And when they were ready, they hoisted sail; whereupon Thorhall recited this ditty[1]:
Comrades, let us now be faring
Homeward to our own again!
Let us try the sea-steed's daring,
Give the chafing courser rein.
Those who will may bide in quiet,
Let them praise their chosen land,
Feasting on a whale-steak diet,
In their home by Wonder-strand[2].
Then they sailed away to the northward past Wonder-strands and Keelness, intending to cruise to the westward around the cape. They encountered westerly gales, and were driven ashore in Ireland, where they were grievously maltreated and thrown into slavery. There Thorhall lost his life, according to that which traders have related.
It is now to be told of Karlsefni, that he cruised southward off the coast, with Snorri and Biarni, and their people. They sailed for a long time, and until they came
- ↑ EsR: 'Then they put to sea, and Karlsefni accompanies them out off the island. Before they hoisted sail, Thorhall uttered this ditty.'
- ↑ The order of the words in the verse is as follows: Fǫrum aptr þar er órir landar eru [Let us go back where our countrymen are], látum kenni sandhimins [sandhiminn, the canopy of the sands, the sea, kenni sandhimins, the knowing one of the sea, the sailor, wherefore, látum kenni sandhimins, let the sailor], val kanna [explore well] en breiðu knarrarskeið [the broad courses of the ships, i.e. the sea]; meðan bilstyggvir [while the rest-hating] laufaveðrs bellendr [laufaveðr, sword-storm, i.e. battle, bellendr, wagers, givers, laufaveðrs bellendr, the givers of battle, rest-hating givers of battle, warriors, men], þeir er leyfa lǫnd [they who praise the land], byggja ok vella hval á Furðustrǫndum [live and cook whale on Wonder-strands]. The prose sense of the verse is: Let us return to our country men, leaving those, who like the country here, to cook their whale on Wonder-strands. EsR has ærir for órir, and kæti for kenni, which words are not readily intelligible. The paper manuscripts have still other variants, certain of them clearly unintelligible. The verse, as given in ÞsK, appears to be the least corrupted. The form órir, nom. plur. from várr, disappeared at the beginning of the thirteenth century, being supplanted by the form várir. [Cf. Konr. Gislason, Ældre og nyere Böining af Første Persons Plural-possessiv i Oldnordisk-Islandsk., in Aarb. for nord. Oldk. og Hist. 1889, pp. 343 et seq.] From this it is apparent that the verse is much older than either text of the saga which we have, and must have been composed at least a hundred years before Hauk's Book was written; although it may well be much older than the beginning of the thirteenth century.
beiðitýr, he, or the god, who demands the helmet, the warrior, i.e. man], ek verð at reiða byttu [I must bear the pail]; heldr er svá at ek krýp at keldu [I have rather to stoop to the spring]; komat vín á grǫn mína [wine has not touched my lips].
The prose sense of the verse is: Men promised me, when I came hither, that I should have the best of drink, it beehooves me before all to blame the land, [ÞsK] ['little to blame it,' EsR]. See, oh, man! how I must raise the pail; instead of drinking wine, I have to stoop to the spring.
