THE SCENE: This tale of two Eireks, one Danish and one Norwegian, poses the question that when faced with a dragon, maybe — just maybe — the best course of action is actually just to go home?
THE TEXT: And when they’d traveled as much as forty-four miles through the regions of India, they came at last to dark regions where they saw stars as clearly by day as by night. All over the land they found great lumps of gold. They saw many wonders besides in that land. And when they’d gone a long way through thick woods, incredibly tall, they come at last out of the forest. Then it got light and became bright and they saw before them a great river. Over it was a bridge of stone. On the far bank of the river they saw a beautiful country with tall flowers and plenty of honey, and from it they smelt a sweet scent. That direction was bright to look at. They saw neither hill nor height nor mountain in that country.
But as they neared the bridge, they saw a terrible dragon lying on it with gaping jaws, and it let out a savage-sounding roar. Then Eirek began to make his way towards it, and he intended to get across the river somehow. But when Eirek the Dane saw that, he told his namesake not to go, and he said the dragon would swallow him in no time. But Eirek the Norwegian said he wasn’t going to be scared of the dragon, “and he won’t stop my journey.” Danish Eirek said, “I beg you, best friend, don’t throw your life away; come back with us instead, because you’ll surely die if you go on.” Eirek said he wouldn’t turn back, and they both wished each other good luck. Now Eirek of Norway draws his sword and grasps it in his right hand and takes one of his companions by the left hand. They rush up and leap into the mouth of the dragon, and it looked to Eirek the Dane as if the dragon swallowed them both.
He turns back now with his companions, back the way they came, and after many years he comes home to his own land. Then he reported what was the last he’d seen of Eirek the Norwegian, what had happened, as it seemed to him. Now this man gets to be famous because of his travels, and he was regarded as a splendid man, and that’s the end of his story.
– The Saga of Eirek the Traveller, 14th Century AD
[Image Credit: Richard Gullett, https://www.rgdd-darkdesigns.com/]
