The Saga of Erik the Red is thought to have been composed before 1265AD on the Norse exploration of North-America. The saga also details the events that led to Erik the Red's banishment to Greenland and Leif Ericson's preaching of Christianity as well as his discovery of Vinland (America) after his longship was blown off course. By geographical details, this place is thought to be present-day Newfoundland, and was probably the first European discovery of the American mainland, some five centuries before Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Antilles.

The saga also chronicles the life and expedition of Thorfinn Karlsefni and his wife Gudrid, characters also seen in the Greenland saga.
This translation is made from the version of the Saga printed in Dr. Gudbrand Vigfusson's Icelandic Prose Reader.

NOTE: It may be mentioned here that Carl Christian Rafn and the other Danish scholars who edited this elaborate work have concluded that Kjalarnes is the modern Cape Cod, Straumsfjordr is Buzzard's Bay, Straumsey is Martha's Vineyard, and Hop is on the shores of Mount Haup Bay, into which the river Taunton flows.

KEYWORDS: Saga of Eirik the Red, Eric the Red, Leif Ericson, banishment, Greenland, Vinland, longship, storm, off course, Newfoundland, discovery, America, Norse, Viking, mainland, preach, Christianity, Christopher Columbus, Antilles, Vifil, Gudrid, grandfather, Iceland, parentage, emigrate, father, Thorbjorn, family, Thorstein, son of Eirik the Red, Karlsefni, expedition, Fate, Thorhall, Sportsman, second winter, Hop, Dealings, Skrœlingar, Skroelingar, Skroelinger, fights, Return, Straumsfjord, slay, Thorvald, One-footer, hero, Heroic, magnanimity, magnanimous, Bjarni, descendants, Mount Haup Bay, Taunton, river, Kjalarnes, Cape Cod, Buzzard's Bay, Straumsey, Martha's Vineyard, grapes,