Tag Archives: Eyrbyggja Saga

Friday, March 9, 2018 — Ghosts and Zombies

18-03-09 - BLOG DraugrAccord­ing to the Eyr­byg­g­ja Saga, when the Ice­landic penin­su­la of Snæfell­snes was plagued with ghosts and zom­bies (specif­i­cal­ly Thorir Wood­en-leg and his undead com­pan­ions) dis­rupt­ing dai­ly life and harm­ing the econ­o­my, Snor­ri Þor­gríms­son solved the prob­lem by tak­ing them to court and sub­mit­ting them to tri­al by jury. Always the pro­ce­du­ral­ist, Snor­ri was best known for his fair judge­ments in cas­es of blood feuds, bound­ary dis­putes and the end­less squab­bles over fire­wood. The zom­bie prob­lem was just anoth­er such case. The Eyr­byg­g­ja Saga is not one of the best known of the Ice­landic sagas, but it would appeal to any lawyer or polit­i­cal jour­nal­ist. I read it in 1992, and then twen­ty years lat­er I hiked exten­sive­ly in Snæfell­snes, tread­ing foot­steps in most of the places the saga men­tions. I’m return­ing to Ice­land ten days from now, for anoth­er vis­it to that mag­i­cal lit­tle coun­try, so it’s much on my mind, and so is old Snor­ri. Today, Cana­da is men­aced by a plague of ghosts and zom­bies, orig­i­nat­ing south of the bor­der. The ghosts are an assort­ment of old and stu­pid ideas, the zom­bies are the march­ing morons of Trump­ism and the moral­ly cor­rupt leg­is­la­tors of the U.S. (most­ly Repub­li­can, but quite a few Democ­rats as well). We could use a Snor­ri to sort things out. Read more »