They crossed forests and swamps in sweltering heat. The humidity was so high that the men from the north felt as if they were melting, like snow on fire. Then they came to a town, the likes of which they had never seen. There were stone temples and tall pyramids and statues of warriors lined up in colonnades. There were also some impressive sculpted serpent heads that reminded them of the prows of knarrs and longships, except that these serpents had feathers.
They were led into an H-shaped arena, where some kind of ball game was taking place. Two teams faced off, each in its own half of the court, and hit a large ball made of a strange material, at once hard and supple, which bounced very high. The aim, as far as they could understand, was to knock the ball back into the opponents’ half, while keeping the ball in the air and without using hands or feet – only hips, elbows, knees, buttocks or forearms. Two stone rings were hung on the walls of the pit, at the intersection of the two halves, but at that point the Greenlanders had no way of knowing what they were for. Terraced seating allowed a large number of spectators to watch the game. When it was over, certain players would be sacrificed by having their heads cut off.
Twelve Greenlanders, including Freydis and her husband, Thorvard, were thrown into the pit. On the other side of the court were twelve Skraelings, dressed only in knee and elbow pads. The game began and the Greenlanders, who had never played this game before, kept losing points for failing to return the ball or, when they did return it, for breaking a series of rules that they didn’t know about. As the game went on, they grew more and more afraid, because they realised that the losers would be sacrificed. But suddenly the ball hit one of the stone rings, without going through it, and this caused a murmur in the crowd. So Freydis encouraged her teammates to aim for the ring. And it was Thorvard, her husband, whose knee the ball hit, before – by a stroke of incredible luck – rising into the air and curving in a perfect arc through the ring. The spectators stood and cheered. Immediately afterwards, the game ended and the Greenlanders were declared the victors. The captain of the losing team was decapitated. What the Greenlanders did not know was that, in certain exceptional cases, the best player of the winning team was also executed, which was considered a great honour. So it was that Thorvard’s head was cut off before the very eyes of his wife, Freydis, and his adopted daughter, Gudrid, who wept in her mother’s arms. Freydis told her companions: ‘We are at the mercy of Skraelings more ferocious than trolls, and if we want to survive, we must win them over by doing everything they demand of us.’ Then she recited a poem in old Norse:
And so I learned that in the south
Thorvard breathed his final breath
The witch was cruel to me and Odin chose
Too early which side was his
Her song rose into the air, to the great astonishment of the Skraelings, before falling like an arrow.
Do not imagine I am furious
I am waiting for a better opportunity
Thorvard’s body was ceremoniously thrown into a lake at the bottom of an abyss. The other Greenlanders were spared, but at first they were treated as slaves. Some worked in open-air salt mines or cultivated cotton, which they had, in the past, seen brought from Myklagaard by Swedes; these tasks were the hardest. Others worked as servants or took part in ritual ceremonies in honour of the many Skraeling gods, among the highest of which were Kukulkan, the feathered serpent, and Chaac, the god of rain.
One day, Freydis saw a statue of a man lying on the ground, leaning on his elbows, legs folded, a crown on his head. The Skraeling jarl for whom she worked explained to her with sign language that this was Chaac, the rain god. So she went to fetch a hammer and placed it on the statue’s belly. She told the jarl that she knew this god by the name of Thor. A few days later, a violent storm hit the city, bringing an end to a long drought.
Another time, Freydis’s daughter, Gudrid, was playing with a Skraeling toy that had small wheels. Freydis was surprised that, other than this toy, the Skraelings had no wagons or ploughs. But they did not see the point of such large vehicles, too heavy to be pulled or pushed by human arms. So Freydis asked her companions to build a wagon and then to fetch a horse, which she attached to it. The Skraelings were very pleased with this innovation, but they grew even more so when they discovered that a plough with an iron ploughshare and pulled by a horse or an ox could help with tilling and greatly increase cotton production. So it was that Freydis contributed to the prosperity of the city, since it traded its cotton with neighbouring cities for corn and precious stones.
As a token of their gratitude, they granted Freydis and her companions the right to drink chocolate, a much-prized foamy beverage that Freydis found rather bitter.
At the same time, the Greenlanders ceased to be slaves and were treated as guests. They were allowed to watch the ball games and to take part in the ceremonies around sacred wells. The Skraelings taught them the science of the stars and the rudiments of their writing system, including drawings that were similar to runes but far more elaborate.
For a while, it seemed as if Loki’s daughter had finally forgotten them. But Hel never forgets. The first Skraelings fell ill. They were given large amounts of chocolate to drink, but in the end they died. Freydis knew that, sooner or later, their hosts would guess that the foreigners had brought the disease with them. She quickly organised the group’s escape. One moonless night, they left the city with their animals and took the road to the coast, intending to find their ship. The mare that had pulled the wagon they built was now pregnant, and she was slowing them down, but they didn’t want to abandon her. In the morning, they heard the roar of voices from the city and they knew that the Skraelings would pursue them. They hurried. The knarr was waiting where they’d left it.
