POEMS

Incredible Island country

Cheese, Coca-Cola, and sheep are abundant

Elves, also known as Huldofolk, roam around in caves

Lagoons, geysers, and waterfalls, oh my!

Arctic foxes, puffins, and horses run free

Northern lights, volcanoes, and glaciers form the country

Dog sledding and color races are Icelandic customs all around

Acrostic Poem

Haiku

Northern lights shine bright

Iceland has many stories

Gorgeous attractions 

Það var fallegur dagur á Íslandi       

Við höfðum áætlað allan daginn     Við vorum fyrst að skoða jökulhellana

og þá kanna geyserbylgjurnar         Næstum sáum við bláa lónið            

Við vissum nighttime væri hérna fljótlega   

Við sáum að norðurljósin skín í himininn   

Þeir voru svo fallegir, þeir gerðu okkur að gráta!                                  

Couplet

It was a beautiful day in Iceland                  

We had our entire day planned

We were first going to see the glacier caves

and then explore the geyser waves

Next, we saw the blue lagoon

We knew nighttime would be here soon

We saw the Northern Lights in the sky

They were so beautiful, they made us cry!                              

Concrete Poem about Vikings

Quatrain

In Iceland, Christmas is known as Yule

There are many traditions, such as filling a shoe with candy

The kids all think it is really cool

The gifts are fine and dandy!

Authors note Poetry * These poems are all inspired by the book A Kid's Guide to Iceland. This book is full of facts and great information about Iceland. after reading this, I began to write these poems based off of Icelandic customs, traditions, and every day life.

SHORT STORY

Footprints in The Snow

It was winter and the air outside was as brisk as ice. I snuggled in my covers hoping to stay warm. I peered out the window into the moonlight and watched the snow lay calm on the earth. Then, I saw the most peculiar thing in the snow. Footprints after footprints forming, one after another. How could this be? There was no one there! I climbed out of bed and put my face against the cold glass to see if I could make better sense of this mystery.

I noticed that the footprints were forming very sporadically, as if someone was running around or playing. Then, they just stopped for a moment and I was left puzzling. All of a sudden, the footprints started coming towards my window. I panicked, unsure of what to do or say, and then I realized the footprints were very small, maybe as small as my footprints or a little bigger. The footprints ended at the edge of my window and I looked out. Still, there was no one there. I started to feel as though someone was there.

I waved my hand toward the window and to my surprise, a handprint appeared on the outside of my window. It moved back and forth like a wave. I decided to write something on the window as another way to contact. I blew hot air on the window and wrote “Hello I am Lucy, who are you?” After a little bit of time, they wrote back “fle eht dirgnI si eman ym”. I was confused because I had never seen this language before, so I wrote “I don’t understand” and they replied, “sdrawkcab...backwards”

Then I realized that the words are reversed since they are outside! I began to try and read her first response backwards. “My name is Ingrid the elf”. Once I read this, I realized that I just met one of the legendary invisible elves. I was so excited and thrilled! I have heard crazy stories about invisible elves, but I just thought it was all fictional stories. Before I had the chance to write Ingrid the elf back, she wrote “retal ouy ees! og ot evah I eyb”. I translated this to “bye I have to go! see you later”.

Then, I looked down and saw the footprints disappear into the snow. I thought to myself “see” how are we going to see each other later? I never saw what she looked like! The next night I prepared to meet my friend again, but this time I would sneak out and go play in the snow with her. I put on all my snow gear and crawled into bed and waited while watching my window. A little bit later, I saw a small cloud form on the window and it said “ycuL olleh”.

I hopped up and ran outside to my window, hoping I could “see” my new friend, but all I could see were her footprints. I came closer and spoke to her. “Hey, it’s Lucy! I wanted to come outside and play with you”. I was hoping I could hear her, but I heard nothing. I said again “Hey it’s Lucy I wanted to come outside and play with you”. Then, I saw words starting to form in the snow and it said. “Hey Lucy! It’s Ingrid the elf, you can’t hear me because Elves speak in very soft voices”. “You can hear me though?” I asked. Ingrid wrote back, “Yes, elves have very big ears, we can hear lots of things”. 

“Okay, let’s have some fun then!” I replied. That night was the best ever! Ingrid and I built a snowman and snow elf together, we made snow angels together, and we even had a snowball fight, but I don’t think it was very fair since I couldn’t see her at all. Once we had all of our fun, Ingrid wrote “I have to go home now, I won’t see you until it snows again”. I really hoped that would be soon. I went back inside and went to bed and dreamed of a snowy night tomorrow. I actually woke up to sunshine and realized that winter was ending.

I was so sad that I may not get to see my friend for a while. I waited every night for months and watched my window to see if my friend would ever come back. 8 months passed, and I had given up hope until one night, I heard tapping at my window and I looked up and saw snow falling out my window. I saw the writing on the window that I missed so much “kcab m’I ycuL” I quickly translated it to “Lucy I’m back”. I hopped up and put my snow gear on and I ran outside to my friend’s footprints in the snow. I just knew it was going to be one of the most fun nights of my life!

Authors Note Short Story * I wrote this short story inspired from the book Margret & the Elves of Iceland's Second Realm. The Icelandic people truly believe in these elves that are invisible to the eye. I thought it would be perfect to include an adventure of a little girl and her new elf friend to show the real beliefs of the Icelandic people. Pictured below are tiny elf houses!

ICELANDIC RECIPES