Wine

The foundation of the temple was about to be made in the springtime. There were lots of hesitations. There was always someone that had some strange objections or excuses to delay the work. Thorleif did not really care about the progress. He thought it might not solve any problems anyway, but rather cause more. However, he thought, religion is important to most people. Even though there is no god, there certainly are religions. That is the fact, that is the reality I have to consider,

There was a good mood in the colony, though. Spring had come, and that was the high seasons for more than the Vanirs. They worshiped nature and now it was blooming.

Suddenly there were shouting at the coast. Thorleif turned and was happy to see that two familiar boats approached from the south. The return of the long lost scouts was the great news. They sailed into the shore and ran to their families. Other people could not wait to see what they brought back and started to pick things up. Harald and his men rushed to the boats and kindly asked them to leave it. The people did understand by now that these kinds of friendly suggestions really were warnings. You are so tanned, a mother said. A youngster turned around, dragged down his trousers and shouted; look, tanned all over. Normally this was a rude gesture, but no-one could really get angry about it.

Within an hour, Harald had gathered all the scouts to an extended board meeting. The scouts from the other expedition were also present. Once again Thorleif greeted the bold youngsters and thanked the gods for their return. This time he was even more excited to hear what they had experienced. Tore, rose and expressed how happy he was to be home again. Even though the trip was more than he had anticipated, it was always good to be home. I suppose you have already heard why we split the team. So we sailed back eastwards out of the bay. Then we followed the coast by the sea southwards. That part took us 2 weeks. We sailed as far as we could, but had to camp several times due to heavy weather.

So we sailed down by the coast line. It can be rough sometimes, like the coast of Norway. There is one difference though. There are not those steep mountains and tight fjords. The terrain is rather good, like the Irish coast. There are trees, grass, plants, animals and fish like we are used to. Despite the winter, the weather was rather good for us. So we wanted to see how far south we could get. We really wanted to get to the southern tip of this land. How wrong we were about that. Thorleif asked; how can you know? Well we did not reach the southern end of the land for several reasons. Firstly this land is enormous. At the furthest, looking at the sun on midwinter, I think we reached as far south as Spain. The board was astonished. Yes, there are some considerations to that, he continued. It means this is not an island, nor a land. It is a continent. Thorleif was stunned and there were loud mumbling at the board. He decided to make a break.

After the break, Thorleif made asked for silence even though there was exiting news to discuss. Then he continued to question Tore. Suppose you are right that this is a continent and not a land. You said there were several reasons for that. What other reason is there. Tore looked down and said barely loud enough to hear, we were captured and held prisoners for a long time. No one knew what to say, but everyone wanted to talk. There are several tribes by the coastline, Tore said. We saw them and they saw us. We really did not bother, but sailed on further south. At one point, the coast was blocked by boats. That was when we decided to turn, only to see that the path north was blocked too. We did not resist but followed them to the shore. They were not hostile, but very strict about what we could do and not. We were rather heavy guarded guests, than prisoners.

This is surely interesting, Thorleif said. But what does it have to about the knowledge of the continents size. They told us, Tore answered. Once again there was loud mumbling at the board. Do you mean they speak our language, Thorleif asked. No they don’t. The tribesmen did not look that different from us. They were sparsely clothed due to the heat and they were particularly found of painting their bodies with several colors and pattern. Their hair was long and fair just like ours, only black. This must mean that they are free men like us, he added.

We did not understand what they said at all. But there was one exception. There was a boy who seemed to be a stranger to them too. Not like us and not like them. He looked like something in between. He recognized some our words, and we managed to communicate somehow. My guess is that we met a descendant of one of our lost fishers. Starting out with obvious signs and acts, we managed to have some rather informative conversations. He told us his name was Sequoyah, and he turned out to be an excellent interpreter. We were able to tell what we wanted, that we wanted no harm, they understood that we came from the north. Actually, they did not mind that at all. They were afraid we came from some people further south.

Continue, Thorleif said. It was not easy to understand who they were scared of. But they were certainly terrified. Their enemy must be powerful and ruthless, according to their descriptions. Wait a minute, Tore said. I brought some things that might explain. Oh yes, this is for our big chief. That’s you, Thorleif. Tore gave him a bottle. Trust them, Tore said. Thorleif opened it and took a small sip. He widened up his eyes, and said; this wine is excellent. It is good as the wine from France and Germany, he commented. Look, here are some grapes to our big chief too. Here is some corn and squash. Thorleif investigated the strange new vegetables. And here is an amulet symbolizing friendship and peace. Here are some leaves they inhale. I really think you should not do that, though. The other scouts laughed. Well yes, that was the present. We also have a map of our journey.

But I also have some descriptions of their enemy in the south. The board paid more attention than ever. This amulet is a symbol that represents them. This is an extended map that shows the land at a distance twice our journey. Wait a minute, Thorleif said, do you mean that it is twice as far as to Spain and not even at the end. Yes, Tore replied. And this is some drawings of one of the enemy’s cities. Harald rose, excuse me for asking. These buildings, how large are they and how many are they. Well I don’t know. Tore hesitated. In this city it looks like there are four of them and that they are fifty meters high. Thorleif never thought he would see Harald pale before the day of his death. How wrong he was. His skin crawled. Seeing Harald made Thorleif even more scared.

Thorleif cleared his throat and gathered the maps. Well, thank you indeed for the gifts my bold scouts. He holds up the bottle of wine, to the crowd’s enjoyment, and took another sip. This Vinland must certainly be a Land of Plenty. We should consider some further explorations southwards, he said to the board’s amusement. He looked at Harald, but could not see if he opposed or not. It would probably be wise to confer with him before going any further, he thought.