''Eiríks þáttr rauða'' ('The Tale of Erik the Red') is a short story about

Erik the Red Erik Thorvaldsson (), known as Erik the Red, was a Norse explorer, described in medieval and Icelandic saga sources as having founded the first settlement in Greenland. He most likely earned the epithet "the Red" due to the color of his hair a ...

, the conversion of his son,

Leif Erikson Leif Erikson, Leiv Eiriksson, or Leif Ericson, ; Modern Icelandic: ; Norwegian: ''Leiv Eiriksson'' also known as Leif the Lucky (), was a Norse explorer who is thought to have been the first European to have set foot on continental Nort ...

, to Christianity, and the Norse discovery of North America by

Bjarni Herjólfsson Bjarni Herjólfsson ( 10th century) was a Norse- Icelandic explorer who is believed to be the first known European discoverer of the mainland of the Americas, which he sighted in 986. Life Bjarni was born to Herjólfr, son of Bárdi Herjólfsso ...

. The tale is preserved in the

Flateyjarbók ''Flateyjarbók'' (; "Book of Flatey") is an important medieval Icelandic manuscript. It is also known as GkS 1005 fol. and by the Latin name ''Codex Flateyensis''. It was commissioned by Jón Hákonarson and produced by the priests and scribes ...

, in columns 221–223, where it is interpolated into the Saga of Óláfr Tryggvason. It is commonly combined and translated with

Grœnlendinga þáttr (I) ''Grœnlendinga þáttr'' ('The Tale of the Greenlanders') is a short story about the exploration of Vinland in North America by Leif Erikson and later Norse explorers, including Thorvald Eiriksson, Thorfinn Karlsefni, and Freydís Eiríksdót ...

as the

Saga of the Greenlanders ''Grœnlendinga saga'' () (spelled ''Grænlendinga saga'' in modern Icelandic and translated into English as the Saga of the Greenlanders) is one of the sagas of Icelanders. Like the ''Saga of Erik the Red'', it is one of the two main sources on t ...

Translations

English translations of ''Eiríks þáttr rauða'' can be found in: * Reeves, Arthur Middleton,
The Finding of Wineland the Good: The History of the Icelandic Discovery of America
', London: Henry Frowde, Oxford University Press, 1890 (pages 60–64, under the sections titled "A Brief History of Eric the Red, Leif the Lucky Baptized, and Biarni goes in quest of Greenland.") *Royal Danish General Staff, Topographical Department,
Flateyjarbok. The "Flatey book"
', Copenhagen, 1893 (pages 221–223)

References

{{Þættir Þættir Flateyjarbók Vinland