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1
See JÁ I 578; Gu: mundur G. Hagalín, Saga Eldeyjar-Hjalta, 1939, I 68.
2
See Hjálmar Jónsson frá Bólu, Ritsafn V, 1949, 140 59; cf. JÁ II 128.
132 THE FOLK-STORIES OF ICELAND
in Lbs 2304 4to. This contains much folklore; elves are mentioned
there, as are a chasuble laid on a man to enable him to die, a signing
with the cross that inhibited elves from stealing a child, a horse-rune
to cure horse-disease (glanders?), the idea that elves are descended
from the children whom Eve hid from God (chs 6 7), the dance of the
sun on Easter Day, Midsummer Night s dew and búrdrífa  pantry snow
(i.e. hoar-frost), the days used by elves for flitting, sitting out, magic
stones, second sight, the prophecies of Jón krukkur (ch. 11), Höf: abrekku-
Jóka, the belief that making verses, especially hymns, might bring
misfortune to the poet, water-rails,  tidemice ,1 thieves root (four-
leafed grass, Paris quadrifolia, or Mountain Avens, ch. 14), dreams
and their interpretation (ch. 15 and beginning of ch. 16), Finnish
breeches, charms to attract money (ch. 19), spells laid on people or
things (ch. 28), three-headed giants, seals (as Pharaoh s army here
is found the story of the seal-maiden, ch. 28), the Black School (of
necromancy), magicians in west Iceland and elsewhere (chs 31 and
33), the putting down of ghosts (ch. 33), swans (as holy birds, ch. 34)
and an excavation into an ancient Icelandic burial mound (ch. 39).
A short list of wonder-tales written by the Rev. Fri: rik Eggerz of
Ballará (1802 94) exists, dated 1822. It is of much interest.2
There exists a work on elves by Ólafur Sveinsson of Purkey, written
at the instigation of Lárus Sigur: sson of Geitareyjar around 1830,
though what prompted Lárus to ask for it is not obvious. Ólafur clearly
told him of his belief in the hidden folk, and in the book he tells a host
of stories to prove their existence. This book is available in two auto-
graph manuscripts, with somewhat differing contents.3 The belief in
elves is probably found at its liveliest in Ólafur s booklet; here, cheek
by jowl, are old stories and accounts of recent events which occurred
in Ólafur s neighbourhood. The tone of his stories is appealingly sim-
ple, and his belief in the existence of elves engagingly frank; each
1
Supernatural mice that bring their owners money from the sea.
2
The list is published in German translation in Verz. lxxv lxxvi. Eggerz
also made a huge compilation of folk-stories, Lbs 2005 4to (begun before
1854), though some of his material is derived from Gísli Konrá: sson, and is
difficult to distinguish. The compilation was used by Jón fiorkelsson and others,
but Fri: rik was remarkably enough not one of Jón Árnason s informants,
though he left a lot of notable records of various kinds.
3
Ólafur s work is printed in full in JÁ3 VI 3 33, with commentary by the
editors. There exists a third manuscript of the work, but it was not used in JÁ3.
SOURCES 133
element is organically integrated with the whole, embracing the lives
and daily work of human beings, the nature of their world, and the
activities of their neighbours of the hidden world. The bulk of Ólafur s
work is from oral sources, but he knew some of Jón Gu: mundsson s
writing, and he knew Kötludraumur.
Next come some single stories in manuscript, the origin of which is
not easily discovered. The Waking Man s Dream, or Story of Steinn of
firú: uvangur, which exists in several manuscripts from the early or
mid-nineteenth century, is related to legends of saints.1 One story
printed by Jón Árnason is derived from it.2 The story of Hafli: i in
Grindavík reads like a carefully written Novelle.3 A story exists from
about 1830 of Ólafur of Skútusta: ir.4 There are popular stories from
about 1840 in the hands of Ólafur Eyjólfsson of Laugaland and
Runólfur Runólfsson of Kirkjuból,5 and for the fifth decade of the
century, down to 1853, a manuscript by Björn Jónsson of Bæjarsta: ir.6
Beyond this date we have no reason to go at the moment.
It is now time to mention the efforts made during the period to collect
folk-stories. Firstly, the Commission for the Preservation of Antiqui-
ties in Copenhagen sent out in 1817 a demand to officials in Iceland to
send them reports of all kinds of antiquities, among which old stories
and such-like matter were specified. There is a good deal of folk-legend
material buried in the replies received by the Commission.7 In 1839
1
Lbs 681 4to, Lbs 1440 4to, Lbs 1319 8vo, Lbs 1415 8vo, Lbs 1790 8vo
(early nineteenth century), Lbs 2636 8vo (about 1810), JS 300 8vo (early
nineteenth century), ÍB 184 8vo (eighteenth or nineteenth cenury).
2
JÁ I 128 29; see also SS Ífl IV 181 96, SS Ífl2 III 198 213; ÍB 161 8vo, pp. 30 32
(from 1845 53) and ÍBR 42 8vo, pp. 405 09. There are many other stories of
apparitions in manuscript, both of Icelandic and non-Icelandic origin (see JÁ II 34).
3
ÍB 605 8vo; ÍB 250 4to (1834 38); Lbs 2636 8vo (about 1810); it is printed
in Huld IV 36 41 and Huld2 II 32 37.
4
Lbs 672 4to; printed in Gráskinna II 95, Gráskinna2 I 172 74; cf. also
Jfiork. 33 36. There is a story of the devil as advocate in the same manuscript,
cf. Verz. 119.
5
ÍB 37 8vo and ÍB 215 8vo.
6
ÍB 160 62 8vo. Stories are printed from these in ÓDav. 18 20, 112 16,
116 20; ÓDav.5 I 157 59, III 286 88, 271 74.
7
The letter is printed in Lovsamling for Island VII (1857), 658 61. A prayer
for cows at grass from one of the replies is printed in Gráskinna III 95, Gráskinna2
I 259 60. The report of the Commission, Frásögur um fornaldarleifar 1817
1823, was published by Stofnun Árna Magnússonar in Reykjavík in 1983.
134 THE FOLK-STORIES OF ICELAND
the Icelandic Literary Society began to gather materials for a descrip-
tion of Iceland, and sent out a questionnaire to all incumbents of par-
ishes, asking each one to compile a description of his parish. These
descriptions are a rich mine for the cultural history of Iceland, and a
great deal of folklore is to be found in them, most of which is now [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]