FORNǪLD · Track 7

Öxin í Myrkri

Old Icelandic

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Grænland tvö skip sigldu til Vínlands eitt kom aftur Helgi og Finnbogi bræður frá Íslandi Við sömdum um jafnt ek braut samninginn fyrst Ek faldi fleiri menn í mínu skipi Áætlunin var gerð áður en seglin lyftust Ek reif minn eigin serk og sagði manni mínum þeir snertu mig hefndu eða ek skil við þig Karlarnir féllu bundnir einn eftir annan En konurnar fimm enginn vildi snerta þær Svo ek tók öxina og gerði það sjálf Spyrjið ekki um Vínland Vínland svarar ekki Karlarnir féllu bundnir einn eftir annan En konurnar fimm enginn vildi snerta þær Svo ek tók öxina og gerði það sjálf Spyrjið ekki um Vínland Vínland svarar ekki Ek hótaði þeim öllum dauða ef orð slyppi En orð eru eins og vatn þau finna alltaf leið Leifr bróðir minn heyrði og horfði á mig lengi Hann drap mig ekki hann gerði verra Ek reif minn eigin serk og sagði manni mínum þeir snertu mig hefndu eða ek skil við þig Karlarnir féllu bundnir einn eftir annan En konurnar fimm enginn vildi snerta þær Svo ek tók öxina og gerði það sjálf Spyrjið ekki um Vínland Vínland svarar ekki Karlarnir féllu bundnir einn eftir annan En konurnar fimm enginn vildi snerta þær Svo ek tók öxina og gerði það sjálf Spyrjið ekki um Vínland Vínland svarar ekki Leifr mælti ek refsa þér ekki systir en afkomendur þínir munu bera bölvunina Og salurinn þagnaði og þögnin fylgdi mér til dauðadags Freydís öxin í myrkri bölvuð

Greenland two ships sailed to Vinland one came back Helgi and Finnbogi brothers from Iceland We agreed to equal terms I broke the agreement first I hid more men in my ship The plan was made before the sails were raised I tore my own shirt and told my husband they touched me avenge me or I'll leave you The men fell bound one by one But the five women no one wanted to touch them So I took the axe and did it myself Don't ask about Vinland Vinland doesn't answer The men fell bound one by one But the five women no one wanted to touch them So I took the axe and did it myself Don't ask about Vinland Vinland doesn't answer I threatened them all with death if word got out But words are like water they always find a way Leifr my brother heard and looked at me for a long time He did not kill me he did something worse I tore my own shirt and told my husband they touched me avenge me or I'll leave you The men fell bound one by one But the five women no one wanted to touch them So I took the axe and did it myself Don't ask about Vinland Vinland doesn't answer The men fell bound one by one But the five women no one wanted to touch them So I took the axe and did it myself Don't ask about Vinland Vinland doesn't answer Leifr spoke I will not punish you, sister but your descendants will carry the curse And the hall went quiet and that silence followed me to my dying day Freydís the axe in the dark cursed

Story Behind The Song

Freydís Eiríksdóttir, daughter of Eiríkr the Red, is one of the most disturbing figures in the Vinland sagas. She appears in both Eiríks saga rauða and Grœnlendinga saga, and the accounts differ in detail but agree on the broad shape of what she did. She organized a joint expedition to Vinland with Helgi and Finnbogi, two Icelandic brothers. The agreement was to share resources equally, but Freydís arranged to bring more men than the terms allowed. In the Grœnlendinga saga account, she went to the brothers in the night, then returned and told her husband Þorvarðr that they had mistreated her and demanded he kill them and their companions as vengeance. He did. When it came to the five women in the party, his men refused to kill them. Freydís took an axe and killed them herself. She threatened everyone who knew with death if they spoke of it. Word reached her brother Leifr Eiríksson when the survivors returned to Greenland. He did not punish her. He said he could not bring himself to do to her what she deserved, but that her descendants would not prosper. The saga presents this as a kind of curse rather than a verdict. The accounts are not entirely consistent across the two sagas, and the historical detail is uncertain. But the core event, the killings in Vinland and the refusal to name what happened, is recorded in both.

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