hop, the land of plenty he
discovers, he does not seem to be able to decide what natural feature
should be emphasized, so he apparendy names the place after the "tidal
pool" trenches he and his men dig to catch halibut (227). This area has
the traditional wheat and grapevines as well as an abundance of fish
and deer, and in the winter, there is no snow at all. Nothing covild be
more different from Greenland and Iceland.
Perhaps the biggest difference the Vinland voyagers discover in
North America is the native peoples. In Eirtks saga rauda, the natives
are just as astonished as the Norsemen at their first meeting (227). In
each saga, of course, the Norsemen bring marked Otherness with tliem
into the new lands. In Grcenlendinga saga this Otherness is embodied
in Tyrkir, Leifr's southern-born foster-father. When Tyrkir discovers
grapes in the new land, he "taladi pi fyrst lengi a pfzhx ok skaut marga
vega augunum ok gretti sik, en pcxx skil3u eigi, hvat er hann sag3i" (252)
[spoke a long time in German, and his eyes darted in all directions and
464 SCANDINAVIAN S T U D I E S
he frowtied, and they could not understand what he said]. Although
sotne critics have concluded that Tyrkir's strange behavior is an indica-
tion of drunkenness, Madelaine Brown and Francis P. Magoun suggest
that he is tnerely excited at seeing plants like those in his homeland
(549-50). Tyrkir, cotning from the south, brings odd mannerisms and
incomprehensible speech to the episode, marking his difference, but his
ethnic difference also allows him to verify what he has seen: "'At vfsu er
pzt satt,' kva3 hann, "pvi at ek var |3ar foeddr, er hvarki skorti vi'nviQ ne
vinber"' (252) ["It is certain," said he, "because I was born where there is
no lack of vines or grapes"]. Similarly, in Eiriks saga rauda the two Scots
Haki and Hekja are sent along with Karlsefni. This pair is described in
animalistic terms: "J)au varu dynim skjotari" (223) [they were swifter
than deer]. We also receive an ethnographic description of their odd
attire, which must be very different from the Norsemen's, if so much
attention is paid to it. This pair, like Tyrkir, discovers the grapes and
self-sown wheat when Karlsefni turns them loose on the land. While
Tyrkir may have been invented in order to verify the existence of such
plants (Wahlgren 53), it is not clear what special knowledge the two
Scots might have about grapes. Perhaps these European Others are
simply better able to cross the boundaries that enable them to find the
bounty of this land.
The skrdingar who populate the new lands are even more Other
than Tyrkir, Haki, and Hekja. The very term used by the Norsemen
to designate these people is pejorative in indicating the "wretched"
Otherness ofthe natives' way of life. Granlendinga saga offers little in
the way of physical description ofthe natives; we have only Karlsefni's
brief evaluation that "einn ma3r var mikill ok vjenn f Ii3i Skrslinga,
ok {)6tti Karlsefni, sem hann myndi vera h9f9ingi J)eira" (263) [one
man among the people of the skrdingar was tall and attractive, and it
seemed to Karlsefni that he must be their leader] suggesting that most
ofthe natives are not tall and handsome. In contrast, Eiriks saga rauda
offers much more description of the natives' appearance: "I>eir varu
svartir menn ok illiligir ok hpfSu illt har a hpfSi; {)eir varu mjpk eygdir
ok breidir 1 kinnum" (227) [They were dark men and ugly and had bad
hair on their heads; they were big-eyed and broad in the cheeks]. The
tall, fair Norsemen instinctively find these people to be "illiligir" [ugly]
in their difference. The physical difference between the ethnic groups
becomes outlandish in this saga when I>orvaldr Eiriksson is killed not
merely by a native as in Granlendinga saga, but by a imiped:
BOUNDARIES OF DIFFERENCE 465
Pat var einn morgin, er peir Karlsefni sd.fyrirofan rjoBitfiekk ngkkum, sem
glitradi vid peim, ok cep8u peir a pat. Pat hrarSisk, ok var pat einfatingr
ok skauzk ofan a pann drbakkann, sem peir Idgu vid. Porvaldr Eiriksson
rauba sat vid styri, ok skaut einfaetingr gr ismdparma honum... Pd hleypr
einfatingr d braut ok sudr aptr. (231-2)
(It was one morning, when Karlsefni and his men saw above the clear-ing something that glittered, and they shouted at it. It moved, and itwas a uniped; it hurried down to the bank ofthe river where they (andtheir ship) lay. torvaldr the son of Eirikr the Red sat at the helm, andthe uniped shot him in the gut with an arrow.... Then the uniped leaptaway to the south.)
