Storytelling

In my early 20s, I discovered J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and fell in love with Middle Earth.  I fell deeper and deeper as I worked my way through The Lord of the Rings trilogy, even naming my Irish Setters "Brandybuck" and "Strider" (whose papered name was "Aragorn").

Another trilogy that I didn't discover until many years later, thanks to my daughter's insistence that I read it, was Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials (called Northern Lights in Europe), the most famous book being the first one, The Golden Compass.  The word dark in the trilogy title is key, as Pullman's journey into the Underworld is compelling and disturbing.

And yes, I did fall in love with all seven of the Harry Potter series, as well as the movies.

Storytelling is an Icelandic tradition, and the history of Iceland is told through its literature and mythology, dating back to the Vikings.  In a land populated by trolls and faeries and 13 Santa Clauses, legends are made of the magical.

I am in Iceland now and spent a long afternoon touring The Golden Circle, learning the history and geology of the country through the storytelling of our guide, Svan (pronounced "Swan").  His tales of Vikings and Pagans and puffins and ravens enchanted me for several hours, along with breathtaking views of Gullfoss Falls, the erupting geyser Strokkur, and Langjokull, the lake at the heart of the Great Divide, which may one day separate Iceland in two.

Some believe that storytelling is a lost art.  I do not agree.  There is too much love invested in the folklore to ever threaten its power to educate and entertain.  Here in Iceland, where the literacy rate is over 99%, it is said that 10% of the population will publish a book at some point in their lives.  Share the love, Iceland.