Gripla - 2019, Page 35

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mikill maður og Anna og Marín systur hans urðu ríkismanns-
frúr.85
[Then next day, [the cotter’s wife] went with milk to the invalids
and continued doing so until they were better again. They lived for
a long time, all those people. Axel became an important man, and
his sisters Anna and Marín became rich men’s wives.]
Albert had no need of fiction to show him the realities of extreme poverty.
It is unsurprising that he wished to complete the tale of the sick family,
but it is notable that he does so by naming them – they are anonymous in
Blanche’s original – and bringing them out of their backwoods isolation.
Blanche’s short story keeps the family at a distance; Albert integrates them
into the larger community and opens up the possibility for them to assume
another identity than “peasant” or “poor person.”
Finally, a creative retelling of Felicia Dorothea Hemans’s “Casabianca”
(NIHM, 510r–510v) ends with the 13-year-old boy jumping off the
burning ship and growing up to become a courageous and strong man
rather choosing to perish while waiting for his dead father’s permission
to abandon his post.86 Turning the poem’s message on its head, Albert’s
“Casabianca” teaches that bravery is valuable, but ineffectual sacrifice is
not. Albert’s rejection of the image of the fallen boy-hero shows concern
for the well-being of children and the efficacy of one’s behaviour. Instead
of praising the death of a child soldier, Albert copied information on life-
jackets (see above).
In NIHM, Albert reveals himself as a mature storyteller, with a distinct
voice informed by his beliefs and experiences. Albert peoples his narra-
tives with individuals who take control of their situation and succeed,
even when this requires a radical departure from his source material. Rósa
Þorsteinsdóttir’s research on Icelandic storytellers shows that individuals’
life-experiences can shape their storytelling repertoire and the telling of
ALBERT JóHANNESSON AND THE SCRIBES OF HECLA ISLAND
85 NIHM, 514r.
86 “Varð hann með tímanum mesti hugrekkismaður og nafnkenndur fyrir hreysti sína,”
NIHM, 510v. A verse translation by Bjarni Jónsson is a possible source text, but the
English-language poem was also widely taught to Canadian schoolchildren. [Felicia
Dorothea Hemans], “Casabianca,” trans. by Bjarni Jónsson, Ísafold (12.07.1893): 177–78.