Read "The Fish can Sing" by Halldór Laxness online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
I wonder what my grandfather Björn of Brekkukot really thought that Latin was? Did he think it was the magic Sesame which opened all cliffs in Iceland? If so, I am not at all sure that he was all that far from the truth. Where fish leaves off in Iceland, Latin takes over.
In the old days there were more Latin-educated men in Iceland, relatively speaking, than in most other countries. Latin was the badge of nobility in Iceland. A beggar who could lard his speech with Latin was always considered a better man than the one who gave him alms. No one was considered really and truly literate in Iceland unless he knew Latin.