The Elf Lady Stone - Álfkonusteinn

Enjoy this legendary saga of "The Elf Lady Stone" or "Álfkonusteinn."

Once upon a time, a rich and noble sheriff and his wife lived happily at the important farm called Bustarfell. During the darkest days of winter, the sheriff's wife had a strange dream. She dreamed that a man came to her and asked her to get up and go with him. She did so, and went with him a little way up the hill from the farmhouse to a huge boulder which she recognized on the Bustarfell property. The man went three times clockwise around the stone and the stone turned into a small house. He then took her inside where everything was neat and beautiful.

On the floor was a woman in labor and laying on the floor in great pain. The man asked her to help his wife. The sheriff's wife went up to the woman and said, "May the Lord Jesus help you."

Shortly, the woman gave birth and everyone was filled with joy. The sheriff's wife helped to bath the newborn baby. The elf woman gave her some salve that was to be applied to the babies eyes. The sheriff's wife was worried if it was okay and put a little bit of it in her right eye to make sure it was okay for the baby.

Shortly, the sheriff's wife was ready to leave and the elf woman gave her a beautiful shawl made of the finest silk and embroidered with gold thread. The man went outside with the woman, walked three times counter-clockwise around the house and it turned back into a stone, and he brought the woman back to Bustarfell. No one in Iceland had ever seen such a beautiful shawl or anything like the gold thread used for the embroidery.

After this, the sheriff's wife could see out of her right eye the houses, farms, and elf people that lived around Bustarfell. She noticed that they were more skillful in their work and could tell what the weather would be in the area. She started to copy their ways in haymaking and her farm became more and more prosperous.

Years went by and then the sheriff's wife went to the village of Vopnafjörður to buy supplies. In the store, she saw the elf woman helping herself to some of the rarest and finest goods in the store. The sheriff's wife said to the elf woman in a friendly voice, "So, here we meet again."

The elf woman turned around and without a word of reply, spit into her eye. Afterwards, the sheriff's wife could never see the elf people or their buildings again.

The wonderful turf house museum at Bustarfell.

This is a folk-tale in the collection by Jón Árnason. The shawl in this story was used for a long time as an altar cloth in the church at Hof and is now preserved in the National Museum of Iceland. Bustarfell is an amazing turf farm in northeast Iceland and now is a very active heritage museum.

[UPDATE: the convention referenced here happened in 2017] In one month, we will enjoy the 98th annual Icelandic National League of North America Convention and a visit to North Dakota from Cathy Josephson and Margrét Hallgrímsdóttir - featured in the convention. About 25 people from Iceland will be in attendance and we are very excited that they will attend.

Cathy is the manager of Vesturfarinn, the East Iceland Emigration Center. She will be leading one of the buses on the 'Viking Voyage' during the convention. She also will be one of the genealogists at the Sunday Icelandic Roots Session at the convention. She works at Bustarfell during the summer and is one of the premier genealogists for Icelandic Roots. Each year, she attends the Deuce of August celebration and assists with the 'Cousins Across the Ocean' project. Fill in the form to be included!

Margrét is the Director for the National Museum in Iceland. She will be giving a presentation about the National Museum and also bringing trinkets and copies of her totally wonderful new book. It is a museum quality book about the museum ... Þjóðminjarsafn

On our visit to Iceland in January, we were given this book as a gift from friends, Almar and Anna Björk. It is lovely. Plan to purchase a copy from Margrét at the convention.

Hope to see you at the convention! Go to www.thedeuce.org . Register now as spots will soon be sold out! If you can come to Saturday only ... tickets are available for that, too. Sjáumst!

Hope to see you at the convention! go to www.thedeuce.org and click on the convention tab.