married yet again, and
outlive her husband, and then find the life that she loved the best.
Theodhild nodded her head. "That was a true saying of my son's. You
will find the only rest there can be in this life." Gudrid asked her
more, but she would not tell her. "I know, I see," said Theodhild,
"but God will reveal it to you when the time comes."

Gudrid, who had left Ericshaven still a girl in her bloom, had come
back to it a woman, made so by pity and terror. Her beauty was now
ripe, and her mind in accord with it. They held her at Brattalithe for
the fairest and wisest of women. She was rich, too, for she had her
father's and Thore's estates, as well as her share of Eric's wealth
which had been Thorstan's. She sold her father's house and land to
Thorstan Black, who settled down there, and came to great honour in
Ericshaven, as he deserved to do.

XXIII

The spring and summer of that year passed quietly enough at
Brattalithe, but after harvest a fine ship from Norway came into the
haven and the owner came ashore. Eric Red, Lief and Gudrid rode down
to town to meet him and hear the news. He soon explained himself, for
he had a copious flow of speech. He treated Gudrid with great
deference, thinking her the lady of the land, and when it was explained
to him that she was nobody's wife, but a widow, he smiled, saying, "So
much the better," and continued to treat her as before. He was a large
man, broad-faced and broad-shouldered, with light-blue eyes, and much
fun in them. He looked at you when he spoke as if he wished to make
you laugh, but hardly hoped it.

His friends called him Karlsefne, which means "a proper man," and his
real name was Thorfinn Thordsson. "Thord of Head was my father," he
told Gudrid, "and was called Horsehead, not without reason, for I will
tell you that no man born could be more like a horse to look at than my
father was. He was the son of Snorre who was a Viking in Earl Hakon's
day; and that Snorre was the son of Thord, the first of Head." It
seemed that he was well-to-do, and that he had on board his vessel,
besides a crew of forty hands, a notable cargo of goods. He offered
Gudrid what she pleased to take of it. "I do that," he told her, "to
win your good will, for I see very well that you rule the roost
here--and rightly enough. I have never been to Greenland before, and
tell you fairly that I never knew there was the like of yourself to be
found here. If I had k