Ériu

“ A band of fourteen hundred along with each rider of them.
33 "What is your advice to us, O warriors?" said Conchobar. "Our advice is," said they, "to wait till our strong men and our leaders and our lords and our supporters of battle come." "We have not prepared that for you, O warriors. For there is a third of the army of the Ulaid here, and there is not but a third of the army of the men of Eriu yonder," said Conchobar. "What is there for us that we should not give the battle?" ”

“ This tenet, of which the immediate consequences would have been to reduce within certain limits the power of the prelates, raised a storm of opposition from that quarter, although it was highly agreeable to many good Christians, to whom their tyranny and arrogance had become insupportable. Erius also condemned fasts, stated feasts, prayers for the dead, and the celebration of Easter; but he urged a purer morality and a stricter observance of the Sabbath. He had many followers, whose numbers were greatly augmented by one Paul of Samosota, from whom they were called Paulicians. ”

“ When they are worn as thin as a cat's ear, a miller's son, who is to be born with six fingers on each hand, will blow his trumpet, the troopers will awake and mount their horses and with the Earl go forth to battle against the English; and he will reign King of Ireland for twoscore years. A horse-dealer once found the lighted cavern open on the night the Earl was riding round the Curragh and went in. In his astonishment at what he saw he dropped a bridle on the ground. The sound of its fall echoing in the recesses of the cave aroused one of the warriors nearest to him ”

“ Two of these chiefs, Eirik and Thorkill the Tall, are well known in Norse history. Earl Eirik, or Eric, as he is called in the English chronicles, had been, as we have read, fighting on the side of the Danish King, Sweyn, against his own sovereign, Olaf Trygveson, at the battle of Svold.36 He was son of Earl Hakon, the most powerful lord in Norway and the ruler of Norway before Olaf came to the throne37; after his fall and Olaf’s succession Earl Eirik and his brother, with many valiant men who were of their family, had left the country and gone over to Denmark. ”

“ A thousand Fields and her own fields small, small! “What a fine and wide place is Eirinn,” said she, “I am Mor, but not great after all.” Then a herdsman came, and he told her That her sons had stolen away: They had left the calves in the hollow, With the goose-flock they would not stay: They had seen three ships on the sea And nothing would do them but go: Mor wept and wept when she heard it, And her tears made runnels below. ”

“ An ancient Erik was said to have been admitted among the gods, and Earic was the second name of Æsc, the son of Henghist; but it was the northern people who really used Eirik, which comes over and over in the line of succession of all the Northern sovereignties, figures in their ballads, and, in the person of King Eirik Blödaxe, is connected with their finest poetry. In the present day it is scarcely less popular than in old times, and has the feminine Eirika. ”

“ Their leader, Leif by name, was the son of Eirek the Red, the discoverer of Greenland, and a Viking as fierce as ever breathed the air of the north land. Outlawed in Norway, where in hot blood he had killed more men than the law could condone, Eirek had made his way to Iceland. Here his fierce temper led him again to murder, and flight once more became necessary. Manning a ship, he set sail boldly to the west, and in the year 982 reached a land on which the eye of European had never before gazed. ”

“ Then King Eirik went through Viken, and subdued it, and remained far into summer. Gudrod and Trygve fled to the Uplands. Eirik was a stout handsome man, strong, and very manly, -- a great and fortunate man of war; but bad-minded, gruff, unfriendly, and silent. Gunhild, his wife, was the most beautiful of women, -- clever, with much knowledge, and lively; but a very false person, and very cruel in disposition. The children of King Eirik and Gunhild were, Gamle, the oldest; then Guthorm, Harald, Ragnfrod, Ragnhild, Erling, Gudrod, and Sigurd Sleva. ”

“ Haldor the Unchristian tells of this in his lay on Earl Eirik:—
"The king-subduer raised a host Of warriors on the Swedish coast. The brave went southwards to the fight, Who love the sword-storm's gleaming light; The brave, who fill the wild wolf's mouth, Followed bold Eirik to the south; The brave, who sport in blood—each one With the bold earl to sea is gone."
The Swedish king and Earl Eirik sailed to meet the Danish king, and they had all, when together, an immense force. ”

