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Jón Árnason was an Icelandic author best known for having collected, along with Magnús Grímsson, a great number of Icelandic folktales (þjóðsögur). These were published in the 2-volume set Íslenzkar Þjóðsögur og Æfintýri, which was over 1300 pages long. The short tale selected below is from the Álfar og huldufólk section (Elves and Hidden People), and can be found along with hundreds of others on the snerpa.is web site.
BARNIÐ MEÐ BLETTINN Á KINNINNI
The Child With the Mark On Its Cheek
Svo bar til einu sinni seint á sumri að barn fimm eða sex ára gamalt var skilið eftir eitt saman heima á bæ nokkrum, en allt heimilisfólkið fór á engjar til heyvinnu.
It just so happened, once upon a time in late summer, that a child five or six years old was left home alone on a certain farm, while the rest of the household went to harvest hay in the fields.
bera til happen skilja eftir leave behind heimilis·fólk (n) household engjar (f) pl meadows, fields
Þegar fólkið kom af engjunum um kvöldið var barnið horfið, en tinkanna sem því hafði verið léð til að leika sér að fannst í bæjardyrunum. Undireins var við brugðið og farið að leita að barninu alstaðar sem mönnum hugkvæmdist; var leit þessari framhaldið í nokkra daga. Það kom fyrir ekki; barnið fannst ekki.
When the people returned home from the fields that evening the child had vanished, but the tin can he had been given to play with was found near the farmhouse doors. They were immediately alarmed and went to look for the child everywhere they could think of; the search went on for several days. Nothing came of it however; the child was not found.
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A couple of verbs with fun conjugations 🙂 Usually að ljá means to lend, but since we’re talking about a child’s toy give seemed more appropriate.
ljá v (dat+acc) lend bæjar·dyr (f) pl farmhouse door undir·eins adv at once, immediately hug·kvæmast v refl think of, imagine
Loksins varð það til bragðs tekið að fá Latínu-Bjarna til að segja hvað af barninu væri orðið. Hann kvaðst vita það, en ekki segja. Var hann þá beðinn að ná barninu ef það væri lifandi; það tókst hann á hendur og kom með það skömmu síðar, en var ófáanlegur til að segja hvert hann hefði sókt það.
Finally a solution was found in having Latinu-Bjarni tell them what could have become of the child. He claimed to know, but wouldn’t say. He was asked to get the child back if it were alive; he took on the task and came back with the child a short time later, but could not be persuaded to say where he had found him.
I could not find out what sókt means, so that is just a guess…if anyone knows, please tell me 🙂 It apparently has to be a past participle, since it appears with hefði, but I don’t know what verb it comes from. An archaic form of sótt, from sækja?
taka til bragðs find a solution kveða v (acc) say takast á hendur undertake ó·fáanlegur adj unobtainable, unavailable
Barnið var þegar það heimtist aftur að öllu leyti eins og það var þegar það hvarf nema blár blettur var á hægri kinn þess. Þegar það var spurt að hvernig hvarf þess hefði atvikast sagði það svo frá:
“Ég var að leika mér að könnunni minni fram í bæjardyrum og kveða kvæðin mín og þá kemur hún móðir mín til mín þegjandi, tekur í hendina á mér og leiðir mig með sér út úr bænum. Ég sagði: “Æ, kannan mín varð eftir.” Hún gegndi því engu og hélt svona þegjandi áfram með mig þangað til hún kom að einhverjum undarlegum bæ sem var ólíkur bænum mínum. Ég sá þar margt fólk og þekkti það ekki; þá sá ég líka að konan var ekki móðir mín, heldur einhver ókunnug kona, en þó nokkuð lík móður minni. Ég fór þá að gráta, en konan huggaði mig og léði mér allra handa falleg gull ógnarlega skrýtin.
The child was in all respects just as he was when he disappeared, except for a blue mark on his right cheek. When asked how his disappearance had happened he related the following:
“I was playing with my can by the farmhouse doors and reciting my poem when my mother came up to me silently, took me by the hand and led me out of town. I said: “Oh, I forgot my can.” She didn’t respond and continued on in silence until she came to some strange town that wasn’t mine. I saw many people there but didn’t know any of them; then I saw that the woman wasn’t my mother, but some stranger, who only looked a little like my mother. Then I started to cry, but she comforted me and gave me all sorts of beautiful, frightfully strange toys.
I left kveða kvæðin mín as reciting my poem, which would be the literal translation, but I’m not sure if here it might mean saying my prayers, or something similar intended to ward off evil spirits.
One thing that poses a problem is that the Icelandic word for child (barn) is a neuter noun, and there is no neuter in English. In Icelandic the gender of the child can remain up to the reader’s imagination, but in English it becomes difficult to avoid using he or she without it sounding very strange. I wish I could have managed it, as I like the ambiguity in the original.
I could also use help with þegar það heimtist aftur…heimta means demand? Not sure what the reflexive form means.
heimta v (acc) demand að öllu leyti in all repspects at·vikast v happen kvæði n poem þegjandi adj silently gegna v (dat) answer, respond undar·legur adj peculiar, odd, strange hugga v (acc) comfort allra handa of all kinds ógnar·lega adv terribly, frightfully skrítinn adj strange, odd, peculiar
Allt fólkið var gott við mig og þó undi ég mér ekki; mig langaði til hennar móður minnar og heim á bæinn minn. Einu sinni vildi ég ekki drekka mjólkina sem konan gaf mér; þá hastaði hún á mig og sló dálítið á kinnina á mér.”
Everyone was good to me but I didn’t want to stay any longer; I wanted to go home to my mother in my own town. Once I didn’t want to drink the milk the woman gave me; she scolded me and gave me a little slap on the cheek.”
una v (dat) to stay, remain hasta v to scold, reprimand slá v to hit, strike
Svona sagði barnið frá veru sinni hjá þessu fólki. Barnið vissi ekki af bláa blettinum, en benti einmitt á hann þegar það sýndi hvar konan hefði slegið á vangann á sér. Þennan blett bar það alla sína ævi án þess því yrði neitt meint við.
Thus related the child about his stay with these people. The child didn’t know about the blue mark, but pointed right at it when showing where the woman had slapped his cheek. He bore that mark his whole life without any ill effects.
And finally, the last sentence isn’t clear to me – án þess því yrði neitt meint við. I translated it the way I did mainly based on this entry in the dictionary:
verða meint af e-u – become sick from sth, come to harm from sth
Let me know if there’s a better translation.
vera (f) stay benda v show, point at vangi (m) cheek
The Snerpa site has a huge collection of Icelandic materials, enough to keep you busy for years if you want 🙂