Once there was a Danish King named Harald Bluetooth. He was the King over all of Denmark and Norway and he decided he wanted to rule Iceland as well. King Harald had heard stories about the fierce Viking Warriors there. He also heard about the strange land filled with trolls, hidden folk and magical creatures that protected the land. King Harald decided to send his most powerful wizard as a spy.
So, the wizard changed himself into a whale and swam to Iceland. The wizard approached the coast on the east and looked around for just the right place to come ashore. He swam into a wide bay and decided it looked like a pretty good spot. Just as he neared the shore and began to concentrate on magically changing back into his human form, he heard a great buzzing growing louder and louder. He looked over to the mountains and saw a huge Dragon come racing over the top and flew down through the valley directly towards him. Following close behind the dragon were all sorts of snakes and lizards squirming and slithering all over the place.
With a heaving splash of his mighty whale fin, the wizard quickly dove back deep in the water and swam as fast as he could back out to the sea. He swam away to the north. Here, he found several very nice big inlets, and he made his way to the beach to change into his human form. No sooner had he touched his first toe on the land he heard a terrible racket. As he looked up, he saw a huge Eagle. It was so big that as it flew, the tips of its wings touched the mountains on either side of the valley. In a flock surrounding the Eagle, hundreds of birds of every sort flew towards him. The wizard quickly jumped back into the ocean and swam away as fast as he could.
He swam away from the Dragon and away from the huge Eagle, heading further west. He came to the edge of the island and turned south. There, he found a large bay. He thought this looked like a good safe place to come ashore and look around. No sooner had he started to swim into the bay when he heard a loud snort. As he looked up, a large bull came towards him, waded into the sea and began to bellow menacingly. Shimmering and swooping around, a band of land spirits followed it down from the mountains. This was no good at all! The wizard quickly gave a flip of his mighty whale fin and swam as fast as he could back to the ocean.
He only had one more placed left to check. He had been chased away by a Dragon, a Giant Eagle and now a Huge Bull. He swam past the small towns on the coast and saw the capital city, Reykjavik in the distance. He swam into the bay and stopped. Was it safe? He moved closer to land and as he feet touched the sand, he quickly changed back to his human wizard form. Just as he did, a powerful rumbling sounded and the ground under his feet shook and rocks tumbled. The wizard looked up and a huge mountain Giant appeared over the mountain. His head was higher than the mountain tops and as the wizard watched, the Giant used an iron staff to step right over the tall mountains. The wizard ran for the water, quickly changing back into his whale form. As he looked back, the mountain Giant was now surrounded by many other giants of all sizes and types. He swam quickly away, barely escaping as the Giant’s huge hand snapped down to grab him.
This country of Iceland was protected on all sides! The wizard had no choice but to return to the King and tell him of all the mighty Guardians of Iceland that kept the people and magical inhabitants safe. To this day, no one has attacked Iceland or defeated the Guardians.
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