This one-footed person, glimpsed only fleetingly, mortally injures
I>orvaldr and then speeds away, disappearing before the Norsemen can
catch up to him.^^ Whatever this creature may actually be, its marvel-
ous appearance and violent contact with the Norsemen emphasize the
Otherness ofthe land's inhabitants.
The natives' difference is highlighted through aspeas other than
appearance, as well. When the Norsemen under Karlsefni first encoun-
ter the skrdingar in GrcEnlendinga saga, the narrative emphasizes that
"hvarigir skildu annars mal" (262) [neither understood the others'
speech]. This does not seem to be much ofa problem, though, since
the two groups are able to begin trading shortly after this statement
is made. Though Eirtks saga rauda does not specifically mention the
spoken language ofthe natives, much is made ofthe semiotics ofthe
communications attempted between the natives and the Norsemen.
When the natives first approach Karlsefni and his men, communica-
tion takes place through the waving of poles (on the natives' part) and
shields (on the Norse part):
12. It is not clear whether this uniped is running or leaping away from the scene ofthe
crime. Perhaps this creature is meant to resemble the unipeds mentioned in John of Piano
Carpini's thirteenth-century//trton«Afo«^o/an(»» and other such texts, who are able to
leap on their single feet more quickly than two-legged men can run. Paul Schach opines
that "the introduction ofa bellicose uniped into Erik's Saga suggests that its author was
acquainted with the belief that Greenland was a peninsula of Vinland, which extended
southward to Africa, the home ofthe unipeds" (42-3). On a perhaps less fantastical note,
Howlett has deduced that this uniped might in faa be a female Inuit clad in a traditional
long, dose-fitting garment that, from a distance, would give her a one-legged appearance.
William Sayers sees this uniped as a native on snow-shoes, but this is unlikely since it
seems to be summer at the time.
466 SCANDINAVIAN STUDIES
Ok einn morgin snimma, erpeir lituSusk um, sdpeir mikinnffglda hiidkeipa,
ok var veift trjdm d skipunum, ok let pvi likast sem ihdlmpiist, ok var veift
solarsinnis. Pd mslti Karlsefni: 'Hvat mun petta hafa at teikna?' Snorri
Porbrandsson svaradi honum: "Vera kann, at petta se'fridarmark, ok tgkum
skjgld hvitan ok berum at mdti." Ok svdgerdu peir. (227)
(And one morning early, when they looked around, they saw a greatmultitude of skin canoes and poles being waved from them, and thismade a noise like a flail, and the poles were waved in the direction ofthe sun's movement. Then Karlsefni said: 'What could this betoken?'Snorri l?orbrandsson answered him: 'It could be that this is a sign ofpeace, and we should take a white shield and bear it against them.' Andthey did so.)
The sunwise swishing ofthe natives' poles is taken as a sign of peace,
and the Norsemen use white shields to signal their own peaceftil inten-
tions. The signs involved in these interchanges are significantly those
of peace and war (Sayers, "Psychological Warfare" 237). This episode
is repeated later in the saga, when the natives return with the inten-
tion of trading: "Var J)a ok veift af hverju skipi trjanum. I>eir Karlsefni
brugSu J)a skjpldum upp, ok er jjeir ftindusk, toku J)eir kaupstefnu sfn
a milli" (228) [then poles were again waved from each ship. Karlsefni
and his men lifted up shields, and when they met, they began to trade].
This sort of exchange, perhaps accompanied by pantomime, seems to
be enough to allow the two groups to carry on trade for some time.
When the natives are angered by the explorers' inconvenient bull, their
message changes accordingly: the natives now wave their poles against
the movement of the sun, and the Norsemen signify aggression with
red shields (228).
