The Icelandic connection - 01.03.2018, Síða 45

Vol. 70 #1
ICELANDIC CONNECTION
43
before her years.
- She was an old woman then, was
what Kristinn held in his memory when he
was recollecting fate of the old man who
stoically awaited his demise in the cot at
Helgarsel.
- The elderly housewife could not cope
with the old fellow and the hired women
were disgusted and ignored him, recalled
Kristinn many years later.
Kristjan Niels takes it upon himself
then to help the old man because the old
fellow is bothered by the unruly mess his
beard and hair has become. Kristjan trims
his hair and beard and cleanes him up as
best he can and in in return, receives a lot
of praise.
“However, it was said that he did this in
order to bring attention to himself “, wrote
Kristinn. “But certainly I knew that not to
be the case.” 1
We will remember Kristjan’s mother
here,]?6runn Kristjansdottirwho was always
willing and ready to lend her helping hand
though she never had much from which
to offer. Kristjan Niels later recollected his
mother’s example in the following poem:
Gulls og silfurs dyngjur storar hef eg aldrei att,
og ekki er heldur viti til a5 dreifa;
en feginn vildi’ eg hjalpa peim, sem eiga
eitthvad bagt,
allt, sem minir veiku kraftar leyfa.
Much gold or money I have never made
Or even done well in how I live
But gladly would I, the troubled aid
With all that my feeble strength could give
The homeland did not manage to keep
the young man at home. In June 1878 the
city in the bay fills up with travellers who
are waiting for the ship to transport their
households west across the ocean. In this
group is the hero of our story here, Kristjan
Niels, nineteen years old, registered as
a farm hand at Helgarseli on his way to
North America. He is travelling alone.
So the bond is broken, the one that
holds one to their motherland. For what
reasons, we ask? No one knows the
reasons. Maybe he was influenced in 1877
by the writings of Jon Olafsson of Ytra-
Laugaland. But Jon was an agent for the
Allan Lines Shipping Company and his
opinions undoubtedly reached the young
hired hand at Helgarseli because it was
just a short distance between the farms
Helgarsel and Ytra-Laugaland. Others
have speculated that it was a matter of love
that sent Kristjan Niels west, but for rather
different reasons than that which often
happens. A woman became enamoured
with him, the story goes, but he could not
return her affections and therefore took
leave of the farm at Helgarseli so as not to
further hurt the feelings of the woman in
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