Lögberg-Heimskringla - 26.01.1990, Síða 7

Lögberg - Heimskrirsgla • Föstudagur 27. JanCiar 1990 • 7
Glúmur Eyjólfsson
By Einar Kvaran
Glúmur Eyjólfsson was bom at pverá
in EyjaQörður in north Iceland soon after
930. His father was a grandson of Helgi
Eyvindarson the Lean, one of the early
settlers in Eyjafjörður. Most of the leaders
in Eyjaíjörðurwere descended from Helgi.
Glúmur’s materaal grandfatherwas Vigfús
Sigurðsson, a Hersir (district nobleman)
in Voss in Norway. When Glúmur was 15
years old he visited his grandfather in
Norway, where he eamed his spurs by
killing a berserk. CThis seems to have
been a favorite pastime of young Icelan-
ders who visited Norway, second only to
making friends with the King.) When the
time came for Glúmur to retura to Ice-
land, Vigfús presented him with a blue
cloak, a gold-inlaid spear and a sword. He
told Glúmur that he should never part
with these gifts, as good luck would des-
ert him if he did so.
When Glúmur arrived in Iceland again
he discovered that his widowed mother
was being harassed by a man named
porkell the Tall and his son Sigmundur,
who ownedpverá jointly with Glúmurand
his mother. These men were related to
Glúmur by marriage and hoped to drive
him and his mother from their home.
Glúmur was greatly angered by the unfair
treatment his mother had received. He
confronted porkell to demand justice but
was met with nothing but scora. Glúmur
was then seized by a fit of laughter; his
face became pale, and tears the size of
hailstones ran from his eyes. Later, he
often reacted in this same way when he
was in a killing frame of mind.
Glúmur soon slew Sigmundur. This
was thefirst of a long series of ldllings that
earned Glúmur the nickname Killer
Glúmur. He then droveporkell away from
Pverá and recovered his patemal inheri-
tance. Before he left, porkell visited a
nearby temple dedicated to the god Freyr.
He gave Freyr an ox with the request that
Glúmur someday would leave pverá as
reluctantly as he was now doing. He asked
for some sign to show whether his offere-
ing had been accepted.The ox gave a loud
roar and fell down dead. porkell left the
temple well satisfied and withdrew to the
Mývatn area in the north-east from which
he had originally come.
porkell’s departure did not, however,
bring peace to Eyjafjörður. Sigmundur’s
widow was a 2nd cousin of Glúmur, and
her kinsmen kept up hostilities against
Glúmur. Soon the struggle had little to do
with the original quarrel and became a
fight for supremacy in the Eyjafjörður
district. For 20 years Glúmur had the
upper hand and was considered the great-
est chieftain in Eyjafjörður. In one of the
innumerable fights, Glúmur killed an
important chief. In an attempt to avoid the
responsibility for this killing, he swore a
strange oath. In this oath it appeared that
he denied the killing. Actually, by using a
number of double negatives, he was in
fact admitting his guilt. (“I didn’t not kill
him”, and so on.) To support his oath, he
called on two witnesses. After they had
confirmed the truth of what he had swom
to, Glúmur rewarded them with presents.
To one he gave the cloak which his grand-
father had given him, to the other the
gold-inlaid spear. At first nobody noticed
that there was anything unusual about
Glúmur’s oath, but finally someone fig-
in-ed out that it really was a confession.
Ironically, Glúmur’s old enemies and
kinsmen had grown tired of the endless
feuding and were ready to make peace.
Two brothers, Einar and Guðmundur
Eyjólfsson, now stepped into the fray and
sided against Glúmur. What encouraged
them more than anything was the knowl-
edge that Glúmur’s luck was about to run
out, as he had given away his grandfather’s
gifts. The old man’s prophecy became a
self-fulfilling one.
Glúmur was forced to give up Pverá
and move to a side valley in Eyjafjörður,
out of the mainstream of the action. Einar
Eyjólfsson took over pverá and has gone
down in history as Einar from pverá.
Glúmur lived for 20 more years or so and
became blind in his old age. He died three
years after Christianity was introduced in
Iceland in the year 1000. By then the
descendents of Helgi the Lean were no
longer the most influential leaders in
Eyjafjörður. Their internal disputes had
opened the way for others to seize power.
