The Wizards Of The Westmänds Islands

When the Black Death raged across Iceland, eighteen wizards and formed an alliance with each other. They went to the Westmändsinseln and wanted to defend themselves against death as long as it When they saw through their magic wisdom that the disease on the mainland, they wanted to know whether anyone was still alive. They therefore agreed to of their comrades into the country, and for this they chose the one who was in neither the most nor was she experienced. brought him ashore and told him if he did not go to the Yule had returned, send a sending[7] that would to kill. That was in the first days of Advent.

The man left her, searched for a long time and travelled far and wide. But nowhere he saw a living person; the courtyards were open, and in them There were corpses everywhere. Finally he came to a farm that He was amazed at this, and hope was awakened in him that he would meet people here. He knocked on the door, and immediately a beautiful young girl came and opened it. He greeted her, but she threw her arms around his neck and cried with joy to see a human being again; for she had believed she said that she was the only being left behind. She asked him to stay with her, which he promised. They went together into the house and had a lot to discuss. She asked, where he came from and where he wanted to go. He told her this and at the same time, that he must be back by Yule. She asked him to stay with her stay as long as he could. He felt very sorry for her and promised her to stay. She told him that all people had died because she herself, she said, was pulled in all directions, a week's journey from her home without seeing any living creature encounter.

It was approaching Yule, and the islander thought about returning home. But the girl asked him to stay and said that his comrades were would not be so hard-hearted as to make him pay for his so alone and abandoned. He was persuaded to stay, and then came the Yule season. Then he wanted to leave, despite everything, whatever she said. She saw that her requests were of no avail and said: »Do you think you can reach the island this evening? Or does it not seem just as good to you to die here with me as to somewhere on the way?«

The man realized that time was running out and decided to remain calm where he was and await death. It was for the night; he was very depressed, but the girl was bold and cheerfully and asked him if he could see what the islanders He said that they had now brought their mission to land and that he would come today.

The girl sat down next to him on her bed, but he lay down into the bed behind her. He said that he was now beginning to feel sleepy and that this was the harbinger of the sending. Then he slept The girl sat on the edge of the bed and woke him up again and again, so that he could tell where the islanders' message was now. But The closer he came, the more soundly he slept, and when he said at last that he had now come to the farm, he slept so soundly that the The girl could not wake him up anymore, and it did not take longer until they penetrate a dark brown mist into the house The fog slowly floated towards them and condensed into a human figure. The girl asked where she wanted to go. The figure carried out her task and asked her to step away from the bed, »for I can't get over you," she said. The girl said in the form that they then do her a favour in return The figure asked what that could be. The girl replied that she should show him how big she could become. The Gestalt agreed to this and now became so large that it filled the whole house. Then the girl said: »Now I would like to see how small you can become.« The figure said that she could become a fly, and at the same moment she turned into a Fly and wanted to get into bed with the man under the girl's hand fly up, but unfortunately flew straight into the long bone of a sheep that the girl held in her hand, and she hurried to immediately drive a plug into the hole.

Then she put the bone with the fly in her pocket and woke the man. He soon woke up and was very surprised that he was still life. The girl asked him where the sending was. He replied, that he did not know where he was, but the girl told him then that she had long suspected that these were not great magicians on the island. The man was happy to hear this, and they Both spent the holidays in great joy.

But as the new year approached, the man began again, to become taciturn. The girl asked him what was wrong. He said that they were now on the island about to start a new Sending and give him the highest magical power. »On He will be here on New Year's Day, and then it will not be easy to save it.« The girl said that she was not afraid of it before she tried it, and: »You don’t need to be afraid of the broadcasts of the islanders to fear. On the last day of the year he said, that the mission has now come into the land. »And quickly he comes forward, because he has a tremendous magical power.« The girl said, that he should now follow her out of the house, which he did. They came soon after, she went to a bush forest. There she stopped and tore a a few bushes. There they came across a flat stone. The girl lifted the stone, and underneath it appeared a cave. They climbed into the cave, where it was dark and eerie. There was a weak wick in a skull burning in human fat. On a miserable couch near the light lay a vagabond who was terrible to look at. His eyes were like blood, and his appearance was so horrible that the islander had had enough. The old man said: »Something new must have happened that brought you here, foster daughter. It has been a long time since I saw you, and what can I do now do for you?« The girl then told him why she had come from the man and from the first sending. The old man asked her to She showed it to him, but when the old man When he had the bone in his hand, he became a completely different person. He turned him in all directions and felt him everywhere from the outside. Then the girl said: »Help quickly, foster father, because now begins he seems to be getting sleepy, and this is a sign that the sending will soon here.« Then the old man took the plug out of the long bone, and immediately the fly came out of him. The old man stroked the fly and said, »Now go out and take all the envoys from the islands in Receive and devour them. Then there was a loud clap of thunder, the The fly came out and became so big that the upper part of the mouth was to the sky, while the lower part was on earth. All broadcasts received from the islands and the man was saved.

They then went back from the earth's cavity and home, that Girls and the island man, and founded an economy on her farm. Later they became man and woman, were fertile, multiplied and populated the earth.

And so I don't know anything about the legend.


Footnotes:

[7] Isl. »Sending« means the ghost or specter that
sent to kill someone.