But the Skraelings from the neighbouring village had seen them returning and they got it into their heads to try to stop them, so the Greenlanders boarded as quickly as possible. The pregnant mare had been trailing behind and when everyone else was aboard, she was still advancing laboriously along the beach. The Skraelings had already appeared and were uttering war cries as they ran after her. The Greenlanders urged her forward: although the horse was exhausted, she was only a few strides from the gangway. But, having waited until the very last moment, the crew had to cast off to prevent the Skraelings from boarding their ship. The Greenlanders watched as the Skraelings held the mare by her neck, as they’d seen the foreigners do.
They headed south without a word.
7. Panama
Who knows how many leagues the knarr travelled? Perhaps three hundred, perhaps more. When the sea raged and they could not raise their sails without risk of capsizing, the Greenlanders rowed, heads down. Days followed nights. The lowing of the cattle and the wailing of the newborn babies were the only signs of life on board.
They berthed the ship in driving rain. They were dirty, hairy, starving. Before them was a verdant land that they sensed would be hostile. Many birds of all kinds flew in the sky. They killed several with their bows. But most of the Greenlanders didn’t want to risk exploring a land that they feared would be inhabited by other Skraelings even more ferocious than those they’d encountered. Instead, they thought they should stock up on provisions and, after camping there for long enough to recover their strength, sail north, back to their homeland. Freydis was fiercely opposed to this plan, but one of her companions spoke to her thus: ‘We all know why you refuse to go back to Greenland. You’re scared that your brother Leif will punish you for the crimes you committed in Vinland. I can promise you that none of us will say anything, but if Leif happens to find out what you did, you’ll have to submit to your brother’s judgement or be tried by the Thing.’
Freydis said nothing. In the morning, however, her companions discovered the knarr half-sunk and lying on its side. The group was stunned. Nobody dared overtly accuse her of scuttling their ship, although they all thought it. But she spoke to them thus: ‘As you can see, we cannot sail away from here now. None of us will ever return
to Greenland. My father called the country that to attract Icelanders like you, in order to increase the size of his colony. In reality, the land wasn’t green; it was white most of the year. That so-called green land was far less welcoming than this one. Look at all those birds in the sky. Look at all that fruit in the trees. Here, we don’t need to cover ourselves with animal skins or make fires to keep us warm or shelter from the wind in houses made of ice. We are going to explore this land until we find the best place to start our own colony. Because this is the true Greenland. Here, we will finish the work begun by Erik the Red.’
Some cheered, but others remained silent and stricken because they were afraid of what else this land had in store for them.
8. Lambayeque
They crossed swamps, forests as dense as tangles of wool, snowy mountains. They felt the bitterness of cold again, but nobody questioned Freydis’s orders. As if, in removing all hope of a return home, the loss of the knarr had also broken their will.
Here and there, they encountered Skraelings, who came to trade gold or copper jewels for iron nails or bowls of fresh milk. They discovered a sea to the west. They built rafts. The further they navigated down the coast, the more elaborately worked became the jewellery that they were offered. One day, a Skraeling gave Gudrid a pair of earrings representing a priest holding a severed head, and her mother was pleased by this. Freydis decided it would be a good idea to live among goldsmiths. Furthermore, these Skraelings had cultivated fields stretching all the way to the horizon. Canals criss-crossed the plain. She knew that the name of this land was Lambayeque.
The Skraelings regarded the iron and the draught animals as gifts of providence. They saw the visitors as envoys of Naylamp, their god. So it was that Freydis was honoured as a high priestess, covered with gold and granted great powers. Her hosts sacrificed prisoners to her with their ceremonial knives: the handles carved into effigies of Naylamp, the blades shaped like half-moons. They were a people of böndis, highly skilled in metalwork. Soon after the Greenlanders’ arrival, they were forging iron hammers in every size. They were fascinated by Freydis and her red hair.
However, as she knew what would happen next, she prophesied that a disease would strike them down; so, when they did start falling ill and dying, her stature was only increased. She urged them to sacrifice more prisoners and to intensify their harvests. The Greenlanders, with their animals and their knowledge of iron, acquired privileged positions in society. Moreover, as they were spared by the disease, the Skraelings grew ever more convinced that they must be of divine origin.
At last, one of the Skraelings who went down with the fever survived and recovered. This was followed by another, and gradually, the disease brought by the foreigners lost its power. So the Greenlanders knew that they had come to the end of their journey.
9. The Death of Freydis
Years passed without a winter. The Greenlanders learned to dig canals and to cultivate strange vegetables: red, yellow, purple, some juicy, some floury. Freydis became queen. She married the jarl of a neighbouring town named Cajamarca, and the banquet organised to seal this alliance was magnificent. The akha – a corn-based beer – flowed freely, and the guests ate grilled fish, alpaga (a sort of slender sheep), and cuys (silky rabbits with small ears, which, when roasted on skewers, had tender, tasty flesh).
Freydis had several more children, and by the time she died she was weighed down with honours. Her body was buried with her servants, her jewellery and her plates. She wore a gold tiara on her forehead. A necklace with eighteen rows of red pearls covered her chest. In one hand, she held an iron hammer, and in the other a half-moon knife.
