Victory for the ACT Student Text 15e

R EADING Q UIZZES • 141

Passage II

HUMANITIES: Š‹• ’ƒ••ƒ‰‡ †‹•…—••‡• ‡‹ˆ Ericsson’s and Biarni’s voyages to North America.  –Š‡ •—‡” ‘ˆ ͻͻͻǡ ‡‹ˆ ”‹…••‘ ˜‘›ƒ‰‡† to Norway and spent the following winter with King Olaf Tryggvason. Substantially the same account is given by both the Saga of Eric the Red and the Flat Island Book Ǥ ˆ ‡‹ˆǯ• return voyage to Greenland, the latter says nothing. But according to the former, it was †—”‹‰ –Š‹• ”‡–—” ˜‘›ƒ‰‡ –Šƒ– ‡‹ˆ †‹•…‘˜‡”‡† America. The Flat Island Book , however, tells of another and earlier landfall by Biarni, the son of a prominent man named Heriulf. It ƒ‡• –Š‹• –”‹’ ‡‹ˆǯ• ‹•’‹”ƒ–‹‘ ˆ‘” –Š‡ ˜‘›ƒ‰‡ –‘ –Š‡ ‡™ Žƒ†Ǥ  •Š‘”–ǡ Ž‹‡ ‡‹ˆǡ ‹ƒ”‹ ƒ† his companions discovered three countries in succession before reaching Greenland. To come upon each new land takes one “doegr” more than the last until Biarni comes to land directly in front of his father’s house in the last-mentioned country. Most later writers have rejected this ƒ””ƒ–‹˜‡ǡ ƒ† –Š‡› ƒ› „‡ Œ—•–‹ϐ‹‡†Ǥ ‘••‹„Ž›ǡ ‹ƒ”‹ ™ƒ• ƒ…‘’ƒ‹‘ ‘ˆ ‡‹ˆ ™Š‡ Š‡ voyaged from Norway to Greenland via America. Or it may be that the entire tale is but a garbled account of that voyage and Biarni ‹• ƒ‘–Š‡” ƒ‡ ˆ‘” ‡‹ˆǤ – •Š‘—Ž† „‡ ‘–‡†ǡ Š‘™‡˜‡”ǡ –Šƒ– –Š‡ •–‘”‹‡• ‘ˆ ‡‹ˆǯ• ˜‹•‹– –‘ ‹‰ Olaf and Biarni’s to that king’s predecessor are in the same narrative in the Flat Island Book . So there is less likelihood of duplication than if they were from different sources. Also, Biarni Žƒ†‡† ‘ ‘‡ ‘ˆ –Š‡ Žƒ†• Š‡ ’ƒ••‡†ǡ „—– ‡‹ˆ apparently landed on one, for he brought back specimens of wheat, vines, and timber. Nor is there any good reason to believe that the ϐ‹”•– Žƒ† ˜‹•‹–‡† „› ‹ƒ”‹ ™ƒ• ‹‡Žƒ†Ǥ Š‡ ϐ‹”•– Žƒ† ™ƒ• DzŽ‡˜‡Ž ƒ†…‘˜‡”‡† ™‹–Š ™‘‘†•ǡdz ƒ† Dz–Š‡”‡ ™‡”‡ •ƒŽŽ Š‹ŽŽ‘…• —’‘ ‹–Ǥdz ƒ–‡” writers do not emphasize forests particularly in connection with Wineland, though they are often noted incidentally; and of hills, the Saga says of Wineland only “wherever there was hilly ground, there were vines.”

Additionally, if the two narratives were from the same source, we should expect a closer resemblance of Helluland. The Saga says of it: “They found there hellus” ȋŽƒ”‰‡ ϐŽƒ– •–‘‡•ȌǤ……‘”†‹‰ –‘ –Š‡ ‹ƒ”‹ narrative, however, “this land was high and mountainous.” The intervals of one, two, three, and four “doegr” in both narratives are suggestive. But mythic formulas of this kind may be introduced into narratives without altogether destroying their validity. It is also held against the Biarni narrative that its hero is made to come upon the coast of Greenland exactly in front of his father’s home. But it should be recalled that Heriulfsness lay below two high mountains that served as landmarks for navigators. Biarni could be given up more readily ™‡”‡ ‹– ‘– –Šƒ– –Š‡ •–‘”› ‘ˆ ‡‹ˆǯ• ˜‘›ƒ‰‡ǡ contained in the supposedly more reliable Saga ǡ ‹• ƒŽ‘•– ƒ• ƒƒœ‹‰Ǥ —– ‡‹ˆǯ• ˜‘›ƒ‰‡ across the entire width of the North Atlantic is said to be “probable” because it is documented in the narrative of a preferred authority. Biarni’s is “improbable,” or even “impossible,” because the document containing it has been condemned.

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