Látra-Björg # 62936
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Látra-Björg. Compiled by Helgi Jónsson.
Látra-Björg was a very large woman and not beautiful to look at. She was ill-tempered and reclusive; she sometimes went about with her friends and people thought she was a witch and she was a scoundrel. She sometimes wandered around the countryside and begged for money because she was a poor woman, but she did not want to go into exile or be dependent on others. At that time, Jón Benediktsson was a ruler in Rauðaskriðar. He thought of criticizing Látra-Björg's behavior; then she said:
The evil spirit's scheming,
never judge unjustly;
He is right in his speech,
Nowhere is there any honor.
These verses were recited to a ruler, and he became angry and sued Látra-Björga for this poem; but when the trial took place, she recanted and said that others had misrepresented the verses to her out of malice and had slandered her. She had recited them about the ruler in the opposite way to what she had recited, and she could not be sure that the poem would be read backwards. If it had been correctly recited like this:
He is a good man, but nowhere is he
speaks the truth,
base judgments, never cares
evil spirits trick.
And could a ruler let things stand?
Once upon a time, Látra-Björg had to take an oath that was very unpleasant to her; then she said:
I pray to the one who commits murder
and death on a hard cross was the way
to deprive him of abundance and grace
who forces me to travel.
And after that she was not forced to take the oath, because the ruler was blinded by her words of command, and he nevertheless decided to stick to his own case with men, as the story also says he had met himself, for when he once harshly judged a poor man for a small matter, the poor man (some say it was Látra-Björg) said:
Judge Jon, you judge me,
Your judgment is harsh;
the judge will judge you
which determines all judgments.
Then Jón contracted the long and severe illness that led to his death, and yet he gave the land of Kotamýr to the poor in Reykjadalur so that he could be freed from it.
It is said that Látra-Björg was a powerful poet, and it is said that once, when a voyage had been delayed for a long time, she said this:
The mug grows and the wind,
I want to brew a poetic beat,
sail, come in here alone
to comfort us today.
Látra-Björg was a very large woman and not beautiful to look at. She was ill-tempered and reclusive; she sometimes went about with her friends and people thought she was a witch and she was a scoundrel. She sometimes wandered around the countryside and begged for money because she was a poor woman, but she did not want to go into exile or be dependent on others. At that time, Jón Benediktsson was a ruler in Rauðaskriðar. He thought of criticizing Látra-Björg's behavior; then she said:
The evil spirit's scheming,
never judge unjustly;
He is right in his speech,
Nowhere is there any honor.
These verses were recited to a ruler, and he became angry and sued Látra-Björga for this poem; but when the trial took place, she recanted and said that others had misrepresented the verses to her out of malice and had slandered her. She had recited them about the ruler in the opposite way to what she had recited, and she could not be sure that the poem would be read backwards. If it had been correctly recited like this:
He is a good man, but nowhere is he
speaks the truth,
base judgments, never cares
evil spirits trick.
And could a ruler let things stand?
Once upon a time, Látra-Björg had to take an oath that was very unpleasant to her; then she said:
I pray to the one who commits murder
and death on a hard cross was the way
to deprive him of abundance and grace
who forces me to travel.
And after that she was not forced to take the oath, because the ruler was blinded by her words of command, and he nevertheless decided to stick to his own case with men, as the story also says he had met himself, for when he once harshly judged a poor man for a small matter, the poor man (some say it was Látra-Björg) said:
Judge Jon, you judge me,
Your judgment is harsh;
the judge will judge you
which determines all judgments.
Then Jón contracted the long and severe illness that led to his death, and yet he gave the land of Kotamýr to the poor in Reykjadalur so that he could be freed from it.
It is said that Látra-Björg was a powerful poet, and it is said that once, when a voyage had been delayed for a long time, she said this:
The mug grows and the wind,
I want to brew a poetic beat,
sail, come in here alone
to comfort us today.