I learned something on my recent visit to Iceland… you don’t mess with the elves. What you or I might see as a very large cave, locals see as an elf hut or elf house. They take different forms. But regardless of form, disrespecting the elf house is a no no. How do you do that? Well, in this case we were to walk backwards, up a steep snowy hill, into the house while singing our favorite song. Not an easy thing to do. I chose James Taylor’s, “Your Smiling Face,” but Sylvia chose a german favorite. Our guide, Thor, was obviously tongue in cheek about the whole thing, but he was happy to share the lore regardless. I love it. It’s a fun way to respect nature. And Icelanders certainly do.

Jeff Turner

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