come out
of this inland ice and kill our people. We must stay together."

Farther north they found only the same bare, frozen country. So after a
while they sailed back to their home and lived there.

One spring after they had been in that land for four years, Eric said:

"My eyes are hungry for the sight of men and green fields again. My
stomach is sick of seal and whale and bear. My throat is dry for mead.
This is a bare and cold and hungry land. I will visit my friends in
Iceland."

"And our swords are rusty with long resting," said his men. "Perhaps we
can find play for them in Iceland."

"Now I have a plan," Eric suddenly said. "Would it not be pleasant to
see other feast halls as we sail along the coast?"

"Oh! it would be a beautiful sight," his men said.

"Well," said Eric, "I am going to try to bring back some neighbors from
Iceland. Now we must have a name for our land. How does Greenland
sound?"

His men laughed and said:

"It is a very white Greenland, but men will like the sound of it. It is
better than Iceland."

So Eric and all his people sailed back and spent the winter with his
friends.

"Ah! Eric, it is good to hear your laugh again," they said.

Eric was at many feasts and saw many men, and he talked much of his
Greenland.

"The sea is full of whale and seals and great fish," he said. "The land
has bear and reindeer. There are no men there. Come back with me and
choose your land."

Many men said that they would do it. Some men went because they thought
it would be a great frolic to go to a new country. Some went because
they were poor in Iceland and thought:

"I can be no worse off in Greenland, and perhaps I shall grow rich
there."

And some went because they loved Eric and wanted to be his neighbors.

So the next summer thirty-five ships full of men and women and goods
followed Eric for Greenland. But they met heavy storms, and some ships
were wrecked, and the men drowned. Other men grew heartsick at the
terrible storm and the long voyage and no sight of land, and they turned
back to Iceland. So of those thirty-five ships only fifteen got to
Greenland.

"Only the bravest and the luckiest men come here," Eric said. "We shall
have good neighbors."

Soon other houses were built along the fiords.

"It is pleasant to sail along the coast now," said Eric. "I see smoke
rising from houses and ships standing on the shore and friendly hands
waving."

FOOTNOTES:

[14] See not