ayy Oe yee Lats Ai Ms pte Pag 3 Pp Á ms ip Tan Segara ee Che Library of the Gniversityof NorthCavolina — The oe sect eee b0 oO 4 1 oO ee er > @ THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA ENDOWED BY THE DIALECTIC AND PHILANTHROPIC SOCIETIES UZICKE Ti AT 6 NDERS UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL H iii 0001 601 9090 This BOOK may be kept out TWO WEEKS ONLY, and is subject to a fine of FIVE CENTS a day thereafter. lt-was-taken-out-on™ 4 MAY 18 20 1 15 p00 JUL 1 4/2010 LEGENDS OF ICELAND. ae uke "4 oie K ( ie ta AR á Ble CLOWES AND SONS, STAMFORD STREET AND C (ið {A ae RT uN þ ul |) BA ulin 4 ICELANDIC LEGENDS, COLLECTED BY é iT CE JON ARNASON. TRANSLATED BY Shy GEORGE E."J. POWELL AND EIRIKUR MAGNUSSON. ““The mighty ones of Eld are all departed: Warriors from ruined hall, and elves from rock and stream: And we alone remain, the little hearted, To tell the tales of those who Did; while we but sit and dream.” (From the IORLANDIC of MATTHIAS JORHUMSEN.) WITH TWENTY-EIGHT ILLUSTRATIONS, LONDON: RICHARD BENTLEY, NEW BURLINGTON STREET Publisher tn Ordinary to Wer Majesty. 1864. 2 Labiary, Univ. ol Nortb Carolina PREFACE, Tose who are thoroughly acquainted with the literature of Iceland are agreed that, so far as the historical part of it is concerned, it holds a distinguished place among the literatures of the world, next indeed to the classics of ancient Greece and Rome. And though its historians, the authors of its noble sagas, have been men of high learning and cultivated minds, its peasants, uncultivated and unlearned, have been those who have handed down to us the traditional lore of the country, the poetical and imaginative tales of elves, trolls, ghosts, goblins, and monsters ; some contenting themselves with telling them often by the winter fire; others adding stories from their own mental testimonies. And thus, in the course of many years, the mass of such stories has accumulated, until at length, becoming perhaps too unwieldy for oral tradition, it has been committed to paper by the peasants and others, who were its guardians and possessors, at the earnest and constant request of Mr. Jón Arnason, 6 PREFACE. who, with a diligence and perseverance which have rightly earned for him the name of “The Grimm of Iceland,” has gathered into one great mass the mighty body of Icelandic folk-lore. From this immense collection Mr. Arnason published, in 1862, a volume called “ Íslenzkar Þjóðsögur og Æfintýri (Icelandic National Stories and Tales), at Leipzig, of which the first part has appeared this year. It is from these volumes that the present selection has been made. As we have intended this volume; more for amusement than instruction, we have wilfully omitted the able introduction written by Mr. Guðbrandr Vigfússon (a learned Icelander, at Copenhagen), which treats of the Icelandic superstition in all its branches. For the same reason we have also left out many topographical names and allusions, which, to be of any use to the general public, would require an elaborately finished map and long explanatory notes. And here, perhaps, a few extracts from Mr. Vigfusson’s preface might not be out of place. Á “ Iceland, from the times of its earliest settlement, has abounded with tales of elves, goblins, trolls, and super- natural bemgs of every description, as will be at once acknowledged by anyone who is conversant with the sagas. ‘These tales are closely coherent with, and have risen and grown in the company of, the historical sagas, * as, in those long gone-by days, history and tradition lived in the greatest union. Both, as twin sisters, are begotten ; PREFACE.. Fá in the same bosom, and both can therefore be called national; and to this name the superstitional tales have perhaps the highest claims, since they are the offspring of fancy and popular poetry, never dying out so long as the flame of imagination is not extinct in the minds of the people, and assuming a new form with every age, according to the way in which the spirit of that age regards the world of wonders. When times are dark, and superstition gloomy, we find tales of goblins and witchcraft to be most prevalent. But on the dawning of brighter days, the quaint and elegant stories of elves become the objects of popular poetry.” We still quote from Mr. Vigfússon. “ At first it was intended to apply to this collection of stories some name that savoured strongly of the past, but it soon appeared that such a denomination would not be applicable to all the stories. The author, therefore, changed his intention, and has called the work ‘ Icelandic National Stories and Tales.’ Because the olden time is the mother of the present, people are too often ‘inclined to make it the standard of everything good, and to institute “invidious comparisons, declaring that all that we have and know has been handed down from those bygone days, from man to man and from mouth to mouth; we, of the modern days, doing nothing but picking up and piecing together the fragments we find. And applying this theory to literature, they disparage all folk-lore which 8 PREFACE. ° is not avowedly ancient. But they do not consider that as long as nation is nation, and life is life, old things either die out and become extinct, or else change their colours; are either replaced by, or closely mingled with, the new. That nation, therefore, which does nothing but remember, must be looked upon as dead, as petrified, as no longer to be numbered among the living and acting. These stories will show clearly that the Icelanders are not so utterly deprived of mental life as to be unable to replace old with new, and to add to their literary treasure- heap. Many of them are of quite modern origin, and will not suffer from a comparison with those of older date.” ; Mr. Jén Arnason, the talented collector of these tales (the two volumes hitherto published being but a tithe of the entire mass which lies in his hand), is the Hbrarian of the only public library in Iceland, that of Reykjavik Cathedral, and secretary to the bishop. We seize with high pleasure this opportunity of paying our tribute of praise to his energy. and zeal as a collector, for he has spent thirty years, and large sums of money, in searching for, and obtainmg from all quarters of the island these * “records of the lower classes;” to his conscientiousness as an editor, for he has published the stories intact as he received them ; to his great talents as a scholar ; and last, though by no means least, to his uprightness and modesty as a gentleman, and his kindness as a friend. PREFACE. 9 From Mr. Arnason's Selection we have selected still further, reducing the work to about a third of its original dimensions. Many of the stories given in the Icelandic edition we have omitted on account of their want of interest and climax. Others, because they were but repe- titions, with slight and unimportant variations, of stories taken. Others, of high beauty and originality, we have most reluctantly left out, from the fact of their bemg founded on incidents which would shock the sensibility of . many readers; and it is our earnest hope, that among our reading public will be numbered many children. Of these last-named stories we may particularly mention “ Skapti Sæmundsson the Surgeon,” and “ The Sorb-trees ;” the former remarkable for its singular mixture of fact and fiction, the latter for its extreme beauty and poetical fancy. An apologetic Preface is never worth much; if a book is bad, it does not improve it, and if a book is good it is superfluous: it is either a sop for Cerberus, or a line cast out for compliments. But, in conclusion, we will say a few words, not apologetically, concerning our manner of treat- ing the stories herein contained. We have not translated closely ; we have amplified, we have expunged, we have ~ inverted. Where stories were told barely and nakedly, we have coloured and clothed them; where irrelevancies occurred, we have either got rid of them or harmonized them with the text ; where incidents or descriptions have 10 PREFACE. been given out of their proper places, we have changed their position. In Icelandic, tautology, if well managed, is looked upon as a merit; in English, on the contrary, it is regarded as a sign of clumsiness: we have therefore expunged all repetitions. We have confined ourselves throughout to straightforward