In both sagas the Norsemen reftise to trade weapons with the skrdin-
gar, but it is obvious that the natives are fascinated with the unfamiliar
metal implements. In Granlendinga saga, "Karlsefni bannaQi J^eim
at selja vapnin" [Karlsefni forbade them to sell weapons], and later a
native is killed by the Norse "J)vi at hann hafSi viljat taka vapn |)eira"
[because he had wanted to take their weapons] (262-3). In the battle
that follows, an axe is lost or abandoned by the Norse with disastrous
(but somewhat comical) results:
Nu hafdi einn peira Skrdinga tekit upp 0xi eina ok leit d um stund ok reiddi
atfelaga sinum ok hfd til bans; sdfellpegar daudr. Pd tok sd inn mikli madr
vid exinni ok leit d um stund ok varp henni sidan d sjdinn, sem lengst mdtti
hann; en sidanfiyja peir d skdginn, svd hverr semfara mdtti, ok lykrpar nu
peira vidskiptum. (263-4)
B O U N D A R I E S O F D I F F E R E N C E 467
(Now one ofthe skrdingar had taken up an axe and looked at it for atime, and swung it at his fellow and cut into him; he fell dead at once.Then the big man [presumed to be the leader] took the axe and lookedat it for a while and then threw it into the sea., as far as he could; thenthey fled into the forest, whoever could go, and there ended theirdealings.)
The natives are so tuifamiliar with the axe that one of them accidentally
kills his companion, and the leader wastefully reacts by hurling the axe
into the sea. Clearly, these natives are not weapon-sawy. A version of
this incident is repeated in Eiriks saga rauba, in which Karlsefni again
bans the trading of weapons with the natives and instead distracts them
with red cloth (perhaps significantly the color the Norse will use to
signal their aggression against ^e. skrdingar) (228). In the course ofthe
inevitable battle, this one instigated by the bull rather than by a murder,
the natives have another adventure with an unfamiliar axe;
Peir Skrdingar fundu ok mann daudan, ok Id ex ihjd. Einn peira tok upp
0xina ok hoggr med tre ok pd hverr at gdrum, ok pdtti peim veragersimi ok
bita vel. Sidan tdk einn ok hjd i stein, svd at brotnadi exin, ok pd pdtti peim
engu nyt, er eigi stdzkgrjdtit, ok kgstudu nidr (230)
(The skrdingar also found a dead man, and an axe lay nearby. Oneof them took up the axe and hewed against a tree, and then one aft:eranother tried it; it seemed to be a treasure and to bite well. Then onetook it and hewed at a stone so that the axe broke, and then theythought it was not useful, since it did not withstand the stone, andthey threw it down.)
This time, the natives are not foolish enough to kill one another through
their simplicity, but they do manage to break the axe on a stone, dem-
onstrating their ignorance about the properties of metal. The repetition
of this axe theme in both sagas seems to be an important way of defin-
ing the Other in comparison with the war-like Norsemen, who wield
weapons skillfully before the age often.
The ignorance ofthe natives is also repeatedly demonstrated in their
fear ofthe Norsemen's bull, which appears at least once in each saga. In
Grcenlendingasaga the natives are frightened away from their first visit to
Karlsefni's camp, "en graSungr tok at belja ok gjalla akafliga hatt" (261)
[when the btill took to bellowing, and it resotmded very loudly]. Their
unfamiliarity with European livestock is emphasized by their willingness
to spend their trade goods on milk products; "Ok J)egar er {)eir sa biinyt,
pi vildu J)eir kaupa J)at, en ekki annat. Nu var su kaupfpr Skrxlinga, at
468 S C A N D I N A V I AN S T U D I E S
|)eir bam sinn vaming l brott l mpgum sinum" (262) [and at once when
they saw the milk of sheep and cattle, then they wanted to buy that and
nothing else. Such was the trading ofthe skrdingar that they carried their
acquisitions away in their bellies]. Milk must have been a fascinating
delicacy for a people unused to domesticated mammals and their uses.
Once the natives tum hostile (tinderstandably, when one of their number
has been killed by the strangers), Karlsefni tises this unfamiliarity as a
weapon. "Ver skultmi ok taka gridting vam ok lata hann fara fyrir oss,"
he advises (263) [We shall also take our bull and let him go before us].
