Reykjavík Grapevine - 08.09.2017, Qupperneq 60

The house at Þingholtsstræti 9
wasn’t removed because someone
sprayed a swastika on it, although
that is what you were thinking,
right? No, dummy, the house was
removed because of age discrimi-
nation. It was concerned way too
old and way too useless to be a
part of single block in downtown
Reykjavík. This was thought to be
a serious issue at the time. As you
can see, the police was present at
this removal.
As is the case with old people
who can’t keep up with the snow-
flake millennials and the com-
plicated anxiety cases of the X
generation, the house was put in
a retirement home. It probably
sounds surprising—and perhaps
oddly thoughtful—but we do have
a retirement home for houses. It’s
called Árbæjarsafn and it’s pretty
much where houses goes to die, and
all the families in Reykjavík get the
chance to witness it. And perhaps
they can learn a thing or two about
Iceland’s history at the same time,
although they rarely do.
The house was removed 1969 but
the empty space wasn’t reused un-
til 2010, when Reykjavíkurborg, the
very same that sentenced the old
house to Árbæjarsafnið, decided to
put up a lovely square in the name
of the feminist, Bríet Bjarnhéðin-
sdóttir, who fought courageously
for a better world for women at the
beginning of the 20th century.
WWW.HANDKNIT.IS
• Skólavör›ustígur 19 tel.: (+354) 552 1890
• Borgartún 31 tel.: (+354) 562 1890
60 The Reykjavík Grapevine
Issue 16 — 2017
Words: Paul Fontaine
Illustration: Elín Elísabet
As many of our readers know, Ice-
land has Celtic roots. In addition
to bringing over a lot of the myths
and legends of the Norse people,
Icelanders also borrowed Celtic
folktales, amongst other things.
The story of the Midwife of the
Elves is a great example of this
early cultural appropriation.
The story tells of a poor mid-
wife, who was one night awak-
ened and summoned by an elf to
her home in a hill. There, she was
brought to a high-ranking elf in
labour, and was asked to help with
the delivery of her baby. She did
so, successfully, and the elves were
very grateful. So grateful, in fact,
that they gave the midwife a gift:
they put a special ointment over
one of her eyes, enabling her to see
“the hidden world” with that eye
wherever she went. There was just
one catch, and that was that she
must never tell a soul about her
new ability.
You can see where this is go-
ing. One day many years later, she
spilled the beans when she en-
countered an elf and let on that
she could see her. The elf asked,
“With which eye were you able to
see me?” The midwife indicated
which eye, and the elf prompted
poked her in that eye, hard enough
to render her blind for good.
Many Icelanders know this
story or variations of it, but it
can also be found in Ireland and
England. The story is very old,
and in fairness, there is really no
way to know who was first to tell
it. It is possible Icelanders “bor-
rowed” the story from one of their
Irish slaves. It is also possible that
Norse people who settled in Gaelic
regions brought the story with
them. Either way, it’s a very creepy
cautionary tale about gratitude,
and minding your own damn
business.
GHOST STORIES
The
Midwife Of
The Elves
The name of this small mountain is Álfaborg, or Elf-city.
REYKJAVÍK OF YORE
A Retirement
Home For Houses
Words: Valur Grettissom Photo: Art Bicnick
Photo by Reykjavík Museum of Photography
No swastikas to be seen
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