Shortly after our party had left Sauderkrok, a young Icelander was noticed riding after us, and when my fall occurred, he advanced towards us politely, and offered me the use of his pony and saddle, which I gratefully accepted, and he mounted mine, riding without any girths, and gracefully balancing himself in a most marvellous manner. This new addition to our party proved a very valuable one, as he talked English perfectly, and was most intelligent and communicative. He told us he was on his way to Copenhagen to study languages, preparatory to trying for a professorship at Reykjavik, and we found he had already mastered English, French, Latin, and Danish. His name never transpired, but we learnt that as soon as the news reached him that an English party had landed and started for 'Reykir,' he had saddled a pony and ridden after us, wanting to see what we were like, and also to endeavour to make our acquaintance, and thus be able to air his English with English people, for until then he had never spoken it[p. 72] except with his teacher. My fall gave him the opportunity he wanted, as he was then able to offer his services without intrusion, which he did with the politest manners.
The Icelanders are a wonderfully well-educated people. Our new friend told us he did not believe there was a man or woman in the Island who could not read and write, and certainly on our visits to the various farm-houses, we never failed to notice a Lutheran Bible, and many of the old 'Sagas,' by native poets, beside translations of such works as Shakespear, Göethe, John Stuart Mill's 'Political Economy,' and other well-known writings.
Icelandic is the oldest of the present German dialects, being purer than the Norwegian of to-day, and its literature dates from 1057, immediately after the introduction of writing.
The literature has been ascertained to be of so deeply interesting a character, that the fact of establishing an 'Icelandic Chair' in one of our Universities is now, I believe, under consideration. Many of the natives speak, and understand, Danish—indeed the laws are read to them in that language; and between Danish and Icelandic, we ladies succeeded in making our German understood. Icelandic is now given with English and Anglo-Saxon as optional subjects for the examination at Cambridge for the Modern Language Tripos.
Appended are a few Icelandic sentences, which we found useful in our travels. They are spelt[p. 73] phonetically, as we learnt a few phrases from such of the guides as could speak a little English.
G. C. Locke, in his most interesting work 'The Home of the Eddas,' in speaking of Icelandic literature, says, 'Might not some of the hours so fruitlessly spent in misinterpreting incomprehensible Horace be more fitly devoted to the classics of Northern Europe?... Snovri Sturluson the author of the "Elder Edda," has no compeer in Europe.'
| Can you lend us any ponies? | Getithir launath okir hesta? |
| Can you give us five ponies? | Getithir launath okir fim hesta? |
| No; I cannot lend you so many. | Neg; jeg getiki launath īkur (īdhur when speaking to one person) sō mārga. |
| I can give you two. | Jeg gyet launath tvōa. |
| How many? | Kwādh mārga |
| Thank you; please bring them. | Thākur fir (or tāk) Kurisō vel ath Kwawma meth. |
| How long will you be away? | Kwā lengi verthidh fīr (thīeth, when speaking to more than one) bŭrtū? |
| We shall come back after riding six hours. | Vīeth Kwawmim āftur eftarath hāver rēdhith īsechstūna. |
| Where is Reykir? | Kwāreru Rēikir? |
| You are not going the right way. | Thīer fārith eki rēhtir lēdh. |
| You must go back a little way. | Thīer verdhith afara til paka taulitith. |
Our young Icelandic student was very proud of the native Sagas, and justly so. They are works[p. 74] highly esteemed, and of interest to the scholar, embodying the history of the Island, tales of its former chiefs, their laws, their feuds, their adoption of Christianity, the sittings of the Althing, great volcanic eruptions, handed down by word of mouth from generation to generation, until the pastors and learned men committed them to manuscript. They are also full of the most romantic adventures, stirring incidents, and courageous assaults, dear to the heart of every Icelander, and treasured by them as a record of their country's history and its people's hardihood.