When the foolish skrdingar see the fearsome bull charging toward them,
they will presumably flee in conilision, making them easier targets for
the Norsemen. In Eiriks sc^a rauda a similar fear ofthe btill is revealed,
again when the natives first approach Karlseftii's camp; "Pat bar til, at
gridungr hljop or skogi, er J)eir Karlsefni attu, ok gellr hatt. I>etta fselask
Skrcclingar ok hlaupa lit a keipana ok rem siQan su5r fyrir landit" (228)
[It happened that the btill which Karlsefni and his men owned leapt
from the forest and bellowed loudly. This frightened the skrdingar, and
they ran to their boats and rowed south along the land]. In this saga,
however, the bull is the impems behind the skrdingar's hostility, for die
next time the natives approach the camp, it is with counter-sunwise
poles and loud shrieking (228). Though the Norsemen in this saga do
not utilize the bull specifically to frighten the natives, Freydis's famous
breast-slapping has a similar efFea. When the pregnant woman smacks
a sword against her breast, the natives flee—apparently all of them,
for at this point "J)eir Karlsefni finna hana ok lofa happ hennar" (229)
[Karlsefiii and his men found her and praised her good luck], and the
battle seems to be over. The skrdingar, then, seem inordinately skittish,
rumiing from loud noises and pregnant women.
Even if they do not have courage and weaponry comparable to those
ofthe Norsemen, the natives possess one usefiil and singular tactic for
defining the Other in battle; magic. When the skrdingar attack in Eiriks
saga rauda they bring with them a weapon very unlike those used by
the explorers;
Pat sdpeir Karlsefni, at Skrdingarfmrdu upp d stgng kngttstundar mikinn,
pvinar til atjafha sem saudarvgmb, ok helzt bldn at lit, okfkygdu afstgnginni
upp d landityfir lid peira Karlsefhis, ok let illiliga vid, par sem nidr kom. Vid
petta sU dtta miklum d Karlsefni ok allt lid hans, svd atpdfysti einskis annars
enfiyja ok halda undan upp med dnni, pvi at peim pdtti lid Skrdinga drifa
at ser gllum megin.... Synisk peim nu sem pat eina mun lidit verit hafa, er
af skipunum kom, en hittfdlkit mun verit hafa sjdnhverfingar. (228-30)
B O U N D A R I E S O F D I F F E R E N C E 469
(Karlsefni and his men saw the skrdingar lift up on a pole a very largeball, very like a sheep's stomach and extremely blue in color, and thiswas thrown from the stafFup onto the land over Kadsefni and his hostof men, and it made a horrible sound when it came down. This struckgreat fear into Karlscfni and all his host, so that they wanted nothingother than flight, and they went up the river, because it seemed that theskrding host drove at them from all sides.... Later it appeared to themthat there had been only one group, that which came from the boats,and the other people had been an illusion.)
Whatever is in the large blue ball the natives fling seems to disorient
the Norsemen, causing them to see another party oi skrdingar attacking
them from a diflFerent direction. Not knowing which group to face, the
explorers mtist flee to a more defensible position. While such overdy
magical techniques are not seen in Granlendinga saga, it is possible
that the "brestr mikinn" [great crash] heard by Gu6ri9r at the disap-
pearance ofthe second Gu3ri3r (and the onset of violence between the
two groups) could indicate a similar device (263). According to Sayers,
"we find again, apparendy projected from the native side, deceptive
visual phenomena associated with noise and aggressive intentions"
("Psychological Warfare" 244).'^ Sayers identifies the ball in Eiriks saga
rauda as a type of "war medicine" with which the Norsemen may have
been familiar;
Closer to home, the paraphemaUa of Sami sorcery in Norse eyes includedthe sorcerer's staflF (gandr)., which could be sent out to reconnoiter aswell as serving as a mount for spirit travel, andgand-zivows.... It thenseems legitimate to conclude that the Norsemen in Vinland may havepreserved a historically accurate impression of indigenous supplementsto hand-to-hand warfare because they recognized the pole and its chargeas compatible with magically endowed objects in their own or neighbor-ing cultures that were intended to have a destabilizing, disorienting,even expulsive effect. ("Psychological Warfare" 258)
It is perhaps dubious whether a group of explorers from Iceland and
Greenland would have much experience with the Sami, who even in
mainland Scandinavia were a somewhat isolated and ostracized group.
