Defoe might have
envied the profusion of detail; "The large chest with a lock, and the
small box," and so on. Some of the minor portents, such as the
disturbances among inanimate objects, and the appearance of a glow of
mysterious light, "the Fate Moon," recur in modern tales of haunted
houses. The combination of Christian exorcism, then a novelty in
Iceland, with legal proceedings against the ghosts, is especially
characteristic.
THE MARVELS AT FRODA {273}
During that summer in which Christianity was adopted by law in Iceland
(1000 A.D.), it happened that a ship came to land at Snowfell Ness.
It was a Dublin vessel, manned by Irish and Hebrideans, with few
Norsemen on board. They lay there for a long time during the summer,
waiting for a favourable wind to sail into the firth, and many people
from the Ness went down to trade with them. There was on board a
Hebridean woman named Thorgunna, of whom her shipmates said that she
owned some costly things, the like of which would be difficult to find
in Iceland. When Thurid, the housewife at Froda, heard of this she
was very curious to see the articles, for she was a woman that was
fond of show and finery.
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