Árdís - 01.01.1963, Qupperneq 12

10
ÁRDÍS
is used by everyone for the evening get-togethers. The beds are
used as seats. Most of the people are doing some work. The
women mend clothes, knit, sew sheepskin shoes or spin wool. The
men card the wool or carve small objects from wood, plait rope
or even knit. Those of the children, who are old enough, are
knitting too.
The room is lighted by tallow or liver oil lamps. The lamp-
light is barely adequate because the oil must be used sparingly.
Now, when all the members of the household are gathered
together in this room, the evening’s entertainment begins. Every-
one has been looking forward to this happy time. Maybe one
of the menservants will read a story for us. The people may have
heard this story several times, but they enjoy it each time
they hear it. There are not too many books in the home so each
one is read over and over again.
When the story is finished, a guest who has stayed for several
days at the farm, is asked to sing some old ballads. This ballad-
poetry singing is a form of folksinging peculiar to Iceland. The
guest is a very good ballad singer and is well known in the
district. Each evening he has entertained the people with his art.
Now we are to hear this ancient art dear to the heart of the
Icelanders. The man recites the poetry to a tune much like a
chant. At the end of each verse he holds the last note so long
that we think it must be endless. But it does end and the next
verse begins.
At last the singer has finished for the time being and now
there are other suggestions for the next part of the program.
“Shall we ask old Jón Jónsson to tell us one or two outlaw
stories?” someone asks. This is agreed upon and Jón begins. He
tells of an unfortunate young man who stole a sheep because his
wife and little child were starving. To escape the strict laws and
the punishment they all fled to the mountains where the thief
had to continue stealing to keep his family alive.
Old Jón tells another story of several young fellows who
formed a company. They went into the wilderness where they
lived in a big cave. They stole sheep from the farmers in the
surrounding area. The farmers became very angry. At last they
hired a young man who joined the robbers’ company for the
purpose of spying on them. After much difficulty he succeeded