Reykjavík Grapevine - 16.06.2017, Síða 70

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G E T Y O U R D E S I G N E R B R A N D S
T A X F R E E A T K E F L A V I K A I R P O R T
Quite an unnerving thought
A worm dog […] is a female pup.
The bitch will only give birth to
one if it has consumed an un-
boiled cock egg. These have such
an aberrant nature that the pup
will become a monstrous creature
[…] as it slips down into the earth
on the third night after its birth
and returns three years later as
monster with a deadly gaze. At
birth, they will have an all-white
or all-black body, a red head
and red feet. They are born with
full sight. María, wife of farmer
Halli Snjólfsson at Sturluflötur
in Fljótsdalur, was a labourer at
the farm of Outer Víðivellir in
her younger years. She later said
that during her time there, an
all-seeing, black female pup was
born. Only its feet were red. It
immediately stared at everything
before it. The household did not
want to risk having the creature
nearby, so they placed it under-
water in the hope that it would
drown rather than slip into the
earth. The creature was never
seen again. At another farm,
however, a one-coloured pup with
a red head was born and man-
aged to slip into the earth. A glass
structure had to be built over the
spot to prevent its return.
Sigfús Sigfússon, Íslenzkar
þjóðsögur og sagnir VI, p. 63-64
MONSTER OF THE MONTH
REYKJAVÍK OF YORE
Moðurmur - Worm Dog
From Mundane
to Watergate
Taken from 'The Museum of Hidden
Beings' by Arngrímur Sigurðsson. Buy the
book at gpv.is/dulbk
Words: Valur Grettisson Photos: Art Bicnick / Photo Museum
To be honest, the story of Há-
teigskirkja is painfully uninter-
esting. This is probably not the
best way to start an article, but
bear with me, because this article
will unexpectedly end with Water-
gate (sorry to ruin the suspense).
The church was consecrated
during in the advent in the year of
1965. The women’s association of
the parish donated a church mural
by Benedikt Gunnarsson more than
twenty years later. The picture is of
course overdramatic, like all church
murals. Its name is quite modest,
though: “The Cross and the Light of
the Holy Trinity.” Exciting, right?
The architect who designed
Háteigskirkja, Halldór H. Jónsson,
was well-known in Iceland as the
man who designed famous houses
like Hótel Saga (also known as the
farmers’ palace), and the former
home of our national broadcast
company. He also designed the
headquarters for the largest con-
struction company in Iceland,
Islenskir aðalverktakar—the
structure is ironically called “the
Watergate building” by Icelanders.
So, there you have it: from mundane
to Watergate.
68 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 10 — 2017