John Lindow's comment on similar lines may be more useful; "The magic
13. If the second Gudridr is the "deceptive visual phenomena" to which Sayers refers,
then it seems odd that in this saga the illusion should appear before the loud crash and
that only one person seems to be afFeaed by the natives' magic.
47O SCANDINAVIAN S T U D I E S
bag of the skrdingar is a supernatural artifice rather like Odin's spear,
which paralyzes an opposing army with fear when thrown over them.
Once again, then, different ethnicity is endowed with the supernatural"
(13). Whether associated in the Norse mind with gods or with Sami, the
apparent magic of the skrdingar quite effectively serves to distance them
from the Europeans, emphasizing their Otherness to an extreme.
AU these differences—appearance, language, cultural sophistication,
and magic—aUow the Norsemen in the sagas to place negative values
on the natives, values that motivate their treatment ofthe skrdingar. In
Granlendinga saga, I>orvaldr Eiriksson is ready to kiU the natives he meets
with no compunctions; perhaps this is because they are on "his" land
or perhaps because their hide-covered boats mark them as alien (255-6).
In a cognate episode in Eiriks saga rauda, Karlsefni's men "tinhesitat-
ingly impose Norse values of social organization upon the aboriginal
population by kiUing, without provocation, five men—prestimably on
a hunting expedition—whom they find asleep along the coast, on the
assumption that such an isolated company must be oudaws" (Barnes,
Viking 17). Because these natives are away from others and with no
apparent dweUings, the Norse automatically assume that "J)essir menn
myndi hafa verit ggrvir brott af landinu" (230) [these men must have
been sent away from the land], as happens to Norse criminals like Eirikr
the Red. This, of course, occurs after a number of encounters between
the two cultures, in which the skrdingar have shown themselves to be
inferior beings who might as weU be kiUed. Similarly, in both sagas
Karlsefni is perfecdy wiUing to cheat the natives who come to trade.
In Granlendinga saga the natives are seduced by milk into leaving their
valuable furs behind in a very uneven trade (262). In Eiriks saga rauda
the Norsemen also fleece the natives;
vildi pat fdlk helzt hafa rautt sknid. Peir hgfdu mdti atgefa skinnavgru ok
algrd skinn.... Peir Skrdingar tdku spannarlangt rautt sknid fyrir dfglvan
belg ok bundu um hgfud ser. Gekk svd kaupstefha peira um hrid. Pd tdk at
fattask skrudit med peim Karlsefni, ok skdru peir pd svd smdtt i sundr, at
eigi var breidara en pvers fingrar, ok gdfu Skrdingar pdjafhmikit fyrir sem
ddr eda meira. (228)
(most of all those people wanted red cloth. In return they had fiirsand grey skins to give.... The skrdingar took a hand-span of red clothfor a pale skin and bound them around their heads. Thus went theirtrading for a while. Then the cloth began to run out for Karlsefni andhis men, so they cut it into smaller pieces that were not wider than thewidth ofa finger, and the skrdingar gave just as much for it as before,if not more.)
B O U N D A R I E S O F D I F F E R E N C E 471
Not only are the natives easily distracted by the bright red cloth, which
the Norsemen have luckily brought with them, but they are also appar-
endy too foohsh to realize that the lengths of cloth for which they trade
furs are getting progressively shorter. In this saga, Freydis offers a pithy
evaluation ofthe nadves' worth when she scornfuUy asks her feUows,
"Hvi renni per undan Jjessum auvirdis-mpnnum, sva gildir menn sem
per erud, er mer Jjoetti sem per m^ttifl drepa nidr sva sem biife.^" (229)
[Why do you rtm from such wretched men, such worthy men as you
are, when it seems to me that you might kill them just Uke catde.'']. Such
miserable creatures should be killed easily by the strapping Norsemen.
Again, the natives prove themselves to be not merely different, but
inferior in their difference.
