14.2.2010
Humorous Icelandic Tales 22
Humorous Tales from the Daily Life in the West Fjords of Iceland in the 20th Century English Translation: Haukur Ingason, Certified Translator Compiled by Hallgrimur Sveinsson Published by Brekka Dyrafirdi 2009 Iceland E-mail address: jons@snerpa.is ISBN 978-9979-778-79-0 © All rights reserved To the Readers The humorous stories of the people of the West Fjords of Iceland that are here committed to paper are part of the heritage of the generations living in the West Fjords in the 20th century. Some of the stories are true, some are made up, and some can be said to be somewhere between truth and fiction. They are chosen from a vast array of folk tales and humorous anecdotes that we have published over the years. We hope that it will give you pleasure to read about the unique people that make up the population of the West Fjords, who are people that possess a healthy sense of humour and no small amount of life experience! Enjoy. Vestfirska forlagið Hallgrímur Sveinsson The American Halibut Fishers at the Hotel Niagara javascript:parent.insert("subliminal.mp3", "Subminal"); fish for halibut off the shores of the West Fjords, as in those days these waters would yield bountiful catches of flatfish to such an extent as was not seen in most other fishing areas in Europe. The “Yanks”, as they were called, came from the town of Gloucester, Massachusetts. Their vessels were sleek, two-masted schooners that rode high in the water and displaced up to 160 tonnes without any superstructure. The Americans’ main base was at Þingeyri in Dýrafjörður from 1885 to 1897, in which year they stopped fishing in the area due to the fact that little remained of the halibut population by that time. The halibut season was from April to September each year, i.e. about half the year. “My father ran a hotel in this place. It had a big sign that was hard not to notice, and on it was written Hótel Niagara, with the obvious intention of pleasing the Americans. It might be said that I was to some degree an expert in Icelandic- American relations, as the hotel became a kind of community centre for the Americans. They always came to the hotel when they were on shore and passed the time dancing and, naturally, drinking! All they drank was beer, nothing but beer. I was told one time that it wasn’t possible to get drunk by drinking beer. I countered this by 29 saying that during the halibut years I had frequently seen the Americans dead drunk after drinking only beer. The local situation in those years somewhat resembled that which most Icelanders did not experience until the coming of the Allied forces to Iceland in the Second World War. This is how far ahead of the times we were! And it never surprised me that the womenfolk were intrigued be these Americans, for they were men of great class. They all dressed elegantly, even sporting hard hats, and then came to the hotel and drank until they became quite sociable. In the evenings there was dancing, and as you can imagine the ladies were eager to attend and socialize with these fine lads. Now that I think of it, these men were quite different to look at compared with the locals, even if they were young, for naturally there were some young men among them. The difference was somewhat noticeable. The dancing went on until late but the evenings always ended in the same way, with brawling and fisticuffs. The fighting was also interesting to watch, that is when you were indoors and your parents weren’t too far away so you were completely safe. I remember watching them fight one time when my father had just painted a small boat which he had owned for many years. He had turned the boat upside down and painted the bottom of the hull with red paint. The scrappers 30 and I remember they were thrown against the boat a few times and took on a glaringly red colour as the hull hadn’t dried yet. This I thought very amusing to watch, as at the time I was of an age when it didn’t take much to entertain me. It also happened quite often when the fighting was over and someone had been knocked to the ground, that the victorious party would call for water to wash the wounds of his adversary, for by then they had become friends again.” (Related by Mr. Sigurður Jóhannesson in a radio interview conducted by the newscaster Mr. Stefán Jónsson) Niagara Hotel. The house is now underreconstruction.
During the years of 1884-1897 Americans used to