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The Norwegian government supports many of Iceland’s arguments in the case of the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) against Iceland in the Icesave dispute, which is currently before the EFTA Court, in their written remarks to the court.
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May
07
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Lambing Season in Iceland
Click on the picture to watch an audio slideshow of the lambing season at Brimnes, a farm in the north of Iceland, in April 2008. Sheep farmer Arnar Gústafsson and his girlfriend Edda Björk take shifts watching over the nearly 300 ewes and helping them give birth 24/7 for about two months or until the last lamb is born. In Iceland, the arrival of lambs is synonymous with the arrival of summer. The lambing season is currently at its height.
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April
30
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Village Profile: Sandgerdi – Within Reach
Located just 40 minutes by car and six minutes from Keflavík International Airport, Sandgerdi (“Sandy Hedge”) is a growing town of 1,700 with a storied history and loads to see. Read this special promotion about the hidden secrets of one of Iceland's most charming seaside villages.
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25.02.2012 | 11:00
When Satan Came to Town (BJ)
I recently read a book by Mark Twain. It is called The Mysterious Stranger. In the story a nice boy comes to a sixteenth century Austrian village. It turns out that the boy is called Satan and he claims to be an angel. However, he is not particularly kind to the townspeople. Nor is he really mean to them either. He just does not care about them one way or the other. After he comes into the story bad things start to happen. Not that they never happened before, they did, but after he arrived, they occurred on a much larger scale than before. On the very first day, Satan lets the desperate priest find a wallet full of money. The clergyman thinks that his problems are finally over and pays off his debt as well as putting away some money for safekeeping. All seems to be going well until someone accuses the vicar of having stolen the money. He goes to jail.
Satan promises to get the poor man out and even adds to the promise that after he is freed he will live happily ever after. Satan keeps his promise. The priest is acquitted at the trial. However, Satan goes to him in jail and tells him things did not go so well; he was disgraced as a thief and the old minister gets mad and believes that he is an emperor and starts ordering everyone about. He does live happily ever after, Satan said, why should anyone care that he is a lunatic?
But even though no good came from Satan’s deeds the boys all adore him.
The story reminded me of some country that I must have heard about somewhere. The people were doing relatively well and seemed to be rather happy. Some research indicated that they might indeed be the happiest people in the world! Then a number of nice men came to town, perhaps some of them lived in town all along, but these nice young and older men started to distribute money by the buckets.
At first people became very happy with all this money flowing in, but then they were filled with misery, because some people got more money than others, so everyone demanded more. No matter how much money rolled in it was never enough. But the golden boys who brought the money in were adored and praised by all. No one had ever seen or heard of such genius, wit and wisdom..
Suddenly the flow of money stopped, and even worse, the money disappeared. People couldn’t believe this had really happened. That these very generous, kind and wise men had let this happened. There had to be some mistake.
Some people went to jail, others died, a few lost their marbles.
But the nice men lost nothing and they did not care about what happened to others. They did not like the others or hate them. They were indifferent.
I wandered if these two tales were really one. But that’s hard to fathom, Mark Twain died a hundred years ago and I was born almost fifty years after that.
Then I came to the end of Twains’ book. Satan explains to the storyteller that he should not worry about all the misery that he has seen. Because, in reality, nothing happened. All the story, indeed all life, is just a figment of the main character’s imagination.
“It is true, that which I have revealed to you; there is no God, no universe, no human race, no earthly life, no heaven, no hell. It is all a dream, a grotesque and foolish dream. Nothing exists but you. And you are but a thought, a vagrant thought, a useless thought, a homeless thought, wandering forlorn among the empty eternities!”
He vanished and left me appalled; for I knew, and realized, that all he had said was true.
And I understood that this was also true of my story. And now you also know the simple truth.
Benedikt Jóhannesson bj@icelandreview.com
Comment
May
15
|
Drink Away Our Sorrows (PS)
May
14
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Traitor behind the Enemy Line (JB)
May
13
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Breakfast with an Arctic Fox (EH)
May
12
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He’s Not a Prick (JóB)
May
11
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Lesson, What Lesson? (ESA)
May
10
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Sculpture Obsession (KH)
May
09
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Pregnant and at Peace (ÁA)
May
08
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The Poet’s Plan (PS)
May
07
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Childhood Freedom (JB)
May
06
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Outsiders in the Melting Pot (AS)
May
05
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Lost in Translation (JóB)
May
04
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May Day (ESA)
May
03
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Of Iceland's Beer (KH)
May
02
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Invitations Only (KS)
May
01
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Sitting President (PS)
The current issue of the quarterly magazine Iceland Review includes interviews with fashion photographer Saga Sig and conceptual artist Rúrí. Also, we take you to Grímsstaðir á Fjöllum, that desolate land coveted by a Chinese tycoon, and also explore Icelandic archeological remains. We discuss the Icelandic Church, the flourishing gaming industry, debate the future of Iceland’s energy resources and interview the president of the Icelandic National League of North America. Subscribe now and receive a free photo book by IR’s editor Páll Stefánsson of the Eyjafjallajökull eruptions. Click here to subscribe to the magazine and here to buy a gift subscription.
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May
14
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Event of the Week: House Project
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