the hens dropped behind them wherever they went.
Thormodur Krakur stood in front of an open shed dressed in his work clothes, and some eiderdown had been left out to dry on a white piece of sailcloth at his feet. When he saw Kjartan, he greeted him heartily: “Good morning, Assistant Magistrate. Where are you off to today?”
Kjartan considered telling him not to call him Assistant Magistrate but then decided not to bother.
“I’m just taking a look around,” he answered.
“Good idea,” said Thormodur Krakur. “Can I offer you some fermented shark?”
“No thanks.”
“How about some freshly laid arctic tern eggs then?”
“No thank you, I’m not hungry.”
“As you wish then. Any news about that Ketilsey fellow?”
“No, nothing new.”
“No, huh? Ah well. This doesn’t bode well. I’ve had some bad dreams lately.”
“Dreams?”
“Yes, I’m considered to be a bit of a visionary dreamer, my friend. Not that I’m particularly apt at deciphering what they mean, but there are some old women around here who can decipher them if the descriptions are clear enough.”
Thormodur Krakur broke into a broad smile that exposed his crooked teeth.
“Sometimes the signs are so obscure that no one recognizes the context until afterwards,” he added.
“What were the dreams about?” Kjartan asked.
Thormodur Krakur blew his nose into his red snuff handkerchief and walked into the shed. “They were bad dreams, my friend, bad dreams. Many of them would have been better off left undreamt,” he said, beckoning Kjartan to follow him through the door. Kjartan had to stoop to get through the entrance, but as soon as he smelled the stench inside, he almost felt like turning around again. A variety of seasoned foods were stored there, some of it hanging from the turf ceiling or immersed in barrels in salt or sour whey. A number of hens dwelt at the other end of the shed, which was partitioned off with wire netting.
Thormodur Krakur sat on a box, reached out for a large wooden frame, and placed it on his knees. It was a harp-like contraption that was stringed lengthwise through perforations in the wood, with one-centimeter gaps between each string. There were two wooden barrels on either side of him.
“I dreamt I was making hay out in Langey and spending the night in a tent,” said the deacon. “It was incredibly cold and shivery on the island, and I couldn’t find any way to warm up, no matter how hard I swung the scythe.”
Thormodur Krakur grabbed a pile of rough, uncleaned eiderdown from one of the barrels and placed it on the frame. Then he started shaking the down and stroking the strings, loosening the dirt, which fell to the floor.
“Then I saw a raven,” he continued, “that came flying and perched right over my tent, which was just a few yards away. I was going to shoo him away, but then I couldn’t walk because my legs were as heavy as lead. Then another raven appeared and sat beside the other one, and they were both sitting on the top of the tent when I woke up. I dreamed that every night for the whole of Eastertide. I call that the Langey dream.”
Thormodur Krakur grew quiet, threw the roughly cleaned down into the empty barrel, and picked up a new bundle to clean.
“How was this dream interpreted?” Kjartan asked.
“Everyone could solve that one. Those are deaths, my friends, two deaths, the same number as the ravens. It couldn’t be more obvious. A raven on a tent always means death, whether you see them when you’re awake or in your sleep.”
“Is someone else going to die then?” Kjartan asked.
“Not necessarily; a very old lady from the inner isles died on Ascension Thursday. Maybe it was her. Maybe not. We’ll soon find out.”
Thormodur Krakur lifted his index finger by way of emphasis.
“Have many of your dreams come true?” Kjartan asked.
“Yes, my friend. Some of them have even been recorded in annals. The most famous were the Sigridur dream, the sail dream, and the ram’s testicles dream. Then there are others that have remained unsolved, even though many have tried. Those are the dreams I had about Stagley, and the calves and Ash Wednesday dreams, for example. Do you want to have a crack at them?”
Kjartan shrugged.
“The calves dream goes like this. I sense I’m up by the church, and then I see three eagles flying over Mulanes. They form a circle over the graveyard, and one of them perches on a tombstone while the others fly back to the mainland the way they came. The eagle that is perching flaps its wings wildly, and I see that it is covered in blood and the blood is splattering off the feathers of his wings all around him. Finally, he rests his wings and looks toward the harbor. Then I see that there is a big sailing ship with two masts moored there, but a hoard of bullocks are being led up the road and people are walking behind them wearing crowns and majestic robes. That’s when I wake up. What do you think it means?”
“I don’t know. I’m no good at solving riddles,” Kjartan answered.
“Dreams are no riddles. You just have to be able to read the signs right. The calf dream is about some major event, that’s for sure. Three eagles always precede an event, but the blood is a bad omen.”
Kjartan smiled. “Are there other signs you can interpret?” he asked.
“Oh yes, many: a swan stands for wealth, a bishop is a bad omen, a flower stands for happiness in the summer but sorrow in the winter, a king mean success and prestige. But it can all be turned on its head.”
“Do people around here believe in all this stuff?” Kjartan asked.
“Of course-anyone who takes the trouble to think about it, that is. Do you think the Creator just created dreams for the fun of it? No, sir. These are messages that evolved minds gradually learn to decipher. Everything serves its purpose. Even the hidden people and elves in the hills are there to fulfill a function.”
“The elves?” Kjartan asked skeptically.
“Yes. Have you never seen an elf?”
“No.”
“You’ll see an elf someday, my friend. But there’s no certainty that you’ll be able to recognize him when you see him.”
“How can I recognize one?”
“Keep a pure heart and don’t doubt unnecessarily. People doubt too much. One should believe the things that are in the Icelandic sagas and the Bible and the things that old people say. Then our dreams and wishes can come true.”
Thormodur Krakur had ended his speech and continued sieving the down. He seemed to have had enough of the conversation, so Kjartan said good-bye and left the shed. The fresh air was welcome.
A young man was painting a window mullion on the next house green. He had a long, bright forehead that stretched down to his eyes, and Kjartan wondered whether this was an elf. Probably not, he thought, as the young man put down his paintbrush and lit a cigarette. Then he remembered seeing this same guy nail a sealskin to the gable of the outhouse. The house was clad in white painted corrugated iron and the roof was green. Over the door was a sign that read Radagerdi and below it the year of its construction-1927.
“Are you a cop?” the boy called out to Kjartan.
“No, I’m no policeman,” Kjartan answered, drawing closer.
“Oh no? I was told you were a cop from Patreksfjordur.”
“No, I’m just an assistant to the district magistrate.”
“Yeah, isn’t that some kind of cop?”
“Not really.”
“Aren’t you investigating the murder of that guy on the island?”
“Well, no, I’m trying to find out who he is. I doubt whether he was murdered.”
“I thought you were a real cop,” said the boy, disappointed. He tried to turn on a red transistor that stood on a windowsill inside an open window.
“Have you ever heard Elvis Presley?” he asked.
“No, I can’t say that I have,” Kjartan answered.
