From his desk at a highway project in Reykjavik – the capital of Iceland – engineer Petur Matthiasson welcomes visitors with a warm smile and sparkling eyes behind his glasses.
The fairy-tale beauty of Iceland.
After that, the engineer left his sentence unfinished and tilted his head to look at the computer screen – which was displaying a project to build a new road in a neighboring town.
`But many people believe it very much. And this is also one of the cases where we were preparing to build a road and were warned by people that this area had goblins living. Of course, we will have to avoid those places.`
Fictional characters such as elves, trolls, angels… often appear in myths in many countries, especially Europe.
Principal Magnus said many people believe that elves live in their gardens.
People here believe very much that there are always goblins, dwarves or winged fairies… living around them, the only difference is that these characters lurk in caves, bushes or on tops of mountains.
That is also the reason why many road projects, water pipe or cable locations have to be changed in some places, despite the greatly increased costs.
Around the island, people constantly tell each other stories of fishermen missing at sea due to ignoring the warnings of goblins, or people suffering from strange illnesses, or mysterious fires caused by work.
In 2004, a golf course construction project on the outskirts of Reykjawik ran into trouble after removing a rock believed to be the residence of goblins.
In 2007, the University of Iceland conducted a nationwide survey.
For the same reason, Iceland is the first country in the world to have a goblin school – where you can spend about 60 USD to take a course to better understand this magical creature within a day.
Here, these mysterious creatures are collectively known as Huldufólk – also known as `mysterious people`.
When visiting the Goblin School, visitors will be introduced to the goblins that he believes live here by Magnus Skarphedinsson – the historian who runs the school.
`Near the school there is a parking lot, formerly a chicken farm. The owner had a dream in which he heard a strange voice, saying that he had to move the big stone to the east of the land because of that.
Folk culture
Adalheidur Gudmundsdottir – a professor specializing in the study of Icelandic folk literature – confided: `Please don’t think of our Iceland as rustic, stupid people when you know we believe in elves and fairies.
So where do beliefs about these magical creatures come from?
To survive the cold winter, people came up with stories about heroes and supernatural elements to tell each other.
In addition, the island’s appearance and scenery also make people believe more in real things.
The beauty of where elves live with humans
Road to Iceland:
Visa: For Schengen citizens, you can travel freely to Iceland.
Travel: If you fly from North America to Iceland, it will take about 5-6 hours.
Round-trip airfare from Noi Bai, Hanoi to Reykjavik ranges from 905 USD to 1,300 USD.
Anh Minh (according to CNN)
