The Fish can Sing by Halldór Laxness

In certain ancient musical scales there are different intervals than those to which people are now attuned, and for that reason they seem to us to lack certain notes; and yet some of the loveliest melodies which are ever sung in Iceland have been written in these modes, such as Iceland, Land of the Blest and Oh, my Beautiful Bottle.

At home in Brekkukot we did not acknowledge all the concepts which are now all the rage, and indeed had no words for them. All sorts of talk that was in common currency outside the turnstile-gate at Brekkukot struck us as mental illness; words which were commonplace elsewhere sounded not only strange to our ears but were downright embarrassing to us, like smut or other shameless chatter.