Norway

Hē sǣde ðæt Norðmanna land wǣre swȳþe lang and swȳðe smæl.

He said that the Norsemen’s land was very long and also very narrow.

Þonne is þis land, oð hē cymð tō Scīrincges hēale, and ealne weg on þæt bæcbord Norðweg.

Then there is this land, until he reaches Sciringes heal, and the whole way, on the port side, is Norway.

Þat sama sumar kom skip af Noregi til Grenlandz. sa madr het Þorfinnr kallz efnni er þui skipe styrde. hann var son Þordar hesthofda Snorra sonar Þordar sonar fra Hofda. Þorfinnr kallz efni var storaudigr at fe ok var vm uetrin j Bratta hlid med Leifui Æireks syne. bratt fellde hann hug til Gudridar ok bad hennar en hon ueik til Læifs suðrum firir sig. sidan var hon honum fostnut ok gert brudhlaup þeirra a þeim uetri.

That same summer a ship came from Norway to Greenland. Its captain was a man named Thorfinn Karlsefni. He was the son of Thord Horsehead, the son of Snorri, the son of Thord of Hofdi. Thorfinn Karlsefni was very rich, and he spent the winter at Brattahlid with Leif Eiriksson. He soon fell in love with Gudrid and asked to marry her, but she left it to Leif to answer for her. Then she was promised to him, and their wedding was held that winter.

Cùm aliquando per curiositatem rescisso sacculo, quem mater ignara vendebat, herbisque et linteis, quæ acu picta, varios præferebant characteres, explicatis, ipsam hoc lucello fraudassem: mater irâ succensa, me loco sacculi Nauclero proprium addixit, ut ipsa pecuniam retineret. Atque is postridiè ex insperato solvens è portu, secundo vento quasi Bergas Nordwegiæ tendebat. Post aliquot dies Boreâ surgente, inter Nordwegiam et Angliam delatus, Daniam petijt, fretumque emensus, cùm haberet literas Episcopi Islandici, tradendas Tychoni Brahe Dano; qui in Insula Wena habitabat, ego verò vehementer ægrotarem ex jactatione et auræ tepore insueto, quippè quatuordecim aunorum adolescens; navi ad littus appulsa me apud piscatorem insulanum exposuit cum literis; et spe reditus factâ, solvit.

Once, out of curiosity, I cut open a bag that my mother was selling without knowing it. I unfolded the herbs and the linen cloths inside, which were embroidered with various characters. So I cheated her of this small profit. My mother flared up in anger. She gave me to the ship’s master as his own, in place of the bag, so that she could keep the money. The next day he set sail unexpectedly with a fair wind, heading, it seemed, for Bergen in Norway. After some days a north wind rose and drove him between Norway and England. He made for Denmark and crossed the strait. He had letters from the bishop of Iceland for Tycho Brahe the Dane, who lived on the island of Hven. I was violently sick from the tossing and from the air, warmer than I was used to, for I was a boy of fourteen. So when the ship came to shore, he left me with a fisherman of the island, along with the letters. He promised to come back and sailed away.