I am still trying to get past the notion that they would have carried a bull
with them in the boat, but then when we have hauled sheep in the back of our
pick up truck, the critters usually lie down after a bit from the jostling.

Maybe the bull was a fairly young fellow when they started off - a yearling
would have been more manageable. Still a bunch of cows on a boat wouldn't
be a picnic either. They would have needed a whole lot of water even if
they were just a couple of weeks underway. Not to mention the poo.

> Og nú leitar hann ráðs með þeim hætti að hann bað konur bera út

búnyt að þeim

You could maybe paraphrase it as something like "and now he tries to
resolve the situation by asking the women to carry milk out to them"
or, straying slightly less from the original idiom, "and now he
attempts the following plan: he asked the women to carry milk out to
them".

Literally, "And now he tries a plan [seeks/attemts (useful/good)
course of action] in this way/manner, [namely] that he asked [the]
women to carry milk out to them".

'hætti' is dative singular of 'hátt(u)r' "way, manner".

> og buðu þeim og vildu vopn helst fyrir
> and offered them and wanted weapons rather preferably

"and offered them and wanted weapons most of all in return"

> en Karlsefni og förunautar hans höfðu eftir bagga þeirra og

skinnavöru. Fóru þeir við svo búið í burt.

> but Karlsefni and his fellow travelers had their packs and skin

wares back (in return). They went away as it happened?

"but K. and his comrades were left with their packs and skin wares.
They went away with matters thus."

'við svá búit' "with matters thus", "with things as they stood", "with
the situation thus", "this being the situation".

Grace
Fred and Grace Hatton
Hawley Pa