Lögberg-Heimskringla - 01.01.2018, Blaðsíða 9

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Lögberg-Heimskringla • 1. janúar 2018 • 9
lamb, and asked him what
had become of them. The boy
answered that a fox had killed
the lamb and that the wether
had fallen into a bog, adding: “I
fancy I shall not be very lucky
with my sheep.”
When he heard this, the
farmer gave him one ewe and
two wethers, and asked him
to remain another year in his
service.
Next Christmas Eve,
Guðmundur begged Sigurður
to be cautious, and not run any
risks, for he loved him as if he
were his own son. When he
had got the sheep into the pens
about nightfall, the same troll
came to him, and said: “As sure
as ever I am a troll, you shall
not, this evening, escape being
boiled in my pot.”
“I am quite at your service,”
answered Sigurður, intrepidly;
“but you see that I am still very
thin; nothing to be compared
even to one wether. I will
give you, however, for your
Christmas dinner, two old and
two young sheep.”
“Let me see,” said the troll;
so the lad showed her the sheep,
and hooking them together by
their horns, she threw them on
to her shoulder and ran off with
them up the mountain.
Sigurður, when questioned,
declared that he had seen
nothing whatever unusual upon
the mountain. Next summer,
the farmer gave him four more
wethers.
When Christmas Eve had
come again, just as Sigurður
was putting the sheep into their
pens, the troll came to him and
threatened to take him away
with her. Then he offered her
the four wethers, which she
took, and threw them over her
shoulder. Not content with this,
however, she seized the lad,
too, tucked him under her arm,
and ran off with her burden to
her cave in the mountains.
Here she flung the sheep
down, and Sigurður after them,
and ordered him to skin them.
When he had done so, he asked
her what he was next to do.
“Sharpen this axe well, for I
intend to cut off your head with
it.”
When he had sharpened
it well, she bade him take off
his neckerchief, which he did
without changing a feature.
The troll, instead of cutting
off his head, flung the axe
down, and said: “Brave lad! I
never intended to kill you, and
you shall live to a good old
age. I caused you to be made
herdsman to Guðmundur,
for I wished to meet with
you. Next spring you must
move from Silfrúnarstaðir,
and go to Ás in Hjaltadalur,
the house of a silversmith, to
learn his trade. When you have
learned it thoroughly, you
shall take some silver-work to
Miklabær in Óslandshlíð, the
farm where the archdeacon’s
three daughters live; and I can
tell you that the youngest of
them is the most promising
maiden in the whole country.
Her elder sisters love dress
and ornaments and will
admire what you bring them,
but Margrét will not care
about such things. When you
leave the house, ask her to
accompany you as far as the
door, and then as far as the
end of the grass-field, which
she will do. Then give her this
handkerchief, this belt, and
this ring; and after that she will
love you. But when you have
seen me in a dream you must
come here. Bury me, and take
for yourself everything that
you find in my cave.”
Then Sigurður returned to
the farm, where Guðmundur
welcomed him with joy and
asked him whether he had seen
anything.
“No,” replied the boy;
and declared that he could
answer for the safety of all
future herdsmen. But no more
questions would he answer,
though the family asked him
many.
The following spring,
he went to the silversmith’s
house and in two years made
himself master of the trade.
He often visited Guðmundur,
his old master, and was always
welcome. Once he went to
the trading town, Hofsós, and
buying a variety of glittering
silver ornaments, offered them
for sale to the archdeacon’s
daughters, as the troll had told
him. When the elder sisters
heard that he had ornaments
for sale, they bought many
trinkets, but Margrét would not
even look at them.
When he took his leave,
he asked the youngest sister to
accompany him as far as the
door, and when they got there,
to come with him as far as the
end of the field. She was much
astonished at this request, and
asked him what he wanted with
her, as she had never seen him
before. But Sigurður entreated
her, and at last she consented to
go with him. At the end of the
field Sigurður gave her the belt
and handkerchief, and put the
ring on to her finger.
This done, Margrét said: “I
wish I had never taken these
gifts, but I cannot now give
them back to you.”
Sigurður then took leave
and went home. But Margrét,
as soon as she had received the
presents, fell in love with their
giver; and finding after a while
that she could not live without
him, told her father all about it.
Her father bade her desist from
such a mad idea, and declared
that she should never marry the
youth as long as he lived. On
this Margrét pined away, and
became so thin from grief that
her father engaged Sigurður as
his silversmith.
Not long after, Sigurður and
Margrét were betrothed.
One day, the youth dreamed
that he saw the old troll and set
out with the archdeacon for the
cave. Inside they saw the troll
lying dead on the floor with her
face awfully distorted. Then
Sigurður told the archdeacon
all about his interviews with
the troll and asked him to help
him to bury her. When they
had done so, they searched
the cave and found there as
many precious things as ten
horses could carry, which
Sigurður took to the farm,
which Guðmundur now gave
him. Not long after, he married
the archdeacon’s daughter, and
prospered to the end of his life.
Adapted from a version
of Jón Árnason’s tale that
appeared in Frank Leslie’s
Sunday Magazine, Vol.
XVIII, No. 3 (September
1885), and enhanced with
additional material from
the original Icelandic source,
Íslenzkar þjóðsögur og
ævintýry (Icelandic Folk Tales
and Legends).
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HEIMSKRINGLA
The Icelandic Community Newspaper
LÖGBERG
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Fax: (204) 284-7099 Toll-free: 1-866-564-2374 (1-866-LOGBERG)
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PHOTO: STEFAN JONASSON
A small church stands on the rock outcropping of the widow’s farm, Sjávarborg, on the outskirts of Sauðárkrókur.