The Sage of Einar

Chapter 153: First contact with the Inuit tribe

After that little exchange of words, Einar and the Inuit leader tried to communicate as best they could.

But it was not after 2 hours of intense simple communication that the two sides were finally able to lower their weapons and using a piece of dried bear meat.

A new non-aggression relationship was started between two groups of people who did not understand anything about each other.

But that with signs and a lot of work they began to get to know each other, for Einar in that little exchange of a few hours he had learned to say hello and say his name.

Although the pronunciation of the Inuit language was somewhat strange, it was not as complicated as the Nahuatl or German that he once learned in his past life.

After a while and after exchanging some food, Einar decided to spend a night with them so he gave them some tents so they could sleep.

The group of Inuits who had not felt malice accepted, and they positioned themselves near the great ‘Kayak’ that had caught their attention while they were hunting a whale which they ended up losing track of.

During the afternoon and to improve relationships, Einar prepared a meal using fish and some dried vegetables that he had.

He also used salt to season the food, when the two groups tasted the stew Einar had made they were delighted by the taste.

After eating Einar and Natukt, they started a small process in which they tried to trade some products.

The Inuit leader wanted to get some white bearskins that Einar’s group had in exchange, for he was offering a large quantity of ivory.

Seeing the large amount of ivory that the Inuit leader had, Einar finally accepted the deal and gave him five white bearskins for all the ivory they had in their canoes.

Which Einar calculated to be about a quarter of a ton which surprised him as it was all walrus ivory so he could assume that where the Inuit tribe is settled, there are numerous these animals.

Although at first, it seemed unequal treatment but Einar did not abuse them because hunting a white bear is too dangerous.

In addition, due to the use of the crossbow, the skins were not very damaged, so the exchange they made satisfied everyone involved.

In the evening Einar shared some liquor with the members of the Inuit tribe and that relaxed enough what little mistrust they all had.

It was then that everyone began to sing some songs that they knew around a campfire, Einar also joined but he only stayed for a while because he wanted to record the first meeting with the Inuit tribe in his notebook.

In his tent and illuminated by the light of the campfire, he uses a chicken quill and ink to start writing.

‘Wednesday, February 17, 831.

Today we meet the first group of people belonging to the American continent, all of them seem to be Inuit, a group of tribes that inhabited the north of the continent.

Although we were able to establish pleasant contact without confrontation, their language is quite difficult to understand when it has nothing in common with what I know.

Fortunately, I managed to learn some of their words, I will do my best to invite them to our capital, where they can eat and see how we develop.

I think I can arouse their interest for at least a full month with which I will be able to learn the basics of their language, I just hope there is someone among them who has the facility to learn languages.

If we can establish trade with them, we can get ivory in exchange for merchandise at a lower cost to us, such as salt or soap.

It is important that you master your language because once villages and towns are established throughout Iceland, I will be able to undertake a conquest in Greenland from where I can reach the northern part of America.

But everything takes a process, and I have yet to convince the Inuit group to follow us to show them what we can trade. ‘

After finishing writing in his diary, Einar scratched his eyes and went to sleep because tomorrow he had work to do, trying to convince Natukt’s group.

In the morning of the next day, Einar woke up and began to perform his exercises, which consisted of warming up and then starting to run.

Because it was something that will never be seen. The few Inuit warriors who had woken up watched as the young redhead did a strange routine that lasted sometime before he finished and got ready to make breakfast.

To prepare breakfast Einar took a crossbow and getting on his boat held it while looking at the transparent seawater in which he could see some fish that we’re unaware of the danger.

Breathing deeply and aiming as best he could, he chose the largest fish he could see and after holding his breath for a few seconds he fired the crossbow.

The bolt was so accurate that it pierced the head of the fish, which ended up floating in the water as it bled to death, once Einar got off the boat.

He took off his pants and entered the cold seawater, from where he took the fish by the tail and using his silver dagger opened its stomach to discard the intestines that should not be eaten.

After this, he rinsed the fish in the seawater and got out of the water to put his pants back on so he could light a fire to prepare breakfast and warm his body.

Using an iron pot, Einar placed snow and I hope it melted once it turned into water, put salt, and dried vegetables that he had.

While the water was boiling, he began to remove the bones from the fish and later began to cut it so that he could leave it in the seasoned water to cook.

Although it was a simple fish broth, it gave off a delicious aroma which woke up all the hungover warriors because they had drunk too much.

When the broth was ready, he delivered broth on wooden plates to all the warriors, and finally, he himself enjoyed the fish broth that he had made.

After breakfast and with everyone awake, Einar approached Natukt to show him with drawings that he would accompany him to the tribe as he could trade and see what the life they had was like.

Natukt, who was able to understand more or less Einar’s drawings, stroked his chin and decided to talk to his brothers to find out if they would follow them.

What was only a few minutes for them, Einar felt it was quite late because he was afraid that they would refuse and with it, he could lose the opportunity to establish relationships with the Inuit tribe.

But luckily for Einar, Natukt reached a consensus with his brothers to accompany him to see what things he could trade because since Einar showed him the salt he liked the idea of ​​seeing that they could trade with the red-haired leader quite a bit.

To accompany them, Einar asked them to put their canoes on the boat as he would travel with them. At first, they did not understand but after showing some drawings they understood what they had to do.

When Natukt and his warrior brothers got on the big ‘Kayak’, they were surprised as it was quite large and had a large wooden pole in the middle that had a cloth on it.

With some curiosity, they approached and touched the fabric of the candle which was quite different from the leather they were used to wearing as clothing.

Seeing the surprised faces they had, Einar showed them how the ship worked, so when the Inuit warriors began to move they were happy because they were moving faster than their kayaks.

To remember the entire journey the Inuit were looking at the coast of the strange place where they had arrived, Einar also gave Natukt a small map so that he could remember how to get there.

Of course, he only had the western part of the coast as he had not traveled the eastern part of the island and did not remember the exact shape of Iceland according to his memory.

During the journey, Natukt and his warrior brothers enjoyed a small snack which was only dried bear meat with a little salt.

Fortunately, Einar gave them a jug of herbal liqueur to make the trip more enjoyable.

Another thing Einar did to pass the time was to show the Inuit warriors how they should play Chess.

Which caught their attention because the iron pieces looked very well detailed, Natukt knew well that even he, an expert craftsman in ivory carving, would take too long to be able to achieve a detail like that of those curious chess pieces.

Natukt learned the basic chess moves in about two hours, although it was a fairly simple game it brought him a fairly relaxing peace of mind.

Everyone kept playing until Einar reported that they were already approaching the tribe’s harbor, so when the Inuit and Natukt warriors raised their heads they were stunned in their places.

Well, they could see in the distance two gigantic wooden constructions that seemed to be building a great wall that they could see from the ship where they were.

For them, those who lived in igloos were something quite novel because even the tepees made of leather from some tribes did not compare with what they were seeing at that time.