The
Saga of the Greenlanders is an account of the Norse experiences in Vinland (present day Newfoundland and Labrador). Freydís' experiences in Vinland are relayed in Chapter 8 of this saga, which describes her as
Leif Erikson's full sister. This is the most famous extant account of Freydís. After the success of expeditions to Vinland led by Leif Erikson,
Þorvaldr Eiríksson, and
Þorfinnr Karlsefni, Freydís wanted the prestige and wealth associated with a Vinland journey. She made a deal with two Icelandic men,
Helgi and Finnbogi, that they should go together to Vinland and share all profits half-and-half. Freydís asked her brother
Leif Erikson for permission to use the homes and stables that he had built in Vinland. He agreed that they all could use the houses. Helgi and Finnbogi agreed that they would bring the same number of men and supplies as Freydis, but Freydís smuggled more men into her ship. Helgi and Finnbogi, arriving early, took refuge in the houses; when Freydís arrived, she ordered the brothers to move, as the houses were her brother's and meant for her. This was the first of many disagreements between Freydís and the brothers. In Vinland, there was tension between the two groups. Helgi and Finnbogi set up a settlement separate from Freydis and her crew. Freydis eventually went to the brothers'
hut and asked how they were faring. "Well," responded the brothers; "but we do not like this ill-feeling that has sprung up between us." The two sides made peace. When she returned to her husband, Freydís claimed that Helgi and Finnbogi had beaten her, and, calling him a
coward, demanded that he exact revenge on her behalf, or else she would divorce him. He gathered his men and killed Helgi and Finnbogi as well as the men in their camp when they were sleeping. When they refused to kill the five women in the camp, Freydís herself picked up an
axe and massacred them. Freydís, to conceal her treachery, threatened death to anyone who told of the killings. She went back to Greenland after a year's stay and told her brother
Leif Eiriksson that Helgi and Finnbogi had decided to stay in Vinland. However, word of the killings eventually reached Leif. He had three men from Freydís's expedition tortured until they confessed the whole occurrence. Thinking ill of the deeds, Leif still did not want "to do that to Freydís, my sister, which she has deserved." However, he remarked that he foresaw Freydís' descendants having little prosperity. The saga concludes that everyone thought ill of her descendants afterwards. ==
Saga of Erik the Red ==