Gudrid had grown and, although she did not have her mother’s red hair, had gained an eminent position among the Lambayeques. So, when violent storms swept the region and everybody was lamenting their lost harvests and flooded fields, it was Gudrid who convinced the Skraelings that Thor was trying to tell them something. She was in no doubt that they should leave and – very much her mother’s daughter – she travelled south, leading a large number of Skraelings and Greenlanders, who were now one people. It is said that they found a great lake, but this saga must end here because nobody knows for certain what happened afterwards.
Part Two
The Journal of Christopher Columbus (fragments)
Friday 3 August
We departed on Friday 3 August 1492, at eight in the morning, from the bar of Saltes. We proceeded under a strong sea breeze until sunset, travelling sixty miles, which is fifteen leagues; then south-west, and west by south-west, which was the course for the Canary Islands.
Monday 17 September
I hope that the Lord God, who holds in his hands all victories, will soon give us sight of land.
Wednesday 19 September
The weather is fair and, God willing, we will see all during our return journey.
Tuesday 2 October
The sea still calm and smooth, may God be praised.
Monday 8 October
Thanks be to God, the air is very mild, like April in Seville, and so sweetly scented that it is a pleasure to be here.
Tuesday 9 October
All through the night, we heard birds flying past.
Thursday 11 October
At the second hour after midnight, land appeared, two leagues distant.
Friday 12 October
We reached a small island, which, in the language of the Indians, is called Guanahani. Naked people came, and I left the ship with Martín Alonso Pinzón, captain of the Pinta, and Vicente Yáñez, his brother, captain of the Nina.
Arriving upon land, I took possession of said isle in the name of Your Highnesses.
Immediately, many people from the island gathered in that spot. So that they would be bound in friendship towards us and because I knew that they were people who could be more easily freed and converted to our Holy Faith through love than through force, I gave a few of them some red hats and some glass beads, which they put around their necks, and many other objects of little value in which they took great pleasure; and they became so thoroughly ours that it was wondrous to see.
It was obvious to me that these were people lacking in everything. They go about naked as the day they were born, even the women.
If it please Our Lord, at the moment of my departure, I will bring six of them with me to Your Highnesses, so that they may learn to speak. I saw no beast of any kind on this island, except for parrots.
Saturday 13 October
As dawn broke, many of these people came to the beach, all of them young and handsome. They are a remarkably beautiful people. Their hair is smooth, not curled, and coarse like horsehair.
They came to the ship in their boats made from tree trunks, some so large that forty men could fit inside.
They gave up everything in return for any trifle that we offered them. I was very attentive and did all I could to find out if they had gold. By employing signs, I was able to understand that in the south there was a king who had a vast amount.
And so I decided to head south-west in search of gold and precious stones …
Friday 19 October
What I wish is to see and discover as much as I can before returning to Your Highnesses in April, if it please God.
Sunday 21 October
Flocks of parrots darken the sun.
I wish to leave for another island, very large, which must be Cipango if I am to credit the information of the Indians I am bringing with me, and which they call Colba.
Tuesday 23 October
Today I would like to head for the island of Cuba, which I believe to be Cipango, based upon the descriptions these people have provided of its size and wealth. I do not wish to stay here long since I can see that there is no goldmine.
Wednesday 24 October
Tonight, at midnight, I weighed anchor and set sail for the island of Cuba, which, from all the Indians have told me, is very large, with much trade, an abundance of gold and spice, regularly visited by
large ships and merchants. I think that if it is as the Indians have signalled – since I do not understand their language – it must truly be the island of Cipango, of which there are so many wondrous stories, and which, on the globes that I have seen and on the paintings of world maps, is located in these parts.
Sunday 28 October
The grass here is as tall as in Andalusia in April. I declare that this island is the most beautiful ever seen, full of mountains that are high and handsome, though not particularly extensive. The ground is of an elevation similar to that of Sicily.
The Indians say that there are goldmines on this island, and pearls. I have indeed seen a likely place for their formation, and mussel shells, which are signs of them. I believe I understood that large ships belonging to the Great Khan come to this island, and that the mainland is ten days’ sailing from here.
Monday 29 October
In order to parley, I sent two rowing boats to a village. All the men, women and children of the village fled, abandoning their houses and everything they contained. I ordered my men not to touch anything. The houses resembled military tents, but were as large as those belonging to royalty; they were not arranged in streets, but here and there. The interiors were clean, with well-made furniture. All these houses are made from palm branches, beautifully constructed, except one which is very long with an earth roof covered in grass. There, we found many statues in the shape of women, and many heads like well-carved masks. I do not know whether these are ornaments or idols. Inside these houses were dogs that did not bark and little wild birds that had been tamed.
There must be cattle here, because I saw some skulls that looked like the skulls of cows.
Sunday 4 November
These people are very peaceful and fearful, naked as I have already mentioned, without weapons or laws. The land here is very fertile.
Civilizations Page 2