“ Eirek was a son of Thrand, king of Drontheim, and having taken upon him a vow to explore the Deathless Land, he went to Denmark, where he picked up a friend of the same name as himself. They then went to Constantinople, and called upon the Emperor, who held a long conversation with them, which is duly reported, relative to the truths of Christianity and the site of the Deathless Land, which, he assures them, is nothing more nor less than Paradise. ”

“ We leave it as we leave the snow
Bright and eternal on * [2] Eryri's crest.
We leave it with our fame to dwell
Upon our children's breath.
Our voice in theirs thro' time shall swell—
The Bard hath gifts of prophecy from death.
He dies—but yet the mountains stand,
Yet sweeps the torrent's tide;
And this is yet † [3] Aneurin's land—
Winds! bear the spoiler one more tone of pride!
↑ * At the time of the supposed massacre of the Welsh bards by Edward the First. ↑ * Eryri, Welsh name for the Snowdon mountains. ↑ † Aneurin, one of the noblest of the Welsh bards. ”

“ Thorvald, son of Eirik the Red, sat at the tiller, and the One-footer shot him with an arrow in the lower abdomen. He drew out the arrow. Then said Thorvald, “Good land have we reached, and fat is it about the paunch.” Then the One-footer leapt away again northwards. They chased after him, and saw him occasionally, but it seemed as if he would escape them. He disappeared at a certain creek. Then they turned back, and one man spake this ditty:—
“Our men chased (all true it is) a One-footer down to the shore; but the wonderful man strove hard in the race.... [D] Hearken, Karlsefni.” ”

“ All go out after the King, but before they reached the castle, the nobles were assembled from all the country around, and all those who knew of the Joy, and who could do so, came hither. Great was the gathering and the press. Every one, high and low, rich and poor, strives to see Erec. Each thrusts himself before the other, and they all salute him and bow before him, saying constantly: "May God save him through whom joy and gladness come to our court! God save the most blessed man whom God has ever brought into being!" ”

“ When Eirik (blood-axe) , a Norwegian, saw that he could not resist the host of (his brother) Hákon, he sailed westwards across the sea with those who wished to follow him; he went first to the Orkneys, and took many men with him thence. Then he sailed to England and made warfare in Scotland wherever he landed; he also made warfare in the North of England. Adalstein, king of the English, sent word to Eirik offering him a realm in England, as his father King Harald had been a great friend of his, and he wished to show that to his son. ”

“ Meanwhile King Evrain leaves his side, and Erec stoops over before Enide, whose heart was in great distress, although she held her peace; for grief on lips is of no account unless it also touch the heart. And he who well knew her heart, said to her: "Fair sister dear, gentle, loyal, and prudent lady, I am acquainted with your thoughts. ”

“ I must not pass over in silence the mountains called by the Welsh Eryri, but by the English Snowdon, or Mountains of Snow, which gradually increasing from the land of the sons of Conan, and extending themselves northwards near Deganwy, seem to rear their lofty summits even to the clouds, when viewed from the opposite coast of Anglesey. They are said to be of so great an extent, that according to an ancient proverb, “As Mona could supply corn for all the inhabitants of Wales, so could the Eryri mountains afford sufficient pasture for all the herds, if collected together.” ”

“ After this, one half of the men of the land of Lochlann did homage to Oireal, and the other half to Iarlaid. And they governed their kingdoms as they would, and in a few years they became grown men with beards on their chins; and Iarlaid married the daughter of the king of Greece, and Oireal the daughter of the king of Orkney. The next year sons were born to Oireal and Iarlaid; and the son of Oireal was big and strong, but the son of Iarlaid was little and weak, and each had six foster brothers who went everywhere with the princes. ”

“ One was horribly afraid he would be compelled to be at least the acknowledged heir to a title. Quite apart from this, too, Oriel (FISHER UNWIN) is after an unassuming fashion one of the most easily and happily read and, one would say, happily written books that has appeared for many a long day, with humour that is Irish without being too broadly of the brogue, and with people who are distinctive without ever becoming unnatural. ”

