Reykjavík Grapevine - 02.08.2013, Page 50

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50The Reykjavík Grapevine Issue 11 — 2013
Iceland's
forgotten Zoo
and the tragedy of the toothless wallabies
Words by Vera Illugadóttir. Photo by Gunnar sverrisson
exotic animals are a rare sight in Iceland. Once
upon a time, however, Icelanders could visit lions,
monkeys, polar bears, orcas and other creatures at
the hafnafjörður aquarium, which opened in 1969
and—despite the name—did not limit its menagerie
to marine animals. unfortunately, conditions for the
aquarium's animals were generally poor. This deso-
late scene was captured by a photographer for the
newspaper Tíminn in 1988.
The aquarium had closed the year before, due to
bankruptcy, and the zookeepers were made to eutha-
nise all of its inhabitants. for some reason, however,
the aquarium's four wallabies were not put down,
and more than a year later, remained in their pen in
the otherwise closed zoo. a surprised journalist for
Tíminn described the wallabies' condition in 1988:
"Their hut is small and dirty, around 2x5 meters
in size. There is nothing inside the hut but the naked
concrete floor and bins of rotten bread, salad and
fruits. a radiator has been placed inside for some
warmth. There the animals must cower, unable to go
outside due to the cold."
and on the hut's inhabitants: "The wallabies are
rather small but the astonishing thing is, that the four
animals are toothless and it looks like their teeth have
been removed."
When another newspaper, Morgunblaðið, inves-
tigated the matter, the explanation given was that
the zookeepers hoped to re-open the aquarium and
exhibit the wallabies. although it had been obvious
for months that this dream would not come true, but
that there had been "delays" in putting the wallabies
down. finally, no doubt due to the media coverage,
the last wallabies in Iceland were put down a week
later.
The reason is as follows: the
american writer, linguist, and
chess fanatic Willard fiske (1831–
1904) heard that everyone on Grím-
sey played chess with the same
passion as he played it, so he do-
nated an expensive chess set to
every family on the island. What's
more, he bequeathed $12,000 in his
will to establish a library on Grím-
sey, whereupon the grateful island-
ers began naming their children
after him.
During a recent trip to Grímsey,
I visited the island's library which,
thanks to the fiske bequest, has a
fine collection of old chess books.
"Mr. fiske was very good to our
little island," the librarian told me.
she pronounced fiske as if it were
"fisk-uh" so as not to confuse it
with fisk, the Icelandic word for
fish. fiskur have been very good to
Grímsey, too.
In my guesthouse, Basar, I
mentioned my interest in playing
a game or two (or three) of chess
with a local. No sooner said than
done. I found myself sitting with a
chess set next to the island's chief
attraction, an arctic circle sign that
indicates the distances to reykja-
vík, New York, Moscow, etc, but
doesn't indicate that it's at the arc-
tic circle. My opponent was a fel-
low from Grímsey named Palli.
Now I consider myself a pretty
decent chess player. after all, I once
beat Bobby fischer. surprised?
Well, I played a dozen games with
sæmi Pálsson (aka, sæmi rokk),
Bobby's bodyguard during the
1973 fischer-spassky tournament
in reykjavík, and I beat him once.
sæmi had beaten Bobby himself
once when the latter was half-
asleep. ergo, I beat Bobby fischer...
Given my so-called chess ex-
pertise, I figured that I had a rea-
sonably good chance to trounce
Palli. We shook hands and began
playing. The first game was a
closely fought draw, occasionally
interrupted by divebombing arctic
terns. and then my opponent beat
me soundly three games in a row.
Palli, by the way, happened to be an
11 year old boy...
Was I mortified by these loss-
es? Not at all. for they proved that
chess is alive and well on this tiny
speck of Iceland bisected by the
arctic circle.
By Lawrence Millman
Island Of
chess Players
Willard is not your typical Icelandic name, but
until a few decades ago it was a not an uncom-
mon name on the island of Grímsey. Not sig-
urður, haukur, hilmar, or Þorgeir, but Willard.
Trip to Grímsey provided
by air Iceland (www.airiceland.is).
accommodation in Grímsey provided by guesthouse Básar,
More info at www.gistiheimilidbasar.is.
Travel
Lene Zachariassen