The earth is only
a little dust under our feet

There are elves in Iceland. Also fairies, unicorns, huldufolk, trolls, beach dwarfs, water sprites, mountain spirits and ghosts. Icelanders don’t throw stones in the air, for fear of hitting one of these mysterious beings. The don’t jump on stones, in case a huldufolk might be living inside. And someone once told me,’if the president claimed he didn’t believe in these magical creatures, he would never be re-elected’.

I travelled from north to south and from east to west of the island, searching for places where the magical beings live. Mostly I was looking for the people who have the ability to see them, asking in every gas station, library, grocery store or hotel if there was someone in the area who could communicate with the Beings of the Earth.

If there is a place to believe in magic, Iceland must be that place.

Book published by Overlapse

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WHEN YOU TURN ON

THE RADIO,

DO YOU SEE THE WAVES?

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· THE ELVES SPOKEHUMAN·

Some roads in Iceland are built with a deliberate kink to avoid bulldozing a rock where the elves live.  When excavators were working on Álfhòlsvegur road in Kòpavogur in the late 1800s, some mysterious incidents occurred. The equipment stopped working until the Icelandic Road Coastal Commission   decided to divert the road.  Ranghildur is the elve’s spokeperson. When an elf town is in danger of being destroyed by humans, they Earth Beings come to her for help.

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WE HAVE NO

REASON TO BELIEVE

OUR FIVE SENSES

ARE ENOUGH

TO SEE THE WORLD

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· LONELY TROLLS·

It’s difficult to find someone who likes trolls. Most of the people I met before Alma described them as rude ans dangerous, but she depicted a completely different creature. On the exterior they are tall walking rocks, grey and green, with thick arms and legs, and inside they are very private and keep to themselves. Trolls are so grounded that they don’t like walking around much and only move if there is an earthquake or a volcano. Their role is to keep the mountain safe.

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WE CALL

MAGIC TO THINGS

WE CAN’T UNDERSTAND

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· AN ELF IN LOVE WITH ELVIS PRESLEY ·

Saenun has hidden people has neighbours and seeing them is a gift that only the women in her family possess. Elves constantly borrow things from the farmhouse and won’t return them until they no longer need them. I asked Saenun what the weirdest thing was that elves had taken, and she showed me an old VHS tape of the movie ‘Roustabout’ starring Elvis Presley. ‘The elves must have loved it because they kept it for years’, she said.

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NATURE

IS OUR TEMPLE

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