TAK og draugurinn
TAK and the Ghost
Hjalti samdi Tak-sögurnar og teiknaði myndirnar á árunum 1975-´79, þá 5 - 10 ára;
Note: draugur is pronounced “dreu- geu- eurr” (accent is always on 1st syllable in Icelandic) (út-gefandi) útgefandi /publisher: Freyjukettir, Norræn menning (Freyju-kettir; norr-ö-n menn+ing) Hjalti wrote the TAK-stories and drew the pictures in years 1975-´9 then 5-10 years old. Note: Only first word is capitalized in a title in Icelandic apart from proper names (unlike English where (almost) all words are capitalized in a title): Tak og draugurinn -- Tak and the Ghost
Tak is reading a thrilling ghost story in the book “Icelandic Folklore“ (Íslenskar þjóðsögur. It is a gloomy night. On his desk is a candy box, from which he takes one and one candy, every now and then, to eat. (svaka+leg; drauga-saga; ís-lenskur; þjóð-saga; (nið-dimm; “GOTT” is short for “gotterí” (sweets))
All of a sudden, two eyes appear behind Tak, but he does not notice. It is a ghost ! A real ghost ! (ekkert is neuter of enginn); al-vöru-draugur)
All of a sudden, the candy box hovers slowly upwards.
Tak is still unaware of anything suspicious.
(at-hygli)
It is the ghost who is lifting the box.
The Ghost puts one sweet into his mouth.
Tak hears SMACK SMACK behind his back.
Tak is going to have a sweet. But the box is not on the desk, it is hovering in the air.
Now Tak becomes a bit scared.
The ghost is amused when he sees how frightened Tak is. He laughs a terrifying ghost laughter. (rosa+lega) (Note: the plus sign (+) means suffix/viðskeyti (við-skeyti)
Tak says: -Gho..gho...Ghost !
What was it, that is one supposed to do when he meets a ghost?
Tak says: -Just don‘t be afraid and keep cool. So Tak says calmly and determined: -Ghost, go to sleep !
(ekk-ert;
á-kveðinn)
Tak looks up in the Icelandic folklore book for advice on how to rid oneself of a ghost.
In
the olden days they rang the church-bells to scare the ghost away.
I
have to go to the church, Tak thinks.
(ís-lenskur; þjóð-saga; kirkju-klukkur)
What ?
Tak, in a hurry, takes on his rubber boots as he is going to run to the church. But his boots are filled with water. The ghost was teasing him.
(vað-stíg-vél)
The ghost is amused when Tak tries to take on his lopapeysa.
fer+lega)
Then Tak is going to take on his “lopapeysa”
(---an
Icelandic knitted sheep-wool pull-over---).
But
the ghost has already tied the sleeves together in a tight knot.
.
(lopa-peysa; ermar; rembi-hnútur;
-OK. Then I just don‘t ring the church bells, Tak says. He finds a little bell and a bicycle horn and rings and honks on full blast. The ghost just laughs out loud. (hjóla-flauta; skelli-hlær)
- Grettir sterki * (the strong one) fought the famous ghost Glámur. But I don‘t like the idea of fighting a ghost. So Tak continues to search for solutions in the folklores. __________ (*Referring to Icelandic Saga Grettla (Grettis saga)) (barði-st /berja-st; þjóð-sögurnar)
Here it says that ghosts should be scotched. So Tak tries to control the ghost by chanting. He chants an old song, his voice quivering: “In the highlands alone I roam...“
(skjálfandi röddu -is-instrumentalis
case of skjálfandi rödd; skjálfandi röddu er tækisfall af skjálfandi rödd);
(eyði-sandur)a
(Tak
singing cont.:)
“
....I am lost
…
lost
…
lost…”
No,
this does not work.
. The
ghost laughs out loud
-- using
his horrible ghost laughter.
(skelli-hlæja; draugahlátri is tækisfall/instrumentalis of drauga-hlátur)
All of a sudden Tak remembers that the Devil once got tricked into a bone of a sheep.
Tak saws up a bone. A bone is hollow inside.
(sauða-leggur)
Tak puts the last piece of sweet into the hollow bone and says to the ghost: -Now, no-one can get the last piece !
-Ho, ho, ho, I can, the ghost says and squeezes himself into the bone.
In a hurry, Tak closes the bone with a cork.
We can hear the ghost’s SMACK SMACK.
SÖGULOK
Tak keeps the bone in his drawer. he ghost laughs and utters: “Darkness is my favorite ! I love the dark ! Ho, ho, ho !“
(sögu-lok) THE END
TAK og draugurinn
TAK and the Ghost
www.geimveranTAK.wordpress.com
30 (þrjátíu) TAK-sögur Barn semur handa börnum A kid makes stories for kids