language, adopting some- times words and forms of speech which may, perhaps, be looked upon as stiff and obsolete, but which, in such a work as the present, replace well the rounded periods and ingenious Latinisms of the most modern English. And as our great example in this, we have Dr. Dasent, who alone of men has hitherto made the noblest Icelandic language breathe freely in an English dress, and who, by the purity of his writings, and the consummate skill with which he has introduced true and expressive old English words and phrases, has gained the admiration of all the philological world. In the case of one story, however, that of “ Grímur who killed Skeljungur,” we have adhered pretty closely to the text, as we wished our readers to see how an Icelandic peasant (who is still living) could tell a classical tale. Subsequent to the conclusion of Part IV., there fell into our hands a little work, entitled “ Icelandic Stories and Fairy Tales, translated into English by the Rey. Olaf Pálsson, Dean and Rector of Reykjavik Cathedral, revised and edited by David Mackinlay and Andrew James Symington,” which contained several stories which we had PREFACE. ll already translated from the original text; namely, that about Una, that about Hildur, and “ The Father of Eigh- teen Elves,” called by Mr. Pálsson “ The Changeling.” Besides these, there were the stories of Sæmundur the Learned, upon which we were engaged, and several others we do not include in our work. We refrained from reading the book until our own was concluded. We therefore absolve ourselves from any charge of plagiarism. We are indebted for the illustrations to Messrs. Worms, Zwecker, Powell, &e. GrorcEe HE. J. Power. Eiríkur Maanitsson. Lonpon, January, 1864. i js Ná Ka at Aiea | nad ty ; ij a Wins eae eet ek la vi fi Wet - J fi : = £ ; aT ra a ete CONTENTS. STORIES OF ELVES. PAGE Tue GENESIS OF THE Hin-rork . É 4 í A EE THe FISHERMAN OF GÖTUR i : ee ea THE GRATEFUL ELFWOMAN ð é Á : : ie 2 THORDUR OF THRASTASTADIR : ; Á A eee THe Magic ScyrHe . 9 á ; { Jed GF GRIMSBORG . ; a 3 ; SR “OLD BeGGar" , t ] : : sl coe TUNGUSTAPI ; a : . . 50 THe Fatuer or EIGHTEEN ELVEs : : á Ral BLur Face A Á á : ; , ; NA Tur BisHop AND THE ELVES ; á Á A A „46 Wo Burr Reynir Cavrca? . á : y Á ; . 49 Katia’s DREAM é : | á á : ! wey. THe ELFIN Lover : ) ; ; í : AÐ THe Man-WHALE F % A é : 5 pg Una THE ELFWOMAN . : d i ; , á . 80 ~Hinpur, tHe QUEEN or THE ELVES . : á í = BA ss: Tan Man-servant AND THE Water ELyrs. Á 00 Tae Crossways . K á ‘ á í : .- 99 14 CONTENTS. PAGE STORIES OF WATER-MONSTERS, “Tue MERMAN : A ; á á a á A ER Í Í NENNIR, OR THE ONE wHo Frets INCLINED : í ; 2 106 Tue LAKE-MONSTER : : ; f : : á „ "08 NAÐDI wt að as AR A CO Ne yi STORIES OF TROLLS. GOLD-BROW . a í Í : { : ; ou dae Tue Trou or MJÓRFJÖRÐUR ; ; ee TROLL’s STONE. : á : Á : | 7 aes GELLIVOR . ; ; ð ‘ : Á á BE THE SHEPHERDESS “ : : A ; FE Jóra THE TROLL a | ; a 34 | KATLA á | : á A A : : pane I OLAFUR AND THE TROLS . a E Á é . 3 LB Tue TROLL IN THE SKRÚÐUR R í Á á . 138 Tue SHEPHERD OF SILFRUNARSTADIR . , h . . 140 Tue NIGHT-TROLLS SR 8 ; A á ; : . 148 Tue Story oF BERGTHóÓRr or BLAFELL 5 R á . 148 ~ GRYLA A : a he á yee : : : LU STORIES OF GHOSTS AND GOBLINS. MURDER Witt OvT á : : ; : 5 4 3 LOO Ken, THE Priest or Húsavík á : : A Að Werra Cap . : A s ; so Chapsi A Guost’s VENGEANCE ð á á í A : prea Rss) Dry Bones . ; A á : á : : Á A . 160 Tur Boy WHO DID NOT KNOW WHAT FEAR WAS i á . 161 CONTENTS. 15 PAGE Tue Two Siaurpurs . í : 170 Tue DEacon or Myrká A : : a EAE Ais: Tue Son oF THE GOBLIN . : : 2 F á á ad vir) Tue STORY OF GRÍMUR, WHO KILLED SKELJUNGUR : Ave a Vel | MISCELLANEOUS. Tue STORY OF JON ASMUNDSSON : á 7 á : 205 Tue Money-Cuesr : ‘ A : ; A 8 poe: THE Brack ScHooL . á é Alte Bi ; s í 220 SÆMUNDUR LEAVES THE BLack ScHoon . j ; á 4 SGMUNDUR GETS THE LivinG or ODDI : : : ; 0 THE Fry . ; A á : : p : : á #9 Katr ARNASON . : : : : á ' ; ee ay Bishop SVEINN THE SAPIENT á 233 THE SKELETON IN Hórar CaurcH : a k 9 0 THE WIZARDS IN THE WESTMANN ÍSLANDS . t : : SA PriEsr HALFDAN AND Otör or Lénxor a 3 . 244 Priest HALFDAN AND THE Devi A í á a , 246 Priest Erríkur's HANnDBoor a | á i á é . 