The Icelandic connection - 01.03.2018, Qupperneq 44

42
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
Vol. 70 # I
died and another has been taken from her
and fostered out to another family. There
are five children at home that need to be
fed and clothed. The husband is a drunk
and for married women there is little work
to be had outside the home in the town.
Borunn Kristjansdottir then has to rely on
her husband’s earnings and increasingly on
the support from the town. But most of all,
Borunn relies on the hand and the help of
Almighty God. Her belief in the Almighty
is strong and unyielding.
- “The Bible is the book of all books”,
sais Borunn, and teaches her children
the sign of the cross and to say their
prayers. But she also has a great deal of
admiration for literature and verse and
enjoys discussing poets and poetry with
her friends. Maybe she teaches her children
poetry by her relative, Jonas Hallgrimsson.
And unbeknownst to her, she has borne a
new poet for the Icelandic nation, a poet
who will often look for his pleasure and
peace of mind through drinking.
Eins og Bor er J>orstlatur -
j?ar um frastt get rekka
verda sjorinn J>a mun jjur
j^egar eg haetti ad drekka.
Like Thor who was always of thirst,
This is what I am thinking.
The seas would empty first,
Before I finally quit my drinking.
We will run over the younger years
of our story’s hero here, his schooling and
confirmation, in order to hurry this story
along, but early on, Kristjan Niels begins
to take on all the casual labour that he can
find that was on offer for young men in the
town. His father is more and more unable to
take care of family’s needs and continues to
look to the town’s authorities for assistance.
He still owns the house in which the family
lives but that was given as security for the
ever increasing loans from the town council.
Then the foundation of the home
is taken from the family. There is a heavy
storm cloud hovering over the little house
on the bay. The woman of the house,
Borunn Kristjansdottir, becomes bedridden
and does not recover. She is taken from her
five children when her death occurs on the
28th of March 1873. Kristjan Niels is the
oldest, going on to his fifteenth year and
Rosa Sigrfdur the youngest, only two years
old. In the newspaper, Nordanfari, Borunn
is eulogized with these words: “she had
been blesses with a strong personality; and
I believe had all the qualities that a good
woman should have”.
At the death of Borunn Kristjansdottir,
the household is split up .Jon the blacksmith
sells the house and the children are fostered
out to various good folks. At Jodisarstadir
in eastern Eyjafjordur there is a man, David
Kristjansson who farmed half the property.
To that farm, the fourteen year old Kristjan
Niels Jonsson is directed. David is his
maternal uncle.
Kristjan Niels spends two years at the
home of David Kristjansson then from 1875
to 1878 he is a farm labourer at Helgarsel
in Gardsardalur. The otherwise childless
couple who takes him in there were Eirikur
Johannesson and Sigurbjorg Davidsdottir.
North of Bvera and lower in the valley at the
farmstead Brom fives Gudlaugur, a brother
to Eirikur. There are a lot of interactions
between these two farms and the son of
the Brom farmer, Kristinn Gudlaugsson,
is well aware of an old gentleman who has
taken to his cot and is going to end his fife
there under the roof of Eirikur the farmer
at Helgarsel. The old fellow is well fed as
Eirikur is relatively well off and is generous
and friendly enough when he is at home
very reserved in the broader community
and felt there had been little value to all he
has done in his fife. Sigurbjorg his wife is
in her in her fifties, of poor health and old