-Einar from pverá and in particular his
brother Guðmundur, now known as
Guðmundur the Rich, had become the
most powerful men in this part of the
country.
We Understand
X
BARDAl'H^
FUNERAL HOME & CREMATORIUM
^innipeg's original Bardal Funeral Home since 1894.
843 Sherbrook Street in Winnipeg Telephone 774-7474

Dear Editor
I am enclosing xeroxed copies of
favorite Icelandic recipes taken from my
book on the Magnusson Family, “So Well
Remembered”. As there have been re-
quests for Icelandic recipes I hoped you
might be able to use these for the paper.
I would personally like to express my
pleasure with the new format of Lögberg-
Heimskringla. It has become a most infor-
mative and interesting paper which I look
forward to reading each week.
Yours truly,
Kristiana Magnusson,
White Rock, B.C.
Dec.22,1989
Dear Editor
I read with interest Nelson Gerrard’s
article in your December 15th issue.
My great grandparents Sigurbjörn
and Anna Hallgrímsson immigrated
from Iceland and lived in Ontario for
one year before moving on to Gimli in
1875 (arriving in Gimli on October 21st,
1875).
Perhaps one of your readers could
assist me in finding out about ships’ names
and sailing dates cariying Icelanders from
Iceland to Canada, names of passengers,
names of those in the group moving to
Gimli in 1875, etc.
Any information provided would be
greatly appreciated.
Yours truly,
GaryT. Anderson
252 Canniff Place, S.W.
Calgary, Alberta, T0W 2L8
Dear Editor
My name is Gunnar Halldórsson
and I live at Hátún 12 in Reykjavík. I am
interested in getting in touch with a
man named Helgi Geirsson. He used to
live at Nökkvavogur 13 in Reykjavík,
but now resides in Canada. Perhaps one
of your readers can come to my
assistance with some information about
this man.
Sincerely,
Gunnar Halldórsson
December 27,1989
Dear Editor
I havejusthadthepleasureofreading
the November 3rd issue of Lögberg-
Heimskringla. I was especially glad to see
that the paper was printed in English,
then I tumed to the back page and there
were those Icelandic words!
I can remember “way back when” my
parents (Bjorn T. Bjomson and Lena
Eyford Bjomson) received Lögberg-and
I couldn’t read a word of it! My folks did
not teach us the Icelandic language - they
kept it to themselves so they could use it
to talk about something we children were
not supposed to know about! They had
moved from Milton, ND, to Mountain
Home, Idaho, in 1906.
N ow this one will be before your time
- my father worked for Lögberg some-
time in the late 1800s. In 1936, when my
sister and I took our parents back to N orth
Dakota and Winnipeg, our fáther stopped
to see the people at Lögberg. We enjoyed
our visit in Winnipeg very much.
Thank you and may the New Year be
a good one for you and yours.
Sincerely,
Ametta Bjomson, Portland, Oregon
1. desember 1989
Kæri ritstjóri:
Ég hlakka alltaf til að fá LÖgberg-
Heimskringlu, nú með meiri áhuga en
áður. Ég les fýrst blaðsíðu 8 afpví að hún
er á íslensku.
Ég var fæddur hér í Chicago en ég
er af íslenskum ættum. Ég hef oft farið
til íslands, 16. ferðin var farin nú í
sumar. Veturinn 1961-62 kenndi ég
börnum hermanna á Keflavíkurflugvelli
og hef frá j>eim tíma margar góðar en-
durminningar. Ég er enn pakklátur fyrir
að vera svo heppinn að vera heilt ár á
íslandi.
Ég vona að blaðið eigi góða framtíð
fyrir höndum og muni koma út ár eftir
ár, pví pá hef ég eitthvað íslenskt til að
lesa.
Með bestu kveðjum,
George Hanson, Chicago
Dear Editor
This old picture was found in an old frame, among stored memories at the former
home of Bjom and Bjorg Bjomsson (Laufas), Lundar, Manitoba. On going through
some boxes and trunks, their youngest son found it.
On aslring around, none of the family has a clueas to who the people pictured here
might be. Perhaps some of your readers can come up with an answer.
Mrs. G.R. Eiriksson, Lundar, MB