248 EIRÍKUR AND THE BEGGAR-WOMAN á A : 290 EIRÍKUR'S SATURDAY AFTERNOON ‘ í 202 THE HOoRSE-STEALERS . í : K ‘ , á , on 2% EIRÍkUR AND THE FARMER á A : ‘ : 5 206 ErRíkuR AND THE BisnoP . : 4 A : 8 ; Le EIRÍKUR AND THE CONVIOT : ; F á . , 260 STORIES OF ELVES. Be 2 =. E SÁ . jr á * (a ið ‘ “ 7 3 ‘ . 8 4 A 1 ‘ ' t i | wy ; ’ 4 A A 2 My Á } x t » a ; boli: 7 j ‘ ao SR én já y Pes , is Tet, _ : i } á a ate 7 hi a. WPAS ve at pale -f vy “ . » | re = 2 i Bay | í að A ’ ro ee þ ; * ta Í þ Sg Te a *i% a Bo eer Ga \, ð A ni a ja heed ; rr án "gr abod aovf of, | - apogn way dn ayn, 0} papuague ssaoas ysavuloojb pun ysayump ay, UL pun “MOQUUN Ut LAQdU PUD LAULUNS Ud BUOYS WoOpjas Uns ay? YoryN 4900 ‘fiaypa jowsyp pup yuop Dv sayjoun pasnyoind pup 4, “OLT “a= cy SSS === sá ee LEGENDS OF ICELAND. Toe GENESIS or THE H1p-FoLK. ONcE upon a time, God Almighty came to visit Adam and Kye. They received him with joy, and showed him every- thing they had in the house. They also brought their children to him, to show him, and these He found promising and full of hope. Then He asked Hive whether she had no other children than these whom she now showed him. _ She said “ None.” But it so happened that she had not finished washing B 2 20 LEGENDS OF ICELAND. them all, and, being ashamed to let God see them dirty, had hidden the unwashed ones. This God knew well, and said therefore to her, “What man hides from God, God will hide from man." "These unwashed children became forthwith invisible, and took up their abode in mounds, and. hills, and rocks. From these are the elves descended, but we men from those of Eve's children whom she had openly and frankly shown to God. And it is only by the will and desire of the elves themselves that men can ever see them. A traveller once lost his way, and knew not whither to turn or what to do. At last, after wandering about for some time, he came to a hut, which he had never seen before; and on his knocking at the door, an old woman opened it, and invited him to come in, which he gladly did. Inside, the house seemed to be a clean and good one. The old woman led him to the warmest room, where were sitting two young and beautiful girls. Besides these there were none else in the house. He was well received and kindly treated, and having eaten a good supper was shown to bed. | He asked whether one of the girls might stay with him, as his companion for the night, and his request was granted. And now wishing to kiss her, the traveller turned towards her, and placed his hand upon her; but his hand sank through her; as if she had been of mist, and though STORIES OF ELVES. JA} he could well see her lying beside him, he could grasp nothing but the air. So he asked what.this all meant, and she said, “ Be not astonished, for I am a spirit. When the devil, in times gone by, made war in heaven, he, with all his armies, was driven into outer darkness. Those who turned their eyes to look after him as he fell, were also driven out of heaven; but those who were neither for nor ‘against him, were sent to the earth and commanded to dwell there in the rocks and mountains. These are called Elves and Hid-folk. They can live in company with none but their own race. They do either good or evil, which they will, but what they do they do. thoroughly. They have no bodies as you other mortals, but can take a human form and be seen of men when they wish. I am one of these fallen spirits, and so you can never hope to embrace me.” _ To this fate the traveller yielded himself, and has handed down to us this story. | Tue FisHerMAN oF GOTUR. It is told, that long ago, ‘a peasant living at Götur in Myrdalur, went out fishing round the island of Dyrhólar. In returning from the séa, he had to cross a morass. It happened once, that, on his way home, after nightfall, he came to a place where a man had lost his horse in the bog, and was unable to recover it without help. The fisherman, 34 LEGENDS OF ICELAND. to whom this man was a stranger, aided him in freeing his horse from the peat. When the animal stood again safe and sound upon the dry earth, the stranger said to the fisherman, “I am your neighbour, for I live in Hvammsgil, and am, as you, returning from the sea. But I am so poor, that I