“ Eirik has more upon his mind, Against the new Norse king designed, Than by his words he seems to show— And truly it may well be so. Stubborn and stiff are Throndhjem men, But Throndhjem's earl may come again; In Swedish land he knows no rest— Fierce wrath is gathering in his breast. ”

“ Thorbjorn and his family were with him during the winter. And in the following spring Eirik gave to Thorbjorn land at Stokknes, and handsome farm buildings were there built for him, and he dwelt there afterwards.
4. Eirik had a wife who was named Thjodhild, and two sons; the one was named Thorstein, and the other Leif. These sons of Eirik were both promising men. Thorstein was then at home with his father; and there was at that time no man in Greenland who was thought so highly of as he. Leif had sailed to Norway, and was there with King Olaf Tryggvason. ”

“ The Earl replied: “It will never be your fortune to become an Earl. Your way lies towards Iceland. There you will increase your family, and it will be a noble one.”
Then Einar, his youngest son, came forward and said: “Would you like me to go to the Islands? One thing I will promise, which will be very acceptable to you—viz. that I shall never more come into your presence; little honour do I enjoy at home, and it is hardly likely that my success will be less elsewhere than it is here.” ”

“ Yon old hall is still called the Earl's Home, though the hearth of Sigurd is now no more, and the bones of the old Kemp, and of Sigrith his dame, have been mouldering for a thousand years in some neighbouring knoll; perhaps yonder, where those tall Norwegian pines shoot up so boldly into the air. It is said that the old earl's galley was once moored where is now that blue pool, for the waters of that valley were not always sweet; yon valley was once an arm of the sea, a salt lagoon, to which the war-barks of 'Sigurd, in search of a home,' found their way. ”

“ The merchants were well pleased to stay with Eirik during the winter. When now Yule was drawing nigh, Eirik began to look more gloomy than he was wont to be. Presently Karlsefni entered into conversation with him, and said, “Art thou in trouble, Eirik? it appears to me that thou art somewhat more taciturn than thou hast been; still thou helpest us with much liberality, and we are bound to reward thee according as we have means thereto. Say now what causes thy cheerlessness.” Eirik answered, “You receive hospitality well, and like worthy men. ”

“ Erii discovered what was passing, and resolved to go to his brothers and to lay his crown at their feet, rather than continue to be the cause of a dissension that afflicted his father. He prevailed upon the old king to consent to this measure, and carried a letter from their common parent to Selm and Toor, the purport of which was, that they should live together in peace. This appeal had no effect, and the unfortunate Erii was slain by his brothers who had the hardihood to embalm his head and send it to Feridoon. The old man is said to have fainted at the sight. ”

“ The young prince succeeded his father as chieftain of the men of Oriel, and although high-minded and pure-hearted, he took a chieftain’s share in the wild work of mutual pillage and slaughter to which these Irish chieftains were always too much prone. His pious sister had founded a convent of nuns at a place called Ross Oirthir, which is in all probability identical with the old church and cemetery of Rossory, in the parish of the same name by the shores of the River Erne, on its left bank near Enniskillen, and not far from the famous Franciscan Abbey of Lisgoole. ”

“ As I came here, Madame Ladoguin, the wife of our Consul-General at Therma, begged me to place her house and her services at your disposal for as long as you required them. She is a charming and accomplished woman, and her society will cheer and refresh you.”
“Very well,” said Eirene, rising. “I hardly dare indulge hope for the future, after what I have suffered to-day. You will pardon me if I leave you now, monsieur. I can endure no more.” ”

“ When the sheep, and sometimes the horses, could travel no further, one or two of the parties had to be left in charge while others pushed forward in search of water, and then returned with what supply they could bring, when the animals were driven on to the station. The discouragements were infinite and the labour superhuman. Eyre alone was equal to the strain, and he owed it more to his indomitable spirit than to his natural strength. It was a sore trial to perceive even Baxter to be giving way and wishing to return ”