launched the ship, and set sail with a favourable wind. But when they
came out into the open sea the favourable wind ceased, and they
experienced great gales, and made but an ill-sped voyage throughout
the summer. In addition to that trouble, there came fever upon the
expedition, and Orm died, and Halldis, his wife, and half the
company. Then the sea waxed rougher, and they endured much toil and
misery in many ways, and only reached Herjolfsnes, in Greenland, at
the very beginning of winter. There dwelt at Herjolfsnes the man who
was called Thorkell. He was a useful man and most worthy franklin. He
received Thorbjorn and all his ship's company for the winter,
assisting them in right noble fashion. This pleased Thorbjorn well and
his companions in the voyage.

At that time there was a great dearth in Greenland; those who had been
out on fishing expeditions had caught little, and some had not
returned. There was in the settlement the woman whose name was
Thorbjorg. She was a prophetess (spae-queen), and was called
Litilvolva (little sybil). She had had nine sisters, and they were all
spae-queens, and she was the only one now living. It was a custom of
Thorbjorg, in the winter time, to make a circuit, and people invited
her to their houses, especially those who had any curiosity about the
season, or desired to know their fate; and inasmuch as Thorkell was
chief franklin thereabouts, he considered that it concerned him to
know when the scarcity which overhung the settlement should cease. He
invited, therefore, the spae-queen to his house, and prepared for her
a hearty welcome, as was the custom whereever a reception was accorded
a woman of this kind. A high seat was prepared for her, and a cushion
laid thereon in which were poultry-feathers. Now, when she came in the
evening, accompanied by the man who had been sent to meet her, she was
dressed in such wise that she had a blue mantle over her, with strings