SOME YEARS AGO I came upon the historical story of the discovery of America by Leif Ericsson in A (5 page)

The Ship

(
This may be the same ship that
Eric
came to Greenland in. It is setting out from the fiord at Brattahlid, loaded with a few bales of fur and hides. There are about fifteen or twenty men on board.
Leif
is at the steering oar. Beside him is the small, ugly man
Tyrker,
now older than when we saw him before. The camera dwells on him.
Callender's
voice is heard in commentary.
)

CALLENDER This man Tyrker was a German, who had somehow wandered out to Greenland with the Vikings. He had been a slave but he was now a free man; the Norsemen usually made their slaves free in middle age, as a reward for good service. This Tyrker had stayed on with Eric as a paid servant; he was shrewd and experienced, and he had helped to bring up Leif. He was a trusted old family retainer, and as ugly as sin.

[DISSOLVE TO:

The Classroom

CALLENDER
(Callender
is indicating on the map)
So they sailed eastwards round Cape Farewell and then northwards up the coast of Greenland till they found the latitude of Iceland by the mark upon the thwart, and then along till they reached Iceland. They stopped there for stores and fresh water, and they got rather a chilly reception.

[DISSOLVE TO:
42

A Beach in Iceland

(
The ship is beached upon the sand, and
Leif
and his party are talking to a group of hostile, elderly men. These are
Thingmen.
)

A THINGMAN I know you. I remember you when you were a little boy, when your father was outlawed at the Thing.

ANOTHER Is this the boy who spat?

THINGMAN This is the one. You are an outlaw to this country still. You may buy food and take water for your ship, and then you'd better get away. We will suspend your outlawry for twenty-four hours while you do that. After that time, you must go. We don't want people like you or your father in this country.

LEIF Twenty-four hours is plenty. Nobody in his senses would want to stay longer in a cold, desolate place like this, with cold, desolate people. I come from a far better land than this one. I wouldn't stay here if I was paid to.

THINGMAN
(Scornfully)
A far better land! Gunnbiorn told us about it, years ago. He said it was all ice and rocks and glaciers.

LEIF That's all you know. Gunnbiorn didn't go down to the south of it. Where we live, it's a fair, sunny, smiling land, with rich fields and warm winters. We hardly ever see snow there, and there is no ice in the sea.

(
Beside him,
Tyrker's
mouth twitches with concealed laughter.)

—It is a beautiful and gracious country. Our first crop ripens in March from the autumn sowing, and we get another in September off the same bit of land. One of our cows gave five hundred gallons of milk last year. We leave them out all through the winter, grazing.

43

A THINGMAN
(Incredulously)
How far southwards is this land?

LEIF Five days' sailing from the latitude of this place, on the coast you come to first.

A THINGMAN What is the name of this country where you live?

LEIF We call it Greenland because it is so beautiful, and because the pastures are green all the year round.

[ DISSOLVE TO:

The Ship at Sea

(
Leif
is at the steering oar, with
Tyrker
by his side.
Tyrker
is laughing quietly.)

LEIF What are you laughing at?

TYRKER I was thinking of the yarn you told those elders back in Iceland. Green pastures all the year round! Crops in March! and the cow! (
Laughs
) And the cream of the joke is, they believed every word of it!

LEIF
(Seriously)
Well, that's what Father told me to say. He said we wanted more people in our country, so that we'd produce more ivory and furs to fill the ship each year. If we couldn't fill the ship, he said, they wouldn't send it and we'd get no manufactured stuff at all.

TYRKER You'll get all Iceland if you go on talking like that.

[DISSOLVE TO: 44

A Hall in Iceland

(
The
Thingmen
are in conference at a table.
)

A THINGMAN There may be some truth in it, you know. Five days' sailing to the southwards is a good distance; you can go a long way in five days with a fair wind. I wouldn't say that it's impossible, by any means.

ANOTHER
We
never get two crops from the same land, here in Iceland. I know such things do happen in more southerly countries. I agree—this thing wants looking into.

ANOTHER
(Doubtfully)
I never heard of any cow giving milk like that.

FIRST THINGMAN It does happen, if the pasture is good enough. We get over a gallon a day here, in the summer months. What I don't like about this story is that it all checks up so well. If these outlaws really have found a good land down to the south, we ought to take it in as part of our domain.

ANOTHER What about the outlaws? What should we do with them?

FIRST THINGMAN They could go somewhere else.

A VERY OLD MAN I think we ought to send a ship there to see what the place is really like, and come back to report to us.

A THINGMAN That's a good idea. Bjarni would be the man to send.

ANOTHER Why Bjarni? He's awfully dumb.

THINGMAN His father, Heriulf, went with Eric; Bjarni's always talking about going out to see his father.

ANOTHER Do you think he's got enough sense for a job like this? We want a decent report.

45

THINGMAN He's a very good seaman, and that's the main thing. He hasn't got to do anything but come back here and tell us what he saw in their green land. We can ask his crew, too.

ANOTHER Shall I go and find him?

[CUT TO:

The Same Hall in Iceland—Later

(B
jarni
is seated at the table in conference with the elders. He is a middle-aged man with a clean-shaven face like a naval officer, with a bold chin. He is pleasant, but stupid; he speaks slowly and has difficulty in expressing himself.
)

BJARNI It's a bit late in the summer for going westwards. You ought to go that way in the spring.

