Thursday, January 14, 2010

A Fairy Tale from Iceland: Groa's Magic



Seers in the New Year:
Good Luck, Bad Luck or Out of Luck
A Fairy Tale from Iceland: Groa’s Magic

It is said that many summers ago a ship sailed up the Widder Fjord in Iceland. On board were two sisters, Thorey and Groa. After disembarking from the ship, the two went to Tempel and stayed the winter there with Thorstein. In the spring, the two sisters approached Thorstein and asked him to assign them dwellings. With Thorstein’s approval, Thorey purchased land and settled on it. But Thorstein gave a house to Groa, which was close to where he lived. This caused Thorstein’s wife, Thurid, to accuse her husband that he had set his sights on Groa because she had enchanted him with her magic.

Soon thereafter Groa purchased malt and prepared a feast. Then she invited all the sons of Ingimund to the meal, because it was well known that the sisters were comely. She also invited Mar from the Farm of Mars and many other men from the district.

Three nights before Thorstein was to ride out from home, a woman came to him in his dreams. It was the same woman who accompanied his ancestors. She came and begged him not to ride out. But he told her, he had promised. She replied “That seems unintelligent to me and it can only bring you misfortune.” And so, she came three nights in a row and issued her reproaches. She warned it would not be good for him and laid her hands on his eyes.

It was the custom of the people living in Seetal, that when Thorstein rode out, everyone who wanted to ride with him, came to Tempel that day. They all arrived, Jokul and Thorir, Mar and the other men, who wanted to ride out. Thorstein told them to return home because he was sick. And so they all returned.

On that day, when the sun had set, a shepherd saw Groa come out of her house. She walked into the rays of the sun and circled her farm and said “It is hard to resist the fortune of Ingimund’s sons!” She looked up to the mountains and swung a sack or cloth, which held much gold, all her property, and it was knotted into the fabric. She said “Come, what must come.” She then went inside and closed the door behind her. An avalanche of rock and mud immediately slid down upon her farm, killing all who lived there. And when this became known, the brothers chased away Thorey, her sister, from the district. Since then, the place has an eerie feel to it and no one has wanted to live where Groa’s farm once stood.


More tales about divining the future:

http://www.fairytalechannel.com/2010/03/reading-grimms-fairy-tale-crystal-ball.html

More fairy tales:
Copyright Translation FairyTaleChannel.com