Trafika Europe 1 - Northern Idyll

breathing had stopped, she wrapped it in the lined shawl on which she had given birth, bundled it tight, and then sank her unbaptized daughter in a small pond south of Fagradalsvatn. Old Tóvó stroked his great grandson’s hand. He could tell him one thing: If the men on the island decided to drain that pond someday, they would find a mass grave of newborns swaddled in lined shawls. Of course, Pisan would answer for her action on the Last Day. But so would the island’s lechers. And the Devil give them what they deserved! In Saga Hestoyar, Pastor Viderø writes: Plenty of tears have been shed here on Hestoy, but God transforms them to the most beautiful rainbow. Pisan was never able to see the minister’s rainbow. Or rather, one might say that, with a freshly knitted shawl, her feet encased in leather shoes and clogs, and with a bundle under her arm, she fled the rainbow over the fjord. For many years she earned a living on different farms on Su ð urstreymoy. After she moved to a garret in the vicinity of Sjarpholi ð in Tórshavn, she set fish out to dry on Rundingi and, among other things, helped out in houses where women were giving birth.

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