cannot pay you for this service, as you ought to be paid. I will promise you, however, this much—that you shall never go to sea without catching fish, nor ever, if you will take my advice, return with empty hands. But you must never put to sea without having first seen me pass your house as if going towards the shore. Obey me in this matter and I promise you that you shall launch, at no time, your boat in vain.” The fisherman thanked him for this advice, and sure enough it was, that, for three years afterwards, never putting to sea till he had first seen his neighbour pass his door, he always launched his boat safely, and always came home full-handed. But at the end of the three years, it fell out that one day, in the early morning, the fisherman looking out from his house, saw the wind and weather favourable and all other fishers hurrying down to the sea, to make the best of so good a time. But though he waited hour after hour, in the hope of seeing his neighbour pass, the man of Hvammsgil never came. At last losing his patience, he started out without having seen him go by. When he STORIES OF ELVES. 28 came down to the shore, he found that all the boats were launched and far away. á Before night the wind rose and became a storm, and every boat that had that day put to sea was wrecked, and every fisher drowned, the peasant of Götur alone escaping, for he had been unable to go out fishing. The next night he had a strange dream, in which his neighbour from Hvammsgil came to him and said, “ Although you did not yesterday follow my advice, I yet so far felt kindly towards you, that I hindered you from going out to sea, and saved you thus from drowning; but look no more forth to see me pass, for we have met for the last time.” And never again did the peasant see his neighbour pass his door. THe GRATEFUL ELFWoOMAN. A peasant's wife once dreamed that a woman came to her bedside, whom she knew to be a Huldukona, and who begged her to give her milk for her child, two quarts a day, for the space of a month, placing it always in a part of the house which she pointed out. The goodwife promised to do so, and remembered her promise when she awoke. So she put a milkbowl every morning in the place which the other had chosen, and left it there, always on her return finding it empty. This went on for a month; and at the end of the month she dreamed that the same woman came 24 LEGENDS OF ICELAND. to her, thanked her for her kindness, and begged her to : accept the belt which she should find in the bed when she awoke, and then vanished. In the morning the goodwife found beneath her pillow, a silver belt, beautifully and rarely wrought, the promised gift of the grateful elt- woman. TuorDuR or THRASTASTADIR. A certain man named Thérdur lived at Thrastastadir, in Skagafiordur, One day, in the winter, he Fi from home, intending to go to the trading-town of Hofsós, but the snow had drifted so deeply that the way was thought unsafe. Not caring for this, he carried his merchandise in a bag and walked off across a bog, which he knew to be his shortest path to Hofsós. When he had gone a little way, he quite lost the track, but still walked straight on till nightfall, when he saw before him some warehouses, so lofty and so beautiful that they filled him with surprise. Going up to them he discovered a light in one of the windows, and at the same time heard some delightful music. So he looked in at the window and saw a number of people dancing. He then went to the door and knocked, and immediately it was opened by a well-dressed man, who asked him what he would? Thérdur told him how he had lost his way, and begged, if it were possible, for a night’s shelter. STORIES OF ELVES. 