The constructed differences separating the nadves and the explor-
ers in these sagas fimcdon to maintain a social order that empowers
the Norsemen; as Syed Manzuml Islam remarks, "The boundary that
affeas the inside/outside disdnction creates the binary of order/disor-
der to sustain the very fabric of the social and moral laws of society.
Moreover, the embodied botindaries are the basic techniques of power
which help to fashion the subject in its own image" (Islam, Ethics 25).
By characterizing theskrdingar as wretchedly different in their ugliness,
stupidity, and cowardliness, the Norsemen emphasize the opposite in
their own characters. In order for them to maintain this opposition and
the power it gives them over the nadves, the Norsemen must ascertain
that the boundary between themselves and the Other is a strong one.
As Islam observes.
The Manichean order rests both on the spacing of difference and thestaging of opposition.... In other words ... it creates clearly demarcatedspaces from within which their identities emerge in resplendent isola-tion. It provides a space without the troublesome middle term so thatthe purity of each identity is never endangered through the leakage ofits difference or each other's identity. Each demarcated space of identityis rigorously protected from its other by an uncrossable chasm betweenthem. It says: there is a boundary between us and them and it must notbe crossed. If it is crossed the world will be plagued with disorder, andwe would no longer know with clarity who 'Ve are" and who "theyare." (Islam, Ethics 43-4)
As long as the Norse can maintain the skrdingar as whoUy Other, they
are in no danger; but as soon as they begin to make concessions, the
waU of binary opposition wiU begin to crumble, and their own coUecdve
idendty and the power contained therein wiU be in danger. Perhaps it is
an innate understanding ofthe need to maintain the power of difference
472 S C A N D I N A V I AN S T U D I E S
that leads Kadsefni in both sagas to forbid the trading of weapons to
the nadves; providing these people with European military technology
wotild act as an equalizer by bringing the nadves closer to the sameness
that only the Norsemen should have.
Stephen Greenblatt's discussion of New World exhibidons brings
more insight into the Norse treatment of the skrdingar: "the viewers
carry with them to the exhibits, as to the lands from which the exhibits
have been seized, a powerflil set of mediating concepdons by which they
assimilate exodc representadons to their own culture. These concepdons
are at once agents and obstacles in the drive to possess a secure knowledge
ofthe aUen" (122). Knowledge ofthe aUen is, of course, power over the
alien, and the knowledge ofthe skrdingar communicated through these
sagas repeatedly establishes the Norsemen's supedority over this race. The
sagas themselves fimcdon like the exhibits Greenblatt discusses in that
they portray the skrdingar to the reader, aUowing the same unfavorable
comparisons drawn by the saga heroes. Even the name assigned to the
nadves, "skrseling," meaning "wretched," passes judgment on the nadves
and their culture, as compared to that ofthe Norsemen.
According to John Lindow, "the existence of any group automad-
caUy implies—perhaps requires—the existence of one or more others,
for such definidon is a matter of contrast, of marking boundaries" (18).
The evaluadons made about the natives exist to emphasize the contrast
between the two groups in quesdon by creating the necessary boundary
that keeps otherness separate from sameness. In Granlendinga saga,
these botindaries momentarily become physical as well as ctiltural, as
"Karlsefni let verja dyrrnar" (262) [Karlsefni had the doors defended]
between his people and the skrselingar when the nadves first visit the
camp. Even when this first encounter concludes in peacefiil trading
of fiiirs for milk products, Karlsefni stiU wants to erect boundaries;
"Karlsefni \xti gera. ski3gar3 rammligan um bee sinn" (262) [Karlsefni
had a strong wooden fence built around his farm]. His instinct is to keep
these people separate from his own, precisely the funcdon perfonned
by the descripdons ofthe cross-cultural encounters throughout the two
sagas.
