The Icelandic Canadian - 01.06.1973, Síða 36

34
THE ICELANDIC CANADIAN
SUMMER 1973
The lake had often before been a
companion and friend to him when
he had been almost overcome by the
storm and tumult in his heart.
Here he had knelt in solitude and
loneliness. Here he had prayed passion-
ately and earnestly. Here he had also
questioned the existence of a God. Life
seemed to be a relentless aggregate
that crushed those who happend under
the merciless wheels of chance. Here
he had wept the bitter tears of a
grown-up man whose will seemed al-
most conquered. Here he had also
found peace, peace after the over-
powering of his feelings. Just the same
way as the waves of the lake calmed
down after the storm, so he had also
gradually found inner peace, as the
years went by, learned to be grateful
for God’s smile in the sunshine, His
tear in the rain, learned to be grateful
for life itself.
It was young Ragnhildur who
mainly brightened and warmed his
soul, ever since she was a child and
came running to meet him with her
open arms, happy face, blue beaming
eyes, and her golden hair and clear
child’s voice. It was she and nobody
else who had spread light, hope, love,
and faith in life all around him.
He had therefore built all his future
dreams around her. She would enjoy
everything that Thordls and he had
done without. Now she had failed him
for the first time! But was it fair to
look at it this way? It was her good
right to marry whomever she chose
to, and nothing was more natural than
she would marry. But he had hoped, —
actually expected — it to be an Ice-
lander.
What could he do? Put his foot
down and simply forbid her to marry
the doctor! No, those days were long
gone. He could not do a thing — could
not say a word. He knew that he would
have to give in in the end even though
he resisted it now. But he was the
father after all and had brought her
up. Did he not have a right to demand
that she respect his wishes in those
matters? Surely she knew that he
objected to her marrying into an Eng-
lish family.
Should he repay Ragnhildur all her
affection (by depriving her of hap-
piness? Did he dare? What good had
it done her mother to get mixed up
with him, to become his wife? It
brought on dire poverty, poor health,
sorrow, and death. He had not man-
aged his own life well enough to dare
to overrule others.
He had to put uip with this just like
the other Icelandic parents this had
happened to. And he had blamed
them for not preventing such mar-
riages.
The feeling that Ragnhildur was
lost hurt most, not only lost to him
but to the Icelandic community in
which she was born and brought up
and to the Icelandic social life. It was
the same story with most of the Ice-
landers who married into the English
majority. They were lost to the Ice-
landers and vanished into an English
ocean of people.
Old Ingolfur sighed and wished that
the Icelanders had been as wise as the
Jews, making it a breach of religion
to marry into another ethnic group.
Because of this they had remained a
nation through the centuries, even
though they had been scattered
throughout the world and had endured
persecution and disregard.
Ingolfur rose. A cold gust blew from
the lake. He looked east and saw the
red of a new day dawning.
A new day — a new generation, that
must make its own history, find its
own calling, and make its own experi-
ences. Ingolfur had conquered him-