25 “Come in and be welcome,” said the man, “ you shall have shelter here. Bring in your bag too, and to-morrow Í will trade with you, and I promise you that you shall not find the bargains of Hofsós better than mine.” Thórdur could scarcely believe his ears, but thought he must be dreaming. So the man let him into the chief room, spite of Thórdur's plain and muddy dress. There were many assembled there; the lady of the house, her children, and. her servants, all gaily and brightly drest, making merry. The man who had opened the door to Thérdur, and who was no other than the master of the house, said to the lady, “ Wife, here is a man who has lost his way and who needs both rest and food: treat him well.” “T grieve to hear of his distress,” replied she, and rising, brought in a good and plentiful supper, which she set before Thordur, while the master of the house fetched wine and glasses, and begged Thérdur to drink with him. Thórdur did so, and thought he had never tasted such wine in all his life, nor ever met such goodly company, though he could not, for all that, help wondering at the strangeness of the adventure. Glass after glass of wine he drank, and by-and-by, becoming tipsy, went to bed and fell into a deep sleep. Next morning, at breakfast, he was offered wine even better than that of the night before, and having drunk it, was conducted by the master to the trading-room, which 26 LEGENDS OF ICELAND. was well filled with every kind of merchandise. Then and — there Thérdur showed the man his wares, and received from him in exchange more than half again what he would have got for them at Hofsós. With the money he bought corn and linen, and many other small things, at a much lower price than he was wont to pay elsewhere for the like, and filled with them his sack. When the trading was finished the master offered him as a gift, a cloak for his wife and cakes for his children, saying to him, “ These and many other good turns shall you have at my hands, as tokens of my gratitude to you for having saved my son from death.” Thordur wondered what the man could mean, but the other said, “ Once, you were standing under the rock called Thordarhofdi, in company with other young men, waiting for a good wind to take your boat to Drangey. Your companions amused themselves by throwing stones against the rock, under which, as the sun was very hot, my son had laid himself down to sleep; for he was tired, having been up all the night. You bade them cease their sport, for it was a foolish one, you said, and a useless. ‘They laughed at you for this notion of yours, and called you strange and fanciful for your pains. But had you not prevented them from throwing stones, they would have killed my son.” After this Thórdur took leave of all in the house, for the sky was now clear and the path good, and started on his homeward way, the master walking some steps with him, STORIES OF ELVES. ces to wish him “God-speed.” Thérdur marched on steadily for a while; but chancing to look back for the house where he had passed the night, he saw nothing of it, but, in its place, the rocks of the Thórdarhöfdi. Then he understood that the kind merchant was an elf, and hastening home, told his wife all that had befallen him, and gave her the cloak. As for the wares he had got instead of his own, he showed them to all his neighbours, and never were the like of them, for goodness, seen in all that country, nor in any other country under the sun. Tue Maaic Scyrur. A certain day-labourer once started from his home in the south, to earn wages for hay-cutting, in the north country. In the mountains, he was suddenly overtaken by a thick mist and sleet-storm, and lost his way. Fearing to go on further, he pitched his tent in a convenient spot, and taking out his provisions, began to eat. _ While he was engaged upon his meal, a brown dog came into the tent, so ill-favoured, dirty, wet, and fierce-eyed, that the poor man felt quite afraid of it, and gave it as much bread and meat as it could devour. This the dog swallowed greedily, and ran off again into the mist. At first the man wondered much to see a dog in such a wild place, where he never expected to meet with a living 28 LEGENDS OF ICELAND. creature, but after a while he thought no more about the matter, and having finished his supper, fell asleep, with his saddle for a pillow. At midnight he dreamed that he saw a tall and aged woman enter his tent, who spoke thus to him, “I am beholden to you, good man, for your kindness to my daughter, but am unable to reward you as you deserve. Here is a scythe which I place beneath your pillow: it is the only gift I can make you, but despise it not. It will