Lured by the differences between this land their own, the Norsemen
come to Vinland out of a desire for the Other. In the comparadvely
frozen North, self-sown wheat, grapes, and huge maple trees like those
from which Leifr coUects souvenirs are objects of fantasy, possible
only in an other place. The paradisiacal nature ofthe land, however, is
B O U N D A R I E S O F D I F F E R E N C E 473
flawed, partly by the presence of natives, and partly by the Norsemen's
own perceptions ofthe place. According to Islam, "when these figures
of absolute otherness are pressed into the play of difference they map
an impossible relationship between the 'Same' and the 'Other.' Hence,
the Other appears as the forbidden world of desire with its attendant
pleasure and dread" ("Marco Polo" 7). As the explorers spend increas-
ingly more time in their newfound paradise, they begin to discover
that its pleasures of material bounty are deceptive and that this land is
also dangerous. In Einks saga rauda, Karlsefni's expedition discovers a
plenteous land, where "^eir gaQu einskis, litan at kanna landit" (224)
[they heeded nothing except to explore the land]. Their dependence on
the summer bounty of this place backfires, however, for winter comes
and "tokusk af veiSarnar, ok gerSisk illt til matar" (224) [the hunting
tapered off, and provisions ran short]. Even when the poor explorers
think they are saved by a whale they find washed up on the beach, they
are deceived because the whale turns out to have rotted beyond safe
consumption. The bountiful Otherness of this new land causes the
Norsemen to forget simple preparations for winter, thus revealing that
danger lurks beneath the attractive surface.
Largely, the dangers ofthe land are embodied in the charaaers ofthe
skrdingar, who, while unattractive, initially seem peaceful in both sagas.
In each saga, attempts at settlement are foiled by the hostile actions of
the natives. In Granlendinga saga I>orvaldr Eiriksson wishes to settle
the ideal headland he has found, but he is prevented from so doing by
a fatal arrow from a native bow, and his fellows return to Greenland
without further thought of settlement (255-6). Later in the same saga,
Karlsefni's expedition is also driven away following attacks by the natives;
Karlsefni suddenly packs up his camp and departs as soon as the seas are
safe: "En at vari, ̂ a lysir Karlsefni, at hann vill eigi {)ar vera lengr ok vUl
fara til Groenlands" (264) [And in the spring, Karlsefni proclaims that
he does not want to stay there longer and wants to go to Greenland].
In Einks sa£ia rauda, Karlsefni's group similarly decides that settlement
in this land is untenable: "I>eir Karlsefni {)6ttusk nu sja, j^ott [̂ ar vxri
landskostir g66ir, at {)ar myndi jafnan otti ok ofriSr a liggja af J)eim,
er fyrir bjuggu" (230) [Karlsefni and his men now seemed to see that
though there were good features ofthe land, that equal amounts of fear
and enmity lay there from those who had already settled it]. If they stay
in these bountiful lands, they will always be in danger of attack from
the skrdingar, who in this saga have the advantage over the intruders.
474 SCANDINAVIAN STUDIES
I>orvaldr Eiriksson's dying words in this saga offer a poignant statementofthe effects ofthe native presence: "Gott land h9fu ver fengit kostum,en }p6 megu ver varla njota" (231-2) [We have taken a land with goodqualities, but we may hardly have the use of it]. However abundantthe land may seem, it is impossible for the Norsemen to enjoy it whenfantastic unipeds can appear from nowhere and kill their leaders: asZumthor notes, "always lurking... in such texts is an astonishment andeven a terror of that space which man would no longer master" (820).For the Norse, the realization that the human part of these new landsis not under their control creates a fear that forces them to withdraw.
Repeatedly throughout the sagas, the skrdingar are shown to be anunavoidable part of these new lands, sometimes through the Norseperception that the natives have already settled the land and have someprior right to it. Just as often, however, the skrdingar are perceived asphysically a part ofthe land itself. In Granlendingasaga, iJorvaldr initiallymistakes the natives under their canoes for hillocks: "Sja a sandinuminn fra h^fSanum firjar hxdir ok foru til J)angat ok sja J>ar hudkeipa J)rjaok |)rja menn under hverjum" (255) [They saw on the shore against theheadland three hillocks and went up there and saw three hide canoesand three men under each]. In both sagas the natives suddenly appearfrom and disappear into the forests, and the Norsemen are unable tofind them. In Eirtks saga rauda, the Norsemen learn more about theskrdingar when they capture, baptize, and interrogate two native boys:"Toku {)eir Karlsefni sveinana, en hinir komusk undan, ok sukku ^eirSkrjelingar 1 jgrS ni5r" (233) [Karlsefni and his men caught the boys,but the others escaped, and those skrdingar sank down into the earth].The ability ofthe natives to disappear into the ground in this way sug-gests both a fantastical otherness and a oneness with the land itself.The interrogation ofthe boys (who seem to learn the Norse languagein a very short time) reveals that "lagu menn J)ar 1 helium eda holum"(234) [men there sleep in caves or holes]. These animalistic nativesdwell in the ground, thus emphasizing their inseparability from theselands: according to Islam, "the relation between the same and the other,more often than not, is grounded in spatial locations, as if space has thenatural propensity to entwine individual bodies inhabiting it, shapingthem in its very image" (Ethics 5). As the natives and their land are partof one another, their individual othernesses leak through, the natives'negative characteristics beginning to taint the Norsemen's perceptionofthe land as the land swallows up its original inhabitants.
