Around the year 1000, Norse women and men from Greenland sailed westward into an unmapped Atlantic and became, so far as we can tell, the first Europeans to reach North America. The Vinland Sagas are the two medieval Icelandic narratives that preserve their story: the Saga of the Greenlanders and the Saga of Erik the Red. Here are the carved coasts and wild grapes of Vinland, the first encounters with the peoples the Norse called Skrælings, the treachery of Freydis, and the quiet courage of Gudrid, mother of a line of bishops. This reader's edition sets both sagas in clear, present-day English that keeps the wry, laconic tone of the original prose, and adds a glossary, key passages, and notes to guide the first-time reader. Faithful to the old texts yet inviting to read aloud, it opens a door into one of the most remarkable true-adventure stories of the medieval world. Part of The World Scriptures Library.