Vinland Sagas

Reading Kuneva Kunz's translations of The Saga of the Greenlanders and The Saga of Erik the Red is quite unlike the other sagas. Instead of the very detailed genealogies and tales of feuds and battles in Iceland, Scandinavia or Europe (there's a bit of it, however), these short sagas focus on exploration and settlement of Greenland and part of North America's mainland. The second of the two provides a bit more information on the native societies encountered by the Norse, particularly the trade in pelts for cloth and the regrettable violence. Through this saga we learn that two native boys were taken and baptized, and thus it provides us with the earliest known references to indigenous people who could speak or a European language. The saga, although stressing how the settlers realized the native population's hostility made any long-term residence unwise, hints at possible future ties through this trade in pelts. Perhaps the two indigenous children could have acted as interpreters for Greenland settlers sailing to Vinland. Moreover, archaeologists know about at least one site in Newfoundland that was inhabited for some time, so perhaps relations with the indigenous population improved. Just pure speculation on our part, of course. But interesting to ponder global connections that may have linked the Americas and the rest of the world before 1492.