Ghostly Kiss

From one of my favorite Icelandic stories - a young girl has an encounter with a long-gone warrior, after she sees a bone dug up in the cemetery and makes a comment, "It would have been fun to kiss him when he was alive."

As unpleasant and disturbing the reality of the ghost's speech, I can't help but be drawn to the romantic aspect.
"Gone is my glowing skin tone,
good my maid, and faded.
Look in my dead eyes, lady,
lustrous of old, though cold now.
hacked in half my buckler
had I yore in war; my
beard's uncleaned, but kindly
kiss me if you still wish to."

And she kissed him!

Monster Worm - Real?

Today's writing center's around the infamous Monster Worm.  The monster worm has been documented, photographed, researched, and video'd.  In September, 2014, seven out of thirteen members of a government-sponsored panel in Iceland determined that footage released in 2012 in fact depicts Lagarfljótsormur, a legendary lake monster first reported in 1345.

The legend of the Monster Worm may date back even further....check out my collection of Icelandic Legends & Creatures Summer 2015 to find out the real story!

Icelandic Legends and FolkTales

Work on the Icelandic Legends and Folk Tales book continues. Most of these traditional stories are not about romance and happy endings - they are about actions and consequences, reward for doing good and general life principles.

Trolls, elves, hidden folk and other mythical creatures are interwoven into the very fabric of daily life (yes, even today in 2015).   The imagery is so fantastic and the imagination truly delightful.  Updating these stories with a modern twist is a challenge but a labor of love and absolutely a lot of fun!

This illustration is an engraving of a man jumping after a femal elf into a precipice.  It is an illustration to the Icelandic legendent of Hildur, Queen of the Elves.

Link to the full story:  http://www.snerpa.is/net/thjod/hildur.htm
(Right click and select "translate" for English)

New Project!

I am so happy to be working on my next project today.  I am so excited and pleased to be able to pursue this one! Working with my mom, Ieda Herman, we have selected 21 classic Icelandic fairy tales and legends to update.  It has been such fun researching the old tales, some not more than a paragraph here and there!

We made sure to add in the stories recounted in "Trolls-Monster Worm-Hidden People: Fond Memories of Iceland" and one from Ieda's newest work, "The Silver Arrow" (coming soon!).  

Welcome to My New Blog

Life gives us such amazing opportunities every day.  Some days it's a learning experience, a miscalculation or error we learn not to repeat.  Some days it's an emotional hurt that we can find the lesson in and grow from.  Other days it's seeing a single image that gives us an epiphany and clarifies an idea.  Appreciate every day for what it brings.  No day is wasted.  No day contains "nothing".