Sunday Post - 22.12.1940, Blaðsíða 3

SUNDAY POST
3
Folklore fin Iceland
b? SvelnbjOrn Finnsson
FROM earliest times the art
of storytelling has been
immensely popular with the Ice-
landers. An illuminating proof of
this are the world famous Ice-
landic sagas.
A peculiar kind of stories, ent-
ity different from the old sagas,
has been created in bygone cen-
turies. These stories are the off-
spring of imagination, and so
great is their multitude that they
would fill tons of volumes. These
stories can be divided into num-
ber of categories, but their comm-
on name is folklore.
There would hardly be any
country where the conditions for
the creation of such litterature
are more favourable than in Ice-
land. If you think of the wilder-
ness in Icelandic nature, the long
dark winter nights, and the thin-
ly scattered population, you will
see that there are three factors
existent, which have great bear-
ing upon the creation of stories,
Where the supernatural plays a
part. A lively imagination, a lean
towards the supernatural, and
the darkness, in which most
things happen, make a very fer-
tile ground for stories of all
kind of dreaded beings roaming
about or ghosts doing some mis-
chief.
We are all prone to some kind
of daydreaming or another, or
’’wishful thinking”. In a ooiuntry
like Iceland, where life has been
extremely hard and where you, in
past centuries, had to wrest your
necessities of life from nature,
it is no wonder, that people have
tried to escape from the hard-
ship of life by resorting to day-
dreaming and fantacy. An imag-
inary world has therefore been
created, a fairy-world, where
there is always an abundance
of those things which your
hearts desirle. When we are suff-
ering from cold in the winter,
the elves who live in this fairy
world, arte enjoying fine weather,
and their woods are green and
the air saturated with smell of
flowers.
There is a story about the ori-
gin of the elves which runs like
this: Once upon time when Eve
was washing her children, Our
Lord came to see her family.
Eve had just finished washing
half of her children, but as she
did not want Our Lord to see
them dirty, she hid those whom
she had not washed. Then Our
Lord said: Those who are hidden
from me shall also be hidden
from men. Thus the elves can
never he seen except on a parti-
cular occasion like for instance
at Xmas and then only by very few
individuals and they live in big
stones or hillocks and regions
unknown to men.
At Christmas time the fairy
world and other supernatural
beings are more on the move
than usual, so you had better be
careful. Sometimes elves lived
among men, and then nobody
knew that it was an elf until it
was discovered by accident, msu-.
ally at Xmas.
Here is a story of an elf who
was called Snotra.
Once upon time, there arrived
at a farm called Nes in Borgar-
fjorhur an aristocratic lady. No-
body knew anything about her.
She settled down to live there,
and was liked the better the more
people got to know her.
It is not known, who' possessed
Nes when she arrived there, but
before long, she possessed the
farm. She hired a land steward,
bul on the condit'on that he oould
tell her where she spent next
Xmas, as she would he going
away for Xmas. The steward said
he would be able to do so. She
said that it would cost him his
life, if he was 'unable to tell her,
but if he oould, he would get
a good reward.
Xmas got near, and on Xmas
Eve Snotra left, and nobody knew
where she went. After Xmas she
returned and asked her steward
whether he was able to tell her
where she had spent Xmas. He
said no, and afterwards he dis-
appeared, and nobody knew his
fate. Exactly the same happened
to her second and third stew-
ard, and she employed them all
on the same condition.
She Used to disappear every
Xmas, and she asked them all
the same question, which none
of them could answer. So they
all disappeared. At last she got
still one, and on the same condit-
ion. He said he would tell her
if he could. On Xmas Eve Snotra
prepared for leaving but her
people went to bed. The stew-
ard kept awake, and spied upon
her. When Snotra left the house
he followed her in order to see
where she went. He saw that she
made for the sea, and that she
carried something under her
arm. He followed her carefully.
When she got to a rock on the
beach, she sat down and unfold-
ed the parcel. He then saw, that
this was a veil. When she saw
him she threw another veil at
him, but put her veil over her
head and then dived straight into
the sea. He did exactly the same
in a great hurry, and managed
lo get hold of her veil at her
back. They now went through a
kind of smoke for some time,
until they arrived in a beautiful
country. There Snotra went ashore
and hid her veil. He followed
her example, and went after her.
He saw that the country was
exceptionally beautiful and that
fruit trees and flowers with deli-
cious scent grew there. When he
got further inland ,he saw orc-
hards everywhere. Now -they,
arrived at a beautiful town,
which was surrounded by walls.
But as Snotra got near to the
gate, she was met by a number
of people who welcomed her
with music. She gave her stew-
ard a sign that he should make
for a place where he saw two
big houses almost close to each
other. There he found a hut,
from which he could see through
a window in the big house. He
stayed there, and during the first
evening be saw through the
window that lights were every-
where ,and a number of exceed-
ingly well dressed people who
enjoyed theyiselves with music
and dance. On a throne he saw
a distinguished person ,and he
recognized Snotra sitting by him
in a queen’s dress. He was very
surprised. There he stood by the
window until everything was
finished. When he went to- bed
a young lady brought him some
food, and so she did all the time
he stayed there. He went to the
window every evening, and saw
always the same splendour and
joy and the couple on the throne.
The last evening, as he stood
by the window two men came
in and told the King that a cow
had got two calves, and the one
of them was dead when some-
body got there.
Two women, whose duty it
was to attend the cow, quarrelled
fiercely about whos fault it was,,
that the calf had died. On hear-
ing the news, the King became
very angry.
When Xmas was over, the stew-
ard noticed that Snotra’s depar-
ture was being expected. She was
accompanied from the mansion
by a great number1 of people
who played musical instruments.
Snotra and the king departed
with great sorrow. She now went
to the s®a and the steward foll-
owed her. They again went
through a sort of fog, and arri-
ved at the same spot, from
which they had orginally depart-
ed. She now folded her veil
and the steward threw his veil
to her. She uttered no word and
went home. So did he, and then
(Please turn to page 10.)
Fairy Hill
by DaviS Stefansson.
Though ice close the ancient pathways
And snows the old shelters fill,
The sleet and the snow-fall can never
Envelop Fairy Hill. /
Above it drifts never gather
Though frost-bound the whole land lies
For within it blazes forever
A fire that melts the ice.
Here have I a haven of refuge
From lowering storm-clouds ill,
Though ice close the ancient pathways
And snows the old shelters fill.
Translated by Skuli Johnson.
♦