but it called for all [his strength], to enable him to remove the corpse
from the house. The illness grew upon Thorstein Ericsson, and he died,
whereat his wife, Gudrid, was sorely grieved. They were all in the room
at the time, and Gudrid was seated upon a chair before the bench, upon
which her husband, Thorstein, was lying. Thorstein, the master of the
house, then taking Gudrid in his arms [carried her] from the chair, and
seated himself, with her, upon another bench, over against her husband's
body, and exerted himself in divers ways to console her, and endeavored
to reassure her, and promised her that he would accompany her to
Ericsfirth with the body of her husband, Thorstein, and those of his
companions: "I will likewise summon other persons hither," says he, "to
attend upon thee, and entertain thee." She thanked him. Then Thorstein
Ericsson sat up, and exclaimed: "Where is Gudrid?" Thrice he repeated the
question, but Gudrid made no response. She then asked Thorstein, the
master, "Shall I give answer to his question, or not?" Thorstein, the
master, bade her make no reply, and he then crossed the floor, and seated
himself upon the chair, with Gudrid in his lap, and spoke, saying: "What
dost thou wish, namesake?" After a little while, Thorstein replies: "I
desire to tell Gudrid of the fate which is in store for her, to the end
that she may be better reconciled to my death, for I am indeed come to a
goodly resting-place. This I have to tell thee, Gudrid, that thou art to
marry an Icelander, and that ye are to have a long wedded life together,
and a numerous and noble progeny, illustrious, and famous, of good odor
and sweet virtues. Ye shall go from Greenland to Norway, and thence to
Iceland, where ye shall build your home. There ye shall dwell together
for a long time, but thou shalt outlive him, and shalt then go abroad and
to the South, and shalt return to Iceland again, to thy home, and there a
church shall then be raised, and thou shalt abide there and take the
veil, and there thou shalt die." When he had thus spoken, Thorstein sank
back again, and his body was laid out for burial, and borne to the ship.