Leif came down to welcome them, and they stayed with him the rest of the year. Eric Red was dead, and Leif not married. He had his son with him born in Orkney, but Thorgunna herself had not come, and Leif would not marry any other woman. Theodhild his mother kept house for him—it was no longer the great hospitality which old Eric had loved to maintain.
They heard of the fate of Thorhall the Huntsman lost in Ireland, and of Biorn who had sailed with him. Their ship had been driven out of her course by tempest, and had drifted into a strange sea which they called The Maggoty Sea. Here the water was full of worms, which fastened on the ship and ate the timbers, so that she became rotten under them. They had a boat with them which the worms would not touch, and cast lots which should go in her and which remain. Thorhall drew a good lot and Biorn another; half the crew got into the boat. But then, as they were casting off, a young man who had been with Biorn in Iceland and on many voyages looked over the side and said, "Biorn, do you leave me here?" Biorn said, "Why, what can I do?"
"You should keep the promise you made to me when I left my father's house to go along with you," the young man said.
Biorn looked about. "Well," he said, "what would you have?"
The young man answered, "I would have you take me in the boat."
"Would you have my place? Do you mean that?"
The young man did not answer him, but said, "Well, I am young to die."
Then Biorn said, "In with you, then. Death is a hard thing for young men." So they changed places, and Biorn saw the boat out of sight. It was wrecked on the coast of Ireland, and many of the company drowned.
Gudrid's son Biorn was born at Brattalithe and named after a brave man; and then it became a question for Karlsefne what he had better do. He had had from Gudrid a fine estate in Greenland, but he had one of his own at Rowanness in Iceland, and wanted to take her there. He told her: "I had the only good thing in Greenland when I had you; and you were not born here, and do not belong here either. But it shall be as you please."
She said at once, "Let us go home to Iceland," and as she said it her face fell and she looked sorrowfully at him.