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beautiful, they would straddle the fjord straight across to
Nólsoy. Sometimes a rainbow would strike Heimistova,
where their grandmother and grandfather lived, and
sometimes it would reach all the way up to Eystnes on
Eysturoy. Svartafoss was pure paradise for all who loved
berries, said their mother, drying the red berry juice off
their lips. L
ýð
ar lay splashing in the creek, and when he
came up again, mother wrapped the naked boy in her
shawl.
Now everything was different. There was no one left to milk
they cows; they had gone insane and bellowed through
people’s doors.
Tóvó’s concern for Mogul was due to the way he had
reacted against his father the day Martimann wanted to kill
the dog, but he dared not tell anyone that, not even his
grandfather.
However, he did ask his grandfather why he did not get
sick.
Old Tóvó answered that, the fact of the matter was, he was
half-grown in 1781 when measles had raged the last time,
and that you could not have the disease twice. That was also
the reason that he was not afraid to visit people and help
them. And perhaps the old man sensed that something else
was bothering the boy, because he added that dogs whose
breath stank could not get the disease either.