BOUNDARIES OF D I F F E R E N C E 475
Significantly, the Norse seem unwilling to return to Vmland once
they have spent time there; in both sagas, not a single explorer makes
a repeat voyage to the new lands, though interest remains high among
those who have not made the trip. In Eiriks saga rauda, Karlsefni's foiled
settlement is the last trip to the new lands. In Granlendinga saga, how-
ever, one more expedition is attempted after Karlsefni's group gives up.
Freydis's expedition also ends in bloodshed as Freydis's greed for the
resources of Vinland prompts her to effect the murder of half of her
companions so that her share ofthe voyage's profits will be that much
larger (264-7). The paradisiacal nature ofthe land is deceptive if it can
foster such evil. Vinland must be abandoned, for both its natives and its
bounty are dangerous. In both sagas, therefore, the final chapters take
place in Iceland. In Granlendinga saga, after the narrative of Freydis's
voyage, the saga follows Karlsefni on a journey to Norway, where he
sells ofFa "hiisasnotra" (268) [ornament for a ship, probably a figure-
head]'* made of Vinland maple, as though severing his last des with
the new lands. Karlsefni then returns to Iceland, where he and Gudridr
produce a string of famous descendants. Eiriks saga rauda ends similarly:
Karlsefni returns to Iceland, where his mother becomes reconciled to
Gu6ridr, and descendants are listed (236-7). In neither saga are further
voyages to Vinland mentioned.'^
In constructing boundaries of difference between themselves and the
new lands they encounter, the Norsemen have achieved a difference so
great that it becomes threatening. Though boundaries are necessary to
travel in order to create a separation between the homeland and that
which one intends to reach, the Norse in these sagas have created ones
that are impossible to cross. The fabled lands of boimty are elusive and
deceptive; they do not live up to the expectations generated by early
tales so that subsequent explorers cannot feel they have reached the new
lands. Similarly, the necessary boundaries of difference created between
the Norsemen and the skrdingar—v/ho are inevitably equated with the
land—engender hostility, contempt, and violence. T'he Norsemen are
14. William Sayers suggests in his recent article "Karlsefni's htisasnotra: The Divestment
of Vinland" that the hiisasnotra is a wind vane rather than an ornamental figurehead.
15. Although the sagas mention no further voyages to these lands, travel to North America
apparently continued. As many scholars have noted, an entry for the year 1347 in the
Skdlholtsanndll records the arrival in Iceland of a ship which had been to Markland,
suggesting that this wooded land continued to be a relatively common destination for
Icelandic ships well after the period covered by the sagas.
476 SCANDINAVIAN STUDIES
forced to conclude that the land is dangerous, as the boundaries theyhave set up to separate themselves from the Other funcdon to pushthem away. Because ofthe extreme and insurmountable otherness ofVinland, the Norsemen find it impossible to stay, and the sagas endwith the heroes defeated, barred from Paradise by the boundaries theyhave constructed.^*
i6.1 would like to thank Kari Ellen Gade and Angela Florschuetz for their feedback on
earlier versions of this essay.
BOUNDARIES OF DIFFERENCE 477
WORKS CITED
Barnes, Geraldine. "Reinventing Paradise: Vinland 1000-1992." Old Norse Studies in
the New World. Eds. Geraldine Barnes, Margaret Clunies Ross, and Judy Quinn.
Sydney: u Sydney p, 1994. 19-32.
. Viking America: The First Millennium. Cambridge, England: D.S. Brewer, 2001.
