Lögberg-Heimskringla - 15.12.1995, Síða 19

Lögberg-Heimskringla • Föstudagur 15. desember 1995 • 19
Does Grýla Vet Live?
by Gudrun Hanson
Walhalla, N.D. USA
As a child growing up in North
Dakota, one of my favorite
pastimes was to listen tp my
mother recite “rumsur” og Rímur
which she attributed to the huldufólk
from her homeland.
She would recite these “lju-
flingskvæði” (childrens songs) from
memory. These were supposedly sung
by the huldufólk, and if a child was
crying there was nothing as soothing
as having a huldu person come and
sing a song for the child at bedtime to
assure him of a good night’s sleep. It
was also known that if a huldu person
sang over a baby’s crib that child
would grow up to be a worthy person.
Some of the huldu people were not
as gentle as others, as was the case of
Grýla, who was to be feared if we ever
misbehaved.
Mother often mentioned Grýla to
us, and I thought that you might be
interested in what I remember about
her.
Does Grýla Yet Live?
Grýla was the name of an old norn
(witch) in Icelandic folklore. It is said
she was married twice. Her first hus-
band was Boli. They lived at Arinhellu
and had many children. Poems were
written about both Grýla and her chil-
dren, particularly, Leppalúði.
It was known that people feared
this couple for they were known to
steal children as was reported in this
verse:
Boli og Grýla bæöi hjón,
Börn er sagt þau finni
Þau er hafa sætan són
Til sorgar mömmu sinni.
There are more stories about Grýla
than Boli. He died of natural causes
after laying in bed for many years.
After his death, Grýla married an old
man named Leppaludur. They had
twenty children. The youngest were
twins, Sighvat and Surtla. Both died in
infancy. Grýla was fifty years old when
the twins were born.
Having survived both of her hus-
bands, Grýla had to fend for herself
and her large family. This she did by
begging, stealing, singing with her
daughter, so loudly that it echoed
through the hills in her province. It
seemed that Grýla lived to be many
hundred years old and in spite of her
years remained forever hale and
hearty, continuing in her old tricks of
stealing children, food, and creating
fear in the Icelandic people.
One description of Grýla in a book
(stafrófskver) by Jónas Sveinsson writ-
ten in 1873 in Akureyri depicts her as
grey and hairy with a horn on her
head. Tall of stature, she had teeth
that reached to her chest and a tongue
that could reach across great dis-
tances. Of her four eyes the largest
was on the nape of her neck. She had
a large lump on her back, and the fin-
gernails at the end of her long arms
were clawlike.
When children were learning their
lessons she was said to be standing in
the comer ready to steal the child that
misbehaved or didn’t learn their
lessons.
Grýla kaiiar á börnin sín, þegar hún fer
að sjóöa til Jóla: Leppur, Skreppur,
Lápur, Skrápur, Langleggur og Skjóöa,
Völudallur og Bóla, Strokkur, og
Strympa, Dallur og Dáni, Sieggja og
Sláni, Djángi og Skotta
— o.s. frv.-------------
Gleðileg Jól Og Farsælt Komandi Ár
Grýla poems and rhymes have been around for centuries in lceland. Grýla is
the most famous monster which people feared around Yuletide. She is,
for example, mentioned among troils in the Edda Poems, by Snorri
Sturluson. Many hideous descriptions have been found of her appearance and
behaviour, such as this one taken from Arni Björnsson’s “Saga Daganna”: “Her
main occupation is obtaining food for herself and her family's ever hungry stom-
achs. She had three husbands, Boli, Gustur and Leppalúöi and close to 80 chil-
dren whose names are known.
Her favourite fare is crancky children, but she frowns on fish, soups and pud-
dings. This monster has many counterparts throughout Europe, but few have
such frightening descriptions as Grýla. She was not particularly associated with
Yule tide until the 17th century in a poem by Guömundur Erlendsson from Fell,
in Sléttuhlíö. Some have speculated, with reservation, that Grýla and her family
could be the common people's metaphor of harsh authorities. Grýla makes her
first appearance in lceland during the 17th century when the Danish monarchy
tightened its grip on the country. The Yuletidelads would then represent the
king’s judges and revenue officers who collected taxes and treated the people
harshly. r,
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