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by sigrun ( edited 06 Oct 2012 ) 06 Oct 2012

UPDATE - I´m done with my project about:

The Worst Whale Named Redhead
Once several people from the South-west of Iceland went to the Geirfuglasker (Great Auk Rocks) to capture the Great Auk. When they should back to the land, one man was missing and they didn´t found him. They went without him to their home and the man was considered dead. But a year later the same men came back to the Geirfuglasker (Great Auk Rocks), and found the missing man a live there. He told them that the elfs had hailed him and kept him with them and do well with him. He wouldn´t stay with the elfs and went ashore with the men. But he had come to one elf woman and she was pregnant with his child and she had him promise to let baptize the baby, if she would bring it to the church where he was with Mass. Some time later, this man was with Mass at the church Hvalsneskirkju (Whalenesschurch), and there was a cradle outside the church door and a baby along with the target letter that was written unequivocally: -„ Person who is the father of this child, will ensure that there will be baptized.“- Men wondered at this, and the priest suspected that the man which was a year in the Geifuglasker (Great Auk Rocks) was likely the father of it. So he told the man to accept the child, but he refused. Suddenly a woman, strong and graceful stood with them. She turned to the man and said, „ There, I suggest that you be the worst and most aggressive whale in the marine and destroy many ships.“ Then she grabbed the cradle with the child in it and disappeared, and no one knew more about it. But they were on to it that there would have been the fairy from the Geirfuglasker (Great Auk Rocks), where the man lived.
After that the man became mad and ran away. He ran out away from the people directly in to the sea, there he turned into the worst whale and Rauðhöfði (Redhead) was called, because he had a red cap on his head when he threw himself into the sea. The whale that turned bad and very haunting and it was said that he had sunk 19 ships between Seltjarnarnes and Akranes, before the completion. It had very many people suffering by him. When the time passed, he began to live in the fjord between Kjalarnes and Akranes and therefore was the fjord named Hvalfjördur (Whalefjord).
At this time, there was a priest in the Church of Hvalfjarðarströnd (Whalefjordbeach) both old and blind. He had two sons and one daughter, all grown up, and the most promising one. The priest was an ancient mind, and knew everything as long his nose. His sons often rowed out to fish in the fjord, once the worst whale came and he drowned them both, the priest fell heavily on the bereaved. One day a little later the priest asks his daughter to lead him down to the fjord that was a long way from the Church. He had a stick in his hand and staggers with the help of his daughter down to the beach. He put the stick in to the sea and supported until it. He asks his daughter how the sea looks, but she says the sea is beautiful and perfect. A little later the priest asked again how the sea looks. Then the girl says that she sees dark streak coming outside the fjord, like a big fish wade into the fjord. And when she says this the streak nearly arrived in front of them, the priest asks her to lead him into the shore and she makes it so. The streak was always beside them and did so until they was into the fjord. But when it became shallower, the girl saw that the streak was a very large whale that swam directly into the fjord as if he were fired or drawn.
When they were where the fjord ended and the river began, which ran out to the fjord, the priest asked his daughter to lead him up the river to the west. She did so and the man staggered up the mountain, but the whale followed them in the river and it was a very difficult because there was so little water in the river, and the animal was so large. But when the whale came into the gorge where the river fall off, the overcrowding became so intense that everything trembled when the large whale rushed forward. Finally, he went to shake the earth around the waterfall as the greatest earthquake and became a loud noise in the rock. But the priest did not stop until he reached the lake in that hill. When Rauðhöfði (Redhead) came into the lake, he exploded from strain to get up there. The priest went back home with his daughter after the whale was in the lake and dead, and all thanked him for what he had done, and no one has seen anything more of the whale, but whale bone have been found at the lake and it supports this story.
Akranes is my home town – hope you enjoy reading this story.
1. Great Auk on Great Auk Rock
2. Hvalsnes-church
3. The cradle with the baby
4. The Whale
5. The Whale coming in to the Whalefjord
6. The waterfall and the lake where the Whale exploded -
perhaps you can see the Whale-bone in front of the
lake.
And many thanks to Vicki (basketcase) that helped me and digitized some of these designs after my drawings.
Greetings, Sigrun

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by sdrise 08 Oct 2012

Great story...Thanks for sharing... Also nice work to go with the story.
Suzanne

1 comment
sigrun by sigrun 08 Oct 2012

Thank you

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by cherylgauteng 08 Oct 2012

That is a lovely story - thanks for telling it to me. It is always so thrilling to hear stories of other lands.

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sigrun by sigrun 08 Oct 2012

Thank you

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by sadp 08 Oct 2012

Lovely legend and beautiful work, thank you for showing us and thank you Vicki for you expert help, hugs S*

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sigrun by sigrun 08 Oct 2012

Thank you

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by gandu 07 Oct 2012

Oh wow this is one good story along with the pic thanks for telling us the story with the pic .....Brenda

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sigrun by sigrun 07 Oct 2012

Thank you

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by mops Moderator 07 Oct 2012

A nice story and an even nicer wall hanging. The angry whale is so cute and the other designs are lovely too. What a beautiful project!

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sigrun by sigrun 07 Oct 2012

Thank you

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by asterixsew Moderator 07 Oct 2012

Sigrun this work is beautiful and amazing as its created by you as the story of where you live. Have you done this for you or is it to be on display in your town?

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sigrun by sigrun edited 07 Oct 2012

Thank you - this project will be at local artists' exhibition last October here in Akranes.

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by noah 06 Oct 2012

Awesome thanks for my bed time story hugs :):)

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sigrun by sigrun 07 Oct 2012

Thank you - hope you had a pleasant dream :-))

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by GrammyJ 06 Oct 2012

Very nice embroidery samplers.

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sigrun by sigrun 07 Oct 2012

Thank you

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by vickiannette 06 Oct 2012

Very good story Sigrun. Please can I tell it to my friends at Country Women's Association of South Australia. We are studying Iceland this year as our 'country for study'.

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vickiannette by vickiannette 06 Oct 2012

Lovely wallhanging as well.

sigrun by sigrun 07 Oct 2012

Thank you - yes please tell this legend from Iceland, it's just great.

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by basketkase 06 Oct 2012

This was such a fun project to be part of and I had no idea how beautiful it would turn out.......Fabulous work, Sigrun.......hugs......Vicki

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sigrun by sigrun 07 Oct 2012

Thank you for all your help Vicki - I could not have done it this way if you had not helped me.

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by dlonnahawkins 06 Oct 2012

What a wonderful tale, and great display that you have of it. I do not think that we pass on tales like this to our younger children now - they are too much into the now things, and all the electronics. Good job, and thank you so much for sharing the story.

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sigrun by sigrun 07 Oct 2012

Thank you - I will tell them if they ask about this project of mine.

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by highlandermom 06 Oct 2012

I enjoyed the legend and beautifully put together illustration.

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sigrun by sigrun 06 Oct 2012

Thank you

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by ansalu 06 Oct 2012

What an interesting but also sad story. Love stories and legends from other countries. Thank you for this one and love your wallhanging.
Greetings, Bettina

1 comment
sigrun by sigrun 06 Oct 2012

Thank you Bettina

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by shilly 06 Oct 2012

Lovely legend; I hope you will give it to your younger ones so they will be able to continue to tell the story....It's a lot of fun to be able to use the illustrations in this way,tu for relating this to us.

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sigrun by sigrun 06 Oct 2012

Thank you - I will tell them the story when they see the wallhanging.

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