So Leif stayed there that winter. When he started back in the spring, the king gave him two thralls as a parting gift.
"Let this gift show my love, Leif Ericsson," he said. "For your sake I shall not forget Greenland."
Leif sailed back again and had good luck until he was past Iceland. Then great winds came out of the north and tossed his ship about so that the men could do nothing. They were blown south for days and days. They did not know where they were. Then they saw land, and Leif said:
"Surely luck has brought us also to a new country. We will go in and see what kind of a place it is."
So he steered for it. As they came near, the men said:
"See the great trees and the soft, green shore. Surely this is a better country than Greenland or than Iceland either."
When they landed they threw themselves upon the ground.
"I never lay on a bed so soft as this grass," one said.
"Taller trees do not grow in Norway," said another.
"There is no stone here as in Norway, but only good black dirt," Leif said. "I never saw so fertile a land before."