Every October 12th we celebrate the epic voyage of Christopher Columbus, discoverer of the New World. Or at least some of us do. Some claim the first European to reach these shores was not Columbus, but Leif Eriksson, some five hundred years or so earlier. Verse-afire has come upon a recently discovered ancient manuscript written by a contemporary of Leif Eriksson, a Norwegian seaman named Gundar Hafnilsson, a manuscript that throws new light on the controversy. If the manuscript is genuine, and I believe it is, then America was not discovered by Columbus or Leif Eriksson, but by Gundar Hafnilsson. The following is a translation from the Old Norse account, and clearly shows that, as always, the wrong man gets the credit. Damn shame.
THE SAGA OF GUNDAR HAFNILSSON
Gundar is my name
And thunder is my game
I sail the storm-tossed seas of ice and cold
I cross the ocean wide
Beyond the great divide
Once crossed by ancient mariners of old
To lands far in the west
Where once none would have guessed
That skraelings would have danced upon the shore
We landed in a bay
And gathered round to pray
And gave our thanks to god almighty Thor
We stayed for but a while
For thanks to skraeling guile
Those skraeling arrows did us greatly harm
We struggled to resist
And greatly did insist
We came thus not to conquer but to farm
The long trip home was tough
The sea was very rough
And many seamen took it quite unwell
With dragon ships awash
With pemmican and squash
The decks became aslick with every swell
When Norway we did reach
And stumbled up the beach
The first I saw was Eric’s first son Leif
Who bade me tell him all
Of every port of call
But mostly was the land of skraelings safe
I told him sadly no
‘Twas no kind place to go
The people there rent Viking shields apart
He sadly shook his head
And very calmly said
To England then, an easier place to start
These words upon his mouth
So saying he sailed south
To the fertile fields of Devon and the Thames
While I my crew did fetch
Every single wretch
And sailed we west for new world gold and gems
I quite concealed my glee
As we put out to sea
For having put one over on my friend
And put him off the trail
Of discovery’s holy grail
While my name rang from now to history’s end
And thusly’s how it came
The future shouts my name
From heavens high with pride and awesome wonder
Though discovery’s pride of place
Still calls for some small grace
I am proud to say my rightful name is Gundar
Knowing history does declare
‘Twas Leif who first was there
Such slings hurt only those poor souls who let it
For surely we’ve all known
That history has shown
Invariably the wrong man gets the credit
Yes Gundar is my name
And thunder is my game
And though my crew and I are getting old
We still sail toward setting sun
And till the quest is won
We shall sail the sea of ice and bitter cold
Yes, we shall sail the sea of ice and bitter cold