Le Nord : revue internationale des Pays de Nord - 01.06.1941, Side 163

ICELAND IN THE NORTH
H7
said that all roads lead to Rome. In the history of the North all
roads lead to Iceland.
III.
After the downfall of the Icelandic republic and the union
with Norway (in 1262—64) Iceland’s great days were past, and
when that country later became united with Denmark Iceland
also came under Danish rule. It is outside the scope of this article
to examine the decadence that set in, or the subsequent political
struggle with Denmark. In the I9th century there has been a
slow reawakening, and the Icelandic nation seems at last to have
been regaining much of her ancient vigour. Finally in 1918 Ice-
land’s struggle for political independence came to a happy end,
and Iceland once more was recognized as an independent state,
on an equal footing with the other Northern countries, although
in union with Denmark under a common king. Since then the
relations with Denmark have been very friendly.
The political bonds between Iceland and Denmark have had
inevitable intellectual, social and economic consequences, and the
other Scandinavian countries have also in various ways influenced
Icelandic life and thought. Some of these influences have been
good, some evil. I will here confine myself to such things which
have proved of permanent value to our nation. ¥e acknowledge
freely, that for many things we are indebted to the other Northern
countries, especially to Denmark; we have imitated many of
their institutions and learned much from them.
Let us first look at our debt to Norway. When we ask: What
does Iceland owe to Norway, we may as well ask: what does a
child owe to its mother? We owe to Norway our very existence.
We still retain the old language of Norway, and the sacred tradi-
tions of Norway are a part of our own sacred traditions. We
feel that we are racially more akin to the Norwegians than to any
other nation, and when we come to Norway, especially to those
parts of western Norway from which the greatest part of our
forefathers came, we look upon those regions with a kind of
religious awe, we feel like pilgrims. I suppose many Americans
have the same kind of feeling towards the original homes of their
ancestors. But this peculiar feeling of our veneration for Norway
is often misunderstood by foreigners. They very often, especially
Norwegians, think that Iceland consequently would like to enter