Reykjavík Grapevine - 15.08.2014, Page 46

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A notable exception to this is ‘Vatns-
dæla saga’ ('The Saga Of The People
Of Vatnsdalur'), a thirteenth century
family chronicle about Ingimundur
the Old, the first settler in Vatnsdalur
valley in northern Iceland, and his
offspring. In one chapter, Ingimun-
dur’s two sons, Þorsteinn and Jökull,
feud with another settler in the val-
ley—who defends his farmstead in a
rather unusual manner:
It is now time to tell of the man
who was mentioned earlier, and
was called Thorolf Sledgeham-
mer. He developed into an ex-
tremely unruly individual. [...]
Though he was without follow-
ers, he was the owner of crea-
tures on whom he relied for pro-
tection—these were twenty cats;
they were absolutely huge, all of
them black and much under the
influence of witchcraft.
At this time men went to
Thorstein and told him of their
difficulties—they said that all
governance in the region was in
his hands, and that Thorolf had
stolen from lots of people and
done many other wicked deeds.
Thorstein said that was
true, “but it is not easy to deal
with this man of Hel and his
cats, and I’ll spare my men that.”
But despite the threatening pres-
ence of twenty huge cats, eventually
the brothers decide to raid Thorolf
Sledgehammer’s farm to try and get
rid of him, once and for all.
[Thorolf] went inside when he
saw the troop of men arriving
on horseback and said, “Now
there are guests to receive, and
I intend to have my cats take
care of this, and I will put them
all outside in the doorway, and
the men will be slow to gain
entry with them defending the
entrance.”
He then fortified them
greatly by magic spells and after
this they were simply ferocious
in their caterwauling and glar-
ing.
Then the Vikings con-
fronted the wicked Thorolf:
Thorstein went to the door
and said, “We ask you to come
out, Thorolf.”
He said that he knew their
visit meant only one thing, and
that was not at all friendly. Then
at once the cats began to howl
and behave monstrously.
Thorstein said, “They are a
gruesome lot.”
Jokul replied, “Let’s get in
there, and not worry about these
cats."
Thorstein said that they
should not, ‘because it is more
likely that we would be unable to
keep our troops safely together,
what with the cats and Thorolf’s
weapons, and everything else,
because he is a formidable war-
rior.
Eventually, justice prevails, the
brothers succeed in killing Thorolf
and burning down his farmstead.
However, the cats seem to perse-
vere:
The place where Thorolf lived
has been called Sleggjustadir
ever since, and cats h a v e
always been sighted there, and
the place has often seemed ill-
fated since then.
(Translation by Andrew Wawn,
appears in 'The Complete Sagas
of Icelanders, including 49 Tales,'
ed. Viðar Hreinsson, 1997)
46 The Reykjavík GrapevineIssue 12 — 2014LEMÚRINN
Lemúrinn is an Icelandic web magazine (Icelandic for the native primate of Mad-
agascar). A winner of the 2012 Web Awards, Lemúrinn.is covers all things strange
and interesting. Go check it out at www.lemurinn.is
Words
Vera Illugadóttir
It is thought that the first cats touched Icelandic soil in the
tenth century, accompanied by human settlers. Those first
Icelandic cats did not leave much of a mark on history.
Though cats appear in Nordic mythology and Icelandic folk-
lore, our furry friends are seldom mentioned in Icelandic his-
torical chronicles, sagas or other ancient literature.
“They Are A
Gruesome Lot”
Monstrous cats
in the Icelandic
sagas