surely prove useful to you, as it can cut down all that lies before it. Only beware of putting it into the fire to temper it. Sharpen it, however, you will, but in that way never.” So saying she was seen no more. When the man awoke and looked forth, he found the mist all gone and the sun high in heaven; so getting all his things together and striking his tent, he laid them upon the pack-horses, saddling, last of all, his own horse. But on lifting his saddle from the ground, he found beneath it a small seythe-blade, which seemed well worn and was rusty. On seeing this he, at once, recalled to mind his dream, and taking the scythe with him, set out once more on his way. He soon found again the road which he had lost, and made all speed to reach the well- peopled district to which he was bound. 7 When he arrived at the north country, he went from house to house, but did not find any employment, for every farmer had labourers enough, and one week of hay-harvest STORIES OF ELVES. 29 was already past. He heard it said, however, that one old woman in the district, generally thought by her neighbours to be skilled in magic and very rich, always began her hay- cutting a week later than anybody else, and. though she seldom employed a labourer, always contrived to finish it by the end of the season. When, by any chance—and it was a rare one—she did engage a workman, she was never known to pay him for his work. Now the peasant from the south was advised to ask this old woman for employment, having been warned of her strange habits. He accordingly went to her house, and offered himself to her as a day-labourer. She accepted his offer, and told him that he might, if he chose, work a week for her, but must expect no payment. “Except,” she said, “you can cut more grass in the whole week than I can rake in on the last day of it.” To these terms he gladly agreed, and began mowing. And a very good scythe he found that to be which the woman had given him in his dream; for it cut well, and never wanted sharpening, though he worked with it for five days unceasingly. He was well content, too, with his place, for the old woman was kind enough to him. One day, entering the forge next to her house, he saw a vast number of scythe-handles and rakes, and a big heap of blades, and wondered beyond measure what the old lady could want with all these. It was the fifth day—the 30) LEGENDS OF ICELAND. Friday—and when he was asleep that night, the same elf- woman whom he had seen upon the mountains, came again to him, and said: “Large as are the meadows you have mown, your employer will easily be able to rake in all that hay to- morrow, and if she does so, will—as you know—drive you away without paying you. When, therefore, you see yourself worsted, go into the forge, take as many scythe- handles as you think proper, fit their blades to them and carry them out into that part of the land where the hay is yet uncut. There you must lay them on the ground, and you shall see how things go.” This said, she disappeared, and in the morning the labourer getting up, set to work, as usual, at his mowing. At six o'clock the old witch came out, bringing five rakes with her, and said to the man: “A goodly piece of ground you have mowed, indeed !” And so saying she spread the rakes upon the hay. Then the man saw, to his astonishment, that though the one she held in her hand raked in great quantities of hay, the other four raked in no legs, each, all of their own accord and with no hand to wield them. At noon, seeing that the old woman would soon get the best of him, he went into the forge and took out several seythe-handles, to which he fixed their blades, and bringing them out into the field laid them down upon the grass which was yet standing. Then all the scythes set to work STORIES OF ELVES. one of their own accord, and cut down the grass so quickly that the rakes could not keep pace with them. And so they went on all the rest of the day, and the old woman was unable to rake in all the hay which lay in the fields. After dark, she told him to gather up his scythes and take them into the house again, while she collected her rakes, saying to him : “You are wiser than I took