The Icelandic connection - 01.03.2018, Síða 26

24
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
Vol. 70 #1
Eftirkostin (Results)
I lagri bygging buska hja,
bak vi3 skolahusi3,
a5 minni hyggju mastti sja
miki3 liggja eftir jaa.
In a little building near the bush
Back behind the schoolhouse,
I think we all can see there was,
A great deal they produced.
(transl. Ingrid Roed)
So, what was this little building by the
bush behind the schoolhouse?
Another good example of Kainn
gently making fun of something is his
(‘hlunkhenda’ clunky verse), a poetic form
he made up. This is a four-line poem with
internal rhyme and without the odd-line
alliteration, and therefore the poetic feel,
of traditional Icelandic poetry used both
in Iceland and North Dakota. This must be
the oldest ‘hlunkhenda’:
Hringhend Hlunkhenda (Internal-
Rhyme Verse)
Ta3, sem eg meina, ser5u, sko! -
vera ekki ]aa3 neinu rugli;
hara a3 reyna a5 drepa tvo
steina me3 einum fugli.
This is what I mean, if you will,
empty drivel, I tell you, it’s not;
there are two stones I intend to kill
with the one bird that I’ve got.
(transl. Ingrid Roed)
He used the ‘hlunkhenduna’ to make
gentle but ridiculous fun of various verses
that many thought were particularly prized
verses. The composer of this verse I have
not found, but it would be good if someone
knew. The verse is about a trip to Iceland.
Fe3raslo3ir for a3 sja,
fasr5ist blo5 1 kinnar.
Kappinn rjo5ur kyssti a
kyrtil mo5ur sinnar.
(Editors note: Poet describes here how he
travelled to his motherland and kissed the hem
of her skirts)
I have to say that I am in agreement
with Kainn that this is a dreadful doggerel.
Kainn’s ‘Hlunkhenda’ version sounds like
this:
Verdaeau navis u (Prized Verse)
Eldhuss hlo3ir for a3 sja,
kerald sto3 jtar innar;
kappinn rjo5ur settist a
kollu mo3ur sinnar.
(Editors note: Kainn describes visiting a closet
back of the kitchen where the pot is but instead
he sits on his mother’s cup)
Western-Icelandic
But, as Borarinn Stefansson very
correctly states, “many of his verses will
pose a problem for those who do not
understand English as a lot of his humour
and hidden meanings are in the English
he throws into his poems which also is an
example of the Icelandic-North American’s
use of the Icelandic language.”
Those verses that I heard as a child
were the ones that did not include
‘Western-Icelandic’. In those years there
was little or no understanding of English
in the rural communities. But there was
plenty of other material, even though
it was ‘Western-Icelandic’, that Kainn
made fun of the most. This was not done
with indignation or moralizing over the
deterioration of the mother tongue among
his compatriots in the West; rather it was,
first and foremost, done in fun.
Good-natured fun. His friend, the
Icelandic-Canadian poet, Guttormur
J. Guttormsson, whom I have seen
mentioned in Canada as ‘the second-
greatest West-Iceland poet’ (however that