Erik the red (Eiríkur rauði) was the son of
Þorvaldur Ásvaldsson. They moved from Jaðar in Norway
to Iceland, and lived at Drangar.
There Þorvaldur died. Erik the red married Þjóðhildur
Jörundardóttir. Erik had four children: Leifur,
Þorsteinn, Þorvaldur and Freydís.
Þorvaldur and Freydís were Eriks children born out of wedlock.
Þorsteinn lived with his father but Leifur (the Lucky) stayed
in Norway with the king of Norway, Ólafur Tryggvason.
Erik
the red moved to Haukadalur
and lived at Eiríksstaðir.
Erik was abandoned out of Haukadalur because his slaves started off a landslide
on the farm of Valþjófur at Valþjófsstaðir.
Erik the red then settled two islands. Öxney and Brokey. The
first winter he lived at Traðir in 
Sudurey.
He lent "setstokkar" (ornamental pieces of wood, used for decorating
chairs) to Þorgestur and then went to Öxney
and lived at Eiríksstaðir. Since Þorgestur didn't return
these precious pieces of wood to Erik, Erik was going to get his "setstokkar"
himself, but Þorgestur refused to hand them over. They
started a fight and Erik killed two of Þorgestur's sons. For this
Erik was exiled from Iceland. Erik said that he was going to find a place
who was kalled Gunnbjarnarsker. (In fact it was Greenland, some sailor
named Gunnbjörn had accidently come across it first but never
went on shore.)
[This picture shows a replica of Eirik the red's "setstokkar". Guðmundína
Arndís and Nanna Mjöll sit in the chair, at Eiríksstaðir
í Haukadal.]
Erik the red sailed to that place and gave it a name. He called the
land Greenland. He stayed there
over the winter and gave many local names. Eiriksey and Eriksfjörður
for example. 3 years later he sailed back to Iceland and came back
to Breidafjörður. For the winter he stayed with a friend
and next summer he said that he was going to settle the land that
he had found. He called it Greenland because there were better chances
that people would like to move over there if the name was attractive.
Leifur the Lucky stayed at the court of the King of Norway, Ólafur
Tryggvason and the King asked Leifur to christianize Greenland. Most of
the people became Christian but Erik the red refused. But the mother of
Leifur, Þjóðhildur became Christian and refused to sleep
with Erik the red if he still refused to be a Christian. He didn't like
this decision of hers!
Leifur
decided to try to find the land that Bjarni Herjolfsson had seen
but didn't set his foot on. He asked Erik the red to come with him but
Erik fell off his horse and got injured so he could not join Leifur
on the journey.
[Berglind Rós
drew the picture.]
A year later a man came to Greenland. His name was Þorfinnur
karlsefni. He married a widow of one of Erik's sons, Gudridur.
Þorfinnur karlsefni became a great explorer and he and his wife lived
in Amerika for three years.
Leifur the Lucky rescued 15 people off a sinking ship. He took them
to Greenland. In the winter a sickness came up in Greenland. Erik
the red died of this sickness.
