KRAKEN
Kraken is the most of all seemonsters. It is an eight arm octopus and it is first mentioned in the 12th century, then in writing, detailed in 13.öld. In the publication Konungsskuggsjá the kraken is called a fish as large aquatic animals were often mentioned before. In the same publication it's stated that little is known about the kraken, since it rarely goes to shallow water and has never been caught or found dead. Those who have seen the kraken say it looks more like an island than a living creature. It is not unlikely that only two copies exist in the whole world. They can not reproduce, fortunately, since these creatures need to consume large amounts of food. Thus, it is described: The kraken emits large openings, and it is booming with strong smell food, "foul-smelling sputum". This attracts all kinds of water creatures, both large and small, which swim into this sputum and think they have found an absolute delicacy. The kraken is waiting with an open mouth that is as big as a fjord so the prey doesn't realize the danger it is in. Then the kraken just closes it's mouth and swallows its prey.
The kraken is still mentioned in the writings of the next century. The Hvalaþulum Snorra-Eddu and in Örvar-Odds sögu Grímssonar loðinkinna from the late 13th century and in the Íslandslýsingu Odds Skálholtsbiskups Einarssonar, from the 1590th. The dominant word is now hafgufa "probably after the hot vomit it emits" wrote the bishop and then adds that there is a move Levitan, monster from the Old Testament. 50 years later the son of Odd, Gisli picks up where is father left of and said that this is an amazing creature that Þangbrandur had formerly sung in a holy mass in the high seas. In 1640 the name was hafsvelgur widely used about the kraken, because of the whirlpool formed when the monster sinks into the depths. It also reveals that the creature only eats once a year. The oldest description of the beast which is written in the first half of the 17th century, says: "People saw a whole island, lifted up from the sea, but after a one hour passed it disappeared into the ocean again. Sometime an enormous tube with three curves was seen coming up from the sea." Very little description is available since it lives at a great depth and in darkness and places that are unknown to the man.
Now I will tell you that there are two sea-monsters. One is called the hafgufa (sea-mist), another lyngbakr (heather-back). It (thelyngbakr) is the largest whale in the world, but the hafgufa is the hugest monster in the sea. It is the nature of this creature to swallow men and ships, and even whales and everything else within reach. It stays submerged for days, then rears its head and nostrils above surface and stays that way at least until the change of tide. Now, that sound we just sailed through was the space between its jaws, and its nostrils and lower jaw were those rocks that appeared in the sea, while the lyngbakr was the island we saw sinking down. However, Ogmund Tussock has sent these creatures to you by means of his magic to cause the death of you (Odd) and all your men. He thought more men would have gone the same way as those that had already drowned (i.e. to the lyngbakr which wasn't an island, and sank), and he expected that the hafgufa would have swallowed us all. Today I sailed through its mouth because I knew that it had recently surfaced.
|
nú mun ek segja þér, at þetta eru sjáskrímsl tvau, heitir annat hafgufa, en annat lyngbakr; er hann mestr allra hvala í heiminum, en hafgufa er mest skrímsl skapat í sjánum; er þat hennar náttúra, at hon gleypir bæði menn ok skip ok hvali ok allt þat hon náir; hon er í kafi, svá at dægrum skiptir, ok þá hon skýtr upp hǫfði sínu ok nǫsum, þá er þat aldri skemmr en sjávarfall, at hon er uppi. Nú var þat leiðarsundit, er vér fórum á millum kjapta hennar, en nasir hennar ok inn neðri kjaptrinn váru klettar þeir, er yðr sýndiz í hafinu, en lyngbakr var ey sjá, er niðr sǫkk. En Ǫgmundr flóki hefir sent þessi kvikvendi í móti þér með fjǫlkynngi sinni til þess at bana þér ok ǫllum mǫnnum þínum; hugði hann, at svá skyldi hafa farit fleiri sem þeir, at nú druknuðu, en hann ætlaði, at hafgufan skyldi hafa gleypt oss alla. Nú siglda ek því í gin hennar, at ek vissa, at hún var nýkomin upp [1]
. |