The Icelandic Canadian - 01.12.1963, Blaðsíða 32

30
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
Winter 1963
ed roof of the church. .At the same
time, a tolling of bells was heard and
a great din. Everyone rushed in con-
fusion for the door, but Arnor ran as
fast as he could through the dark
night towards home. However, he had
not got far before he could hear the
“elf chase’’ and the thudding of hooves
behind him. He heard the one who
was at the head of the chase recite
loudly:
Hie, let us hie
’neath the darkening sky,
to bring the wretch bale,
to make his wits fail;
so that he may
not see the day,
the rays of the dawning day.
Then the band of elves tried to
block Arnor’s path to the farm house,
so that he had to fall back. When he
came to the slope south of the farm
house and east of the Hill, he sank to
the ground exhausted. Then the whole
band rode over him, and he was left
there more dead than alive.
Now the story turns back to Sveinn.
He came home about midnight. He
was very depressed and did not want to
talk about his absence, and only said
that it was necessary to search for Ar-
nor. The search lasted all night, but
he was not found until a farmer from
Laugar, having attended evensong at
Tunga, came upon him on the slope
where he had been left. Arndr was
conscious but almost drained of
strength. He told the farmer what had
happened that night, as has been told
here already. He also told the farmer
not to try to carry him to the farm
house since he could not be restored
to the living.
Arnor died on the hill and since
then the hills around there have been
called the Hills of Death.
Sveinn was never the same after
this event. His temperament grew even
more melancholy and serious. He
never went near the Elf Hill again,
and no one saw him even look in the
direction of the Hill. He withdrew
from all worldly activities, entered the
monastery at Helgafell, and became
a monk. He became such a learned
man that none of his brother-monks
could be considered his equal, and he
sang mass more beautifully than any-
one had heard it sung before.
Sveinn’s father lived at Tunga till
he reached old age. When he was very
old, he suddenly fell ill. This was short-
ly before Easter. When the old man
realized how seriously ill he was, he
sent for Sveinn at Helgafell and asked
him to come and see him. Sveinn set
out without delay, but before he left
he warned his brethren that he might
not return alive.
Sveinn arrived at Tunga the Satur-
day before Easter Sunday. His father
was so weak that he could hardly speak.
However, he was able to ask his son,
Sveinn, to conduct the service on Sun-
day and ordered that he himself be
taken to the church. He said that he
wanted to live his last moments there.
Sveinn was reluctant to do this, but
he said that he would on the condition
that no one would open the church
doors during mass. He said his life
depended on that.
People thought this was a strange
request. However, there were some
who thought that he still did not want
to look in the direction of the Elf
Hill, for the church was located on an
elevation in the homefield and the
church doors faced the Hill directly.
Now the farmer was taken to the
church as he had requested and
Sveinn donned the surplice and began
mass. All agreed that they had never
been present at such a beautiful ser-
vice; they were all in a mood of ecstacy.
But when the priest finally turned