you to be, and you know more than myself: so much the better for you, for you may stay as long with me as you like.” He spent the whole summer in her employment, and they agreed very well together, mowing with mighty little trouble a vast amount of hay. In the autumn she sent him away, well laden with money, to his own home in the south. Next summer, and more than one summer follow- ing he spent in her employ, always being paid as his heart could desire, at the end of the season. After some years, he took a farm of his own in the south country, and was always looked upon by all his neighbours as an honest man, a good fisherman, and an able workman im whatever work he might put his hand to. He always cut his own hay, never using any scythe but that which the elf-woman had given him upon the mountains; nor did any of his neighbours ever finish their mowing before him. One summer it chanced that, while he was out fishing, one of his neighbours came to his house and asked his wife 27 LEGENDS OF ICELAND. to lend him her husband's seythe, as he had lost his own. The farmer's wife looked for one, but could only find the “one upon which her husband set such store. This, how- ever, a little loth, she lent to the man, begging him at the game time never to temper it im the fire, for that, she said, her good man never did. So the neighbour promised, and taking it with him, bound it to a handle and began to work with it. But, sweep as he would, and strain as he would (and sweep and strain he did right lustily), not a single blade of grass fell. Wroth at this, the man tried to sharpen it, but with no avail. Then he took it into his forge, in- tending to temper it, for, thought he, what harm could that possibly do; but as soon as the flames touched it, the steel melted like wax, and nothing of it was left but a little heap of ashes. Seeing this, he went in haste to the farmer’s house, where he had borrowed it, and told the woman what had happened: she was at her wits’ end with fright and shame when she heard it, for she knew well enough how her husband set store by this scythe, and how angry he would be at its loss. | And angry indeed he was, when he came home, and he beat his wife well for her folly in lending what was not hers to lend. But his wrath was soon over, and he never again, as he never had before, laid the stick about his wife’s shoulders. STORIES OF ELVES. oo GRÍMSBORG. In the north country, near a farm called Keta, stands a high and steep rock, named Grímsborg. It is said that, in this wild castle, elves have dwelt for many ages, and that their chief has always been called Grímur. Certain old folk, not long dead, used to declare that in their time, four elves dwelt in the Grimsborg, two men and two women, and that of these each pair went in turn to church at Keta, when there was worship, leaving the others at home. It happened that a bad season, for a long time prevail- ing, cut off from the inhabitants of that district their supply of food, and drove them into the very jaws of death. Once, during the famine, the farmer of Keta, chancing to pass the Elf-castle, bethought him of what hope might lie in an appeal to the good-will of the chief elf, and going close to the foot of the borg, said im a lond voice :— "© Rich Grímur of the castle, hear our sorrow! And, of thy pity, ere shall dawn to-morrow, Cast up beneath the rocks, upon the shore, A mighty whale, that we may starve no more.” "Then he waited to hear if there should be any answer to these words. In a few minutes a voice came from the Elf- castle, saying — | íe Whale, come to land! Lie stretched upon the sand In death, that those who fear to die From famine, find salvation nigh.” 34 LEGENDS OF ICELAND. As soon as he heard these words, the farmer returned home joyfully, knowing that the days of the famine were ended, since the elves vouchsafed their help. And next morning, going with a large band of men down to the beach, what should he see lying dead upon the rocks, but a fine whale, which had been driven up by the surf in the night ! | So ended the famine of Keta, for before the people had finished the flesh of the whale, the season changed and good days came back again.