Icelandic Magic by Stephen E. Flowers Page A

everything indifferently; he lifted the side of mutton up high and looked at it on every side, but the other man did not see the knife. But when least expected the farmer turned to the window and thrust the knife, which was sticking out of the side of mutton, through the windowpane into the eye of his guest so that it stuck in deep and said, “Take this bite I’m giving you!” The spy let out a scream and fell down. The farmer got the true story out of him, and then the spy died in great agony.
    The farmer brought this case before the magistrate Jón Sigmundsson. They went to the bishop, who was unprepared before he had learned the fate of his messenger, and although he denied any responsibility he saw that it was most advisable to pay the farmer a lot of money, and the magistrate Jón passed the judgment that anyone who would lurk outside a window had no rights. From that time on the bishop was not able to force different men to get money from farmers but only to intimidate them into paying out when he saw by his magic that they had not paid everything they owed. Although the bishop never got annoyed with the farmer who killed his spy, because he knew he could not win, he did persecute Jón the magistrate, because he could not help himself, and he did not stop until he had made the magistrate penniless. So Jón vexed himself to death, but at the hour of his own death he summoned the bishop to God’s judgment, and the bishop could not see this by means of his magic because one stronger than him intervened.
    EIRÍKUR OF VOGSÓSAR (1638–1716)
    There are four versions presented below of the Eiríkur of Vogsósar stories.
    1. How Eiríkur Learned His Arts at School
    At Biskupstungar there was once an old cottager who was heathen
( forn ) in his ways; he seldom mixed with other people. He owned two things that he thought were better than all of his other possessions. These were a book, of which no one else knew the contents, and a young cow that he fed very well. The old man got very ill and sent word to the bishop of Skálholt and asked him to come and see him. The bishop quickly set out, thinking it would be best to talk to the man about a few things, and so he went to meet him. The cottager said, “The way things are going, my lord, I will soon be dead, and I want to make a little request of you first.” The bishop agreed.
    The cottager said, “I own a book here, and a young cow that I love very much, and I want to have them both in my grave with me. If not, things will be the worse for everybody.”
    The bishop tells him that this will be done, for he thought it could be expected that the old man would walk again after death if it were not done. Then the old man died, and the bishop had him buried with his book and his young cow.
    Many years later there were three students at the Cathedral School at Skálholt
who undertook to learn magic ( fjölkynngi ). One of them was named Bogi, the second Magnús, and the third Eiríkur. They had heard talk about the old man and his book, and they very much wanted to possess that book. So one night they went out to awaken the old cottager from the dead, but no one could tell them where his grave was. So they decided to go through the graves row by row, raising the dead from each, one after the other; they filled the whole church with ghosts ( draugar ), but the old man did not come. Therefore they put them all to rest again and filled the church a second time, and then a third, and then there were only a few graves left, and the cottager had not appeared. When they had put all the other ghosts to rest they raised these last ones, and the very last to appear was the cottager, and he had his book under his arm and was leading his young cow. They all rushed toward the old man; they wanted to get the book, but he fought hard, and all they could do was to defend themselves, although they did snatch a few pages from the first part