A THINGMAN Why
is
that?

BJARNI Well, everybody goes west in the spring. It's not so easy later on in the summer, you see.

THINGMAN But why? What makes it difficult to go westwards in the summer?

BJARNI
(Helplessly)
Well, I mean—the ship won't go.

THINGMAN
(Patiently)
But there's plenty of wind.

BJARNI It makes the rowing so difficult, you see. And it's a very long way.

ANOTHER THINGMAN Do you mean that you don't get a fair wind in the late summer?

BJARNI That's right. That's just what I've been saying, but I never can make landsmen understand about the sea.

46

THINGMAN That's quite right. We always get westerly winds from June onwards. I should have thought of that. It's in the spring we get the easterlies.

BJARNI That's just what I said.

THINGMAN But, Bjarni, could you get to this place, do you think? I mean, this summer.

BJARNI Oh, we'd get there all right. We'd get there somehow or other, but it might take some time. We might not be able to come back this year.

[ DISSOLVE TO:

Bjarni's Ship

(
The ship is seen labouring in a rough sea, doing her best to beat against the wind on the starboard tack.
Bjarni
is working at the steering oar; he is virile and competent, and showing at his best.
Callender's
voice is heard as commentary.
)

CALLENDER Well, Bjarni was quite right. He met head winds which prevented him from sailing to Greenland along his latitude, as Eric had done years before. These ships would not beat against the wind, and if the wind was strong you could not row them up against the wind, either. Bjarni had to bear away southwards and work to the west as best he could each day, as the wind veered and changed. He was hindered by the fact that he had no compass and he didn't know the latitude of the place that he was going to; his ship had never been there before, so he hadn't got the notch upon his thwart. He didn't know where he was going to or how far he had gone towards it, but he went on. He was a very brave man.

47

[DISSOLVE TO:

The Classroom

(
Callender
is indicating on the map.
)

CALLENDER He came down here, zigzagging about in his head winds, trying to get westwards. He ended up by missing Greenland altogether; he passed south of Cape, Farewell, here. By that time he had been a long time at sea and he didn't in the least know where he was, but he went on. He was that kind of man. And in the end, he came out on the coast of Newfoundland, here. And he was very disappointed.

DISSOLVE TO:

^L

Bjarni's Ship

(
The ship is shown sailing near the coast of a well-wooded, fertile country in fine, sunny weather. This should be a very beautiful scene, in contrast to the rough seas and grey skies of the previous shots. The crew are all staring at the shore, entranced.
Bjarni is
at the helm, and looking very discontented. )

FIRST MAN Lord, it's been worth a bad passage to come out at a fine country like this one. It's the best country I have ever seen.

BJARNI We have come wrong, all thanks to those infernal head winds. This is not the place that we are looking for.

FIRST MAN Are you sure of that, Lord? Leif Ericsson said that there was pasture, and there is pasture here, and fine weather, and tall trees.

48

BJARNI I know what I am doing. They told me definitely that I should come to a bad land of rocks and glaciers first; this place is nothing like it. We have come wrong.

SECOND MAN But, Lord, this is a good land.

BJARNI It's not the land that we are looking for. We will sail north for a bit, and see if we can find the bad land with the rocks and glaciers. From there we have to sail south for five days and turn the corner of the land, and we shall come to Ericsfiord.

FIRST MAN Lord, we haven't got much water left, and there is very little wood. Shall we go in to the beach and land in this good place, and find a stream, and cut some wood? We have been a long time at sea.

BJARNI Nonsense. We've got plenty of wood, and there are two whole barrels of water that we haven't touched yet. Of course we won't land; we are going on to find the place with the rocks and the glaciers. You just want a run on shore, that's all that's the matter with you. I often wonder why chaps like you go to sea at all, if you don't like it.

FIRST MAN I often wonder that myself.

BJARNI Get forward, and slack off the weather sheet.
(Hails)
Stand by the vangs; heave in on the lee sheet. Leadsman, what water have you got?

[FADE TO:

Bjarni's Ship—Later

(
The ship is seen off the coast of Labrador, sailing northwards. The coast is misty and rocky,
Bjarni
is looking puzzled and discontented.
Callender's
voice is heard as commentary.
)

49

CALLENDER He sailed north up the coast of Newfoundland and the country got worse, of course, as he went northwards. He came to Labrador and it was worse still, but there were no glaciers to set his mind at rest. And after a few days of this he was completely foxed. He had no interest in the land he had discovered, and he could find nothing in the least like Greenland. The season was getting late, so he thought he'd better get back to Iceland.

[ DISSOLVE TO:

The Classroom

CALLENDER Well, that seemed easy enough. He had a fair southwesterly wind, and he knew the latitude of Iceland because he had the notch for Iceland carved upon his thwart. So he set out upon a northeast course, like this, meaning to come to the latitude of Iceland well to the west, and sail along till he got home. He turned his back upon America.

[CUT TO:

Bjarni's
Ship

(The ship is seen standing out eastwards, away from the land.
)

[CUT TO:

The Classroom

CALLENDER And so, following on that course, he hit the southwest corner of Greenland, here, and came to Ericsfiord—more by luck than good management.