e gift."

So Eric used those things, and there was never a merrier Yule feast than
in his house that winter.

When Yule was over, Thorfinn said to Eric:

"Gudrid is a beautiful and wise woman. I wish to have her for my wife."

"You seem to be a man worthy of her," Eric said.

So that winter Gudrid and Thorfinn were married and lived at Eric's
house.

One day Thorfinn said to Eric:

"I have heard much of this wonderful Wineland since I have been here. It
seems to me that it is worth while to go and see more of it."

"My son Thorstein and I tried it once," said Eric. "It was the year
after Leif came back. We set out with a fair ship and with glad hearts,
but we tossed about all summer on the sea and got nowhere. We were wet
with storm, lean with hunger and illness, and heartsick at our bad
luck."

"And yet," Thorfinn said, "another time we might have better weather. I
have never seen so fair a land as this seems to be."

Then he went to Leif and talked long with him. Leif told him in what
direction he had sailed to come home, and how the shores looked that he
had passed.

"I think I could find my way," Thorfinn said. "My heart moves me to try
this frolic."

He spoke to Gudrid about it.

"Oh, yes!" she cried. "Let us go. It is long since I felt a boat leaping
under me. I am tired of sitting still. I want to feel the warm days and
see the soft grass and the high trees and taste the grapes of this
Wineland the Good."

Then he talked with his men and with Biarni.

"We are ready," they all said. "We are only waiting for a leader."

"Then let us go!" cried Thorfinn.

So in the spring they fitted up their two ships and put into them
provisions and a few cattle. Some of Eric's men also got ready a boat,
so that three ships set sail from Eric's harbor carrying one hundred and
sixty men to Wineland. As they started, Gudrid stood on the deck and
sang:

"I will feast my eyes on new things--
On mighty trees and purple grapes,
On beds of flowers and soft grass.
I will sun myself in a warm land."

They sailed on and past those shores that Leif had spoken of. Whenever
they saw any interesting place they sailed in and looked about and
rested there.

They had gone far south, past many fair shores with woods on them, when
Gudrid said one day:

"This is a beautiful bay with a smooth, green field by it, and the great
mountains far back. I should like to stay there for a little while."

So they s