Lögberg-Heimskringla - 13.02.2004, Blaðsíða 14

page 14 » Lögberg-Heimskringla * 13 February 2004
Káinn Was a Character
Árný Hjaltadóttir
WlNNIPEG, MB
Kristján Níels Júlíus, or Káinn (K.
N.) as everyone called him, was
bom on April 7, 1860 in Akureyri,
Iceland. His father, Jón Jónsson, was a
blacksmith. K. N. lived with his parents
until he was fourteen when his mother,
Jórunn Kristjánsdóttir, from Dvergstaðir
died. Then he went to live with his
maternal uncle, Davíð Kristjánsson;
farmer at Jórdísarstaðir in Eyjafjörður
and lived there until he moved to
America in 1878. Káinn lived in
Winnipeg for a while first after he
arrived in America. Then he lived in
Duluth for a few years or until he moved
to Pembina County ND in 1893, where
he lived for the rest of his life. He had
five siblings: Jón, Bjarni, Elinóra,
Steinunn Blöndal, and Rósa
Thorvarðsson. He never married and had
no children. Káinn died on Oct. 25,
1936. He was buried at Þingvalla
Cemetery ND.
Káinn was a laborer, working most-
ly on farms in a round Pembina ND. In
latter years he became the gravedigger at
the Þingvalla Church, Mountain, ND. In
his memorial article about Káinn in
Tímarit, Röggnvaldur Pétursson said this
about him: “He did that job (grave dig-
ging) as if he was making a bed for those
who were to be buried. Many, no, most
or all of them were his friends who were
being buried and it touched his feeling
world mightily. I remember one time that
we walked out from the burial ground,
after having buried an old and dear
friend of his that he whispered in my ear
a verse. Its contents was that more and
more of his friends were dwelling there
and that he was there most of the time,
looking our from the grave up into the
clear heavens; his lifelong career had
come to this and it would continue to be
thus when he would move there for
good, that he would look up to the stars
all the summer long and during the win-
ter nights until they would disappear. His
words were fraught with good-natural
humor but without any self pity”
(Tímarit XVm ál936); 115).
The poem Hrafnaþing íHolti is a lit-
tle ditty that he put together on a special
occasion while visiting the office of the
weekly newspaper Lögberg. It is of
course wrought with humor as so many
of KN’s poems.
„Hrafnaþing í Holti”
K. N. kom inn á skrifstofu vikublaðsisns Lögbergs í
Winnipeg og hitti þar fyrir nokkra presta og aðra.
“Raven’s Meeting at Holt” Qrðaleikur
I Lögbergs helga hofi
við héldum prestaþing;
þar fór allt fram með lofi
og flaskan gekk í kring.
í hópi svartra sauða
á synda hálum stig
rakst ég á Jakob rauða .
og Jakob rakst á mig.
K. N. visited at the Lögberg office in Winnipeg and met
there a few ministers and some others.
The “ministers” were meeting,
At Lögberg’s holy house.
There Jakob Jónsson’s seating
Some irk within me arouse.
There black-sheep were a bleating
As the bottle went around,
Applauding all proceeding
Of the sinful-slippery, hound.
Translated by Ámý Hjaltadóttir
\
Match the Icelandic word or phrase to
its English meaning.
(Answers below)
skrifborð
eldhúsborð
stóll
borðdúkur
hægindastóll
skemill
borðstofuborð
skrifstofustóll
kitchen table
office chair
desk
dining room table
chair
tablecloth
easy chair
footstool
Answers
jrnqa
aoijjo ‘n9}snjojsju>[s tsjquj uiooj 8ui
-uip ‘Qjoqnjojspjoq íjoojsjooj ‘uiuiajs
íjreqo ÁSB3 ‘nojscpuiSæq íqjop
-ajqcj ‘jnqnpQJoq Ureqo ‘qojs íajquj
uoqojiq ‘Qjoqsnqpp ‘.qsop ‘Qjoqjujs
N._____________________________
Children 's Corner
by Árný Hjaltadóttir
Anna skrifar ömmu bréf
Sæl elsku amma mín. Takk fyrir að leyfa mér að koma og vera hjá þér í sumar.
Mér fannst gaman að koma í heimsókn til þín og afa. Mér fannst líka gaman að
fá að heimsækja Jóa frænda í sveitinni. í dag er ég að passa litla bróðir minn,
Karl, sem er nafni hans afa. Mamma lagði sig og litli bróðir sefur svo ég ákvað
að byrja að skrifa þér bréf. Hann lltli bróðir er svo mikið krútt, hann er alltaf
síbrosandi og hjalar við mig þegar hann er vakandi. Þegar ég verð stór þá ætla
ég að eiga fullt hús af börnum af því að mér finnst svo gaman að passa litla
bróðir minn. Kettlingurinn minn, hún Tíra, er voðalega afbrýðissöm út í litla
bróðir af því að ég er alltaf að passa hann. Allavega kemur hún alltaf þegar ég
held á honum og nuggar sér upp við mig og mjálmar og mjálmar. Það er þessveg-
na sem ég held hún sé afbrýðissöm. Kanske að hún hætti að vera afbrýðissöm ef
hún eignaðist kettlinga en mamma segir að það sé ekki hægt að leyfa henni það
því það sé svo mikið verk að hugsa um fullt af kettlingum, það sé alveg nóg fyrir
sig að líta eftir einum ketti, einni stelpu og cinum strák. Annars lít ég nú alveg
eftir henni Tíru minni og svo hjálpa ég líka heilmikið með hann iittla bróðir
minn, svo ég veit ekki af hverju hún er að kvarta. En hún mamma er nú stun-
dum dálítið þreytt þessa dagana, kanske af því að hann Karl vaknar svo oft til
þess að fá sér að borða. Hann virðist alltaf vera sísvangur. Ég held ég heyri í
honum rétt núna, verð að hlaupa. Bless, bless, amma mtn, Anna.
Anna writes grandma a letter
My dear grandma, hi. Thank you'for allowing me to stay witli you this summer.
I enjoyed visiting you and grandpa. I also enjoyed visiting uncle Jói out in the
country. Today I am looking after my little brother, Karl, who is afi’s namesake.
Mom lay down and my little brother is sleeping so I decided to write you a let-
ter. My little brother is so cute and he is always smiling and babbles at me when
he is a wake. When I am grown up I am going to have a full house of children
because I love so much to look after my little brother. My kitten, Tíra, is terribly
jealous of my little brother because I am always looking after hini. Anyway, she
always comes when I am holding him and rubs herself up against me and mews
and mews. That’s why I think she is jealous. Perhaps she would quit being jeal-
ous if she had kittens, but Mom says that we can’t allow her to have kittens
because it is too much work to look after a lot of kittens. It is more than enough
för her to look after one cat, one girl and one boy. Anyway, I look after my Tíra
by myself and then I help quite a bit with my little brother, so I don’t know what
she is complaining about. But my mom is sometimes a bit tired these days, per-
haps because Karl awakens so often to eat. He seems to be constantly hungry. I
think I can hear him right now, must run. Bye, bye, dear grandma, Anna.
vera hjá stay with síbrosandi always smiling nuggar rub ketti cat dagana days
heimsókn visit hjalar babbles mjálmar mews einni one oft often
þín you vakandi awake þessvegna therefore stelpu girl sísvangur always hungry
sveitinni the country verð stór grow up eignaðist had strák boy rétt núna right now
nafni namesake ætla am going to verk work dálítið quite a bit
lagði lay down voðalega terribly líta eftir look after þreytt tired
krútt cute afbrýðissöm jealous einum one þessa these
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