Lögberg-Heimskringla - 28.07.1966, Blaðsíða 2

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LÖGBERG-HEIMSKRINGLA, FIMMTUDAGINN 28. JÚLI 1966
lcelandic Prosody
Most Icelanders know, or should know, that Icelandic
verse-forms are the most exact and meticulous of any in the
world so far. Five hundred years ago that same requirement
was a must in the English-speaking world; but because of
the structure of the English language that eventuated, it was
found almost impossible to continue the rigorous forms com-
mon unto that day, and therefore impossible to translate
some Icelandic poems (and I would say nearly all of them)
into other langUages.
As an example I would like to specify “What is Truth”
(Hvað er sannleikur) by S. G. Stephansson. I think it is com-
pletely untranslatable, but append it here in an English
version, as proof of what I am saying. Possibly some poet or
English linguist can come nearer to a satisfactory transla-
tion; but no one, I venture to say, can produce anything equal
to the original. Here then is the English version, and I would
welcome any improvement on it by anyone who has the
education and the art to convey it to our English compatriots
and friends:—
What Is Truth
Though truth is free, no soul can sell or buy it,
No sage into one mind has yet compressed it,
No act of law can alter or defy it,
Nor is it crowned by humans or arrested.
For galaxies have flourished and have faded
In flight through nature’s starry wildernesses.
And how it all began, or who has made it,
No human ever knows, and blindly guesses.
And yet it is the source of our desires,
Our sentiments and that which hurts or pleases.
It is the goal to which the heart aspires
And what our bonds of ignorance releases.
For space and time, in truth, are but condition
Of teeming words and things in evolution.
Effect and cause in endless opposition
Are also one for growth or dissolution.
In nature when the sentient will devises
The world of man has first begun revealing
Amazing facts in manifold disguises
That may be solved in time by thought. and feeling.
Yet morbid, stillborn memories have persisted
Through many a book of History’s long pages,
And clung in fear to error, torn and twisted,
Mistaking faith for truth throughout the ages.
Some think they have with high success uncovered
The whole of truth in all the world abiding,
And hence suggest the claim they have discovered
The cause of all that was, or is betiding.
But facts and nature and eternity
Are truly one, as seers will be agreeing.
It shapes the trend we term our destiny,
With truth the very essence of our being.
The truth that you have yearned for seems elusive,
And yet it is beside you in full measure.
It points to every motive most conducive
To make each noble sentiment a pleasure.
And therefore life to humans has a meaning
And hobbles on to tragedy or glory.
The truth on which our every aim is leaning
Is our condition — not a fictive story.
The culture man is forced to learn has lifted
The living to an ever-rising station;
For life is truth, ungraved in stone, but gifted,
And God Himself must bow to its dictation.
In Memoriam:
Kirstin (Hermann) Olafson
1877 - 1966
The death of Mrs. J. K.
Olafson, the former Kirstin
Hermann occured at Borg,
Mountain, N. Dak. on March
15th, 1966. She was bom in
1877 in the most northerly
village in Iceland, but lived
most of her early childhood
in Husavik. In 1890 the family
emigrated from Iceland to
America and settled on a farm
in the Gardar Community,
but later moved to Edinburg
where her father was engaged
in Farm implement and Hard-
ware business.
Kirstin had reached the age
that she required more ad-
vanced education than was
available in the local schools.
She was therefore sent to
Winnipeg where she attended
Collegiate and the Normal
School from which she grad-
uated several years later. She,
as did many other young
people, helped to earn money
for education by teaching in
the summer schools that were
operated during the summer
months in some school dis-
tricts. She taught in Selkirk,
in a school near Akra, in the
south-east corner of Gardar
School District, in the west-
ern part of the state known in
those days as Mouse River.
But wherever she went she
formed friendships that last-
ed all through her long life.
Nothing gave her greater
pleasure than to have pupils
from the past visit her at
Mountain after she had mov-
ed to Borg.
When she had completed
her training at the Normal
School and earned what in
those days was called a first
class certificate she taught
continuously until she mar-
ried Mr. John K. Olafson of
Gardar Nov. 15, 1914. Mr.
Olafson was a member of the
State Legislature, consequent-
ly away for long periods of
time. Domestic help was dif-
ficult to come by in so pros-
perous a community but
several young girls in the
neighborhood came to her
rescue, and young men as
well, all of whom she valued
as friends.
The Olafsons had three
sons: Herman, now living in
California; Theodore, who
died in a flying accident at
the University of North Da-
kota; and Magnus who lives
in t h e Olafson home. A
nephew, Lawrence Bjarnason,
also was a member of the
Olafson family f o r many
years.
Mrs. Olafson’s ruling char-
acteristic was her complete
selflessness. She gave of her-
self to any who needed help
with disregard for her own
needs. She had a talent for
painting and studied that art
at a convent in Winnipeg. She
also played the guitar long
before it was a popular in-
strument in this country.
Her church meant a great
deal to her. She was superin-
tendent of the Sunday School
in t h e Gardar Lutheran
church for 30 years. Her past-
or during the last period of
her life, The Rev. Claude
Snider, conducted the funeral
services in which he express-
ed this appropiate sentiment;
“Altho this is a tender hour
f o r Kirstin’s family and
friends it in no way could be
considered a tragic hour for
she had lived a long, happy,
useful life, and for 89 years
had dispensed goodness, kind-
ness, love and service to
others.”
Kirstin Olafson was the eld-
est child of Hermann Hjalm-
arsson from brekka in
Mjoafirdi and his wife Magnea
Petursdottir Gudjohnsen
from Reykjavík. She is sur-
vived by three sisters, Miss
Theodora Hermann of Gimli,
Manitoba, Mrs. M. G. Magnus-
son (Halldora) of London,
Ontario, Mrs. L. C. Campbell
(Rosa) of Detroit Lakes, Minn-
esota, her two sons Herman
and Magnus and six grand-
children.
Fatal Air Crash
The most extensive search
ever conducted in Iceland was
made this winter for a Beech-
craft civilian aircraft owned
by a private airline, Flugsýn
Ltd., which disappeared just
before it was due to land at
Neskaupstadur in East Ice-
land. The plane, flown by the
chief pilot with one assistant,
had left Reykjavík to pick up
a child for urgent hospital
treatment in the capital. A
few days later parts of the
wrecked aircraft were found
in the sea n e a r Neskaup-
stadur, both fliers having met
a tragic death. Heavy hail
showers severely impaired
visibility at the time of the
accident.
Young Foreigners
Seek Work
Twenty-two young men and
women of various nationai-
ities who arrived in the Vest-
mann Islands on the M.S.
“Gullfoss” from Britain with
the intention of working in
fish-plants during the winter
cod season were disappointed.
They had arrived too early, in
addition to which a large
group of Faroese workers had
preceded them, so they were
unable to find employment
and went on to Reykjavík.
They told newspapermen they
had been assured by friends
in England they could find
plenty of work in Iceland at
any time.
headway
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widespread program of maintenance, im-
provement and development geared to keep
your primary means of transportation in
top shape. Accomplishment of this project
frequently requires re-routing of normal
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Your understand-
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time with the least possible
inconvenience. Please drive
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WATCH FOR
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MAIMITOBA HIGHWAYS
—P.B.