Erik the Red's neighbour

When Erik the Red set up in Iceland, he had to contend with a new neighbour and his sons.

Fiction

Nearly two thousand years ago, Erik and his family settled in Iceland, where Erik single-handedly tried to build a farm and life off the land. Passing by, Erik's neighbour stopped to mock Erik for being exiled from Norway, though Erik countered that he'd be jealous of the house once it was finished. When Erik had to take a trip to his brother's for some tools, he left his wooden beams in the care of his neighbour.

Erik returned a few days later to find the wood gone. He found his neighbour and his sons chopping up timber, and though the man said it was unprovable that they were Erik's beams, Erik lashed out at him. When the sons tried to separate Erik from their father, he turned on them too, and they fought for several minutes. Once he had regained his composure, Erik and his neighbour discovered that both sons had been killed. The neighbour had Erik prosecuted for murder, and that evening, Erik's family was sentenced to three years exile by the council of elders. The Saga of Erik the Red

Notes

• Erik's neighbour is based on a real man named Thorgest. Their real life dispute was not over simple beams, but rather setstokkr – ornamented pillars Erik had inherited from his father – that he had left in Thorgest's care while he finished building his new home. Thorgest refused to give them back, leading to a fight in which Erik killed a number of men including Thorgest's two sons.