In exploring how Icelanders interact with nature—and their idea that elves live among us—Nancy Marie Brown shows us how altering our perceptions of the environment can be a crucial first step toward saving it. Icelanders believe in elves. Why does that make you laugh?, asks Nancy Marie Brown in this wonderfully quirky exploration of our interaction with nature. Looking for answers in history, science, religion, and art—from ancient times to today—Brown finds that each discipline defines what is real and unreal, natural and supernatural, demonstrated and theoretical, alive and inert. Each has its own way of perceiving and valuing the world around us. And each discipline can be defined, in the Icelandic perception, by its own sort of elf. Illuminated by her own encounters with Iceland’s Otherworld—in ancient lava fields, on a holy mountain, beside a glacier or an erupting volcano, crossing the cold desert at the island’s heart on horseback—Looking for the Hidden Folk offers an intimate conversation about how we look at and find value in nature. It reveals how the words we use and the stories we tell shape the world we see. It argues that our beliefs about the Earth will preserve—or destroy it. Scientists name our time the Anthropocene: the Human Age. Climate change will lead to the mass extinction of numerous animal species unless we humans change our course. Iceland suggests a different way of thinking about the Earth, one that offers hope. Icelanders believe in elves— and you should, too.

Icelandic folklore is rife with tales of elves and hidden people that inhabited hills and rocks in the landscape. But what do those elf stories really tell us about the Iceland of old and the people who lived there? In this book, author Alda Sigmundsdóttir presents twenty translated elf stories from Icelandic folklore, along with fascinating notes on the context from which they sprung. The international media has had a particular infatuation with the Icelanders’ elf belief, generally using it to propagate some kind of “kooky Icelanders” myth. Yet Iceland’s elf folklore, at its core, reflects the plight of a nation living in abject poverty on the edge of the inhabitable world, and its people’s heroic efforts to survive, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. That is what the stories of the elves, or hidden people, are really about. In a country that was, at times, virtually uninhabitable, where poverty was endemic and death and grief a part of daily life, the Icelanders nurtured a belief in a world that existed parallel to their own. This was the world of the hidden people, which more often than not was a projection of the most fervent dreams and desires of the human population. The hidden people lived inside hillocks, cliffs, or boulders, very close to the abodes of the humans. Their homes were furnished with fine, sumptuous objects. Their clothes were luxurious, their adornments beautiful. Their livestock was better and fatter, their sheep yielded more wool than regular sheep, their crops were more bounteous. They even had supernatural powers: they could make themselves visible or invisible at will, and they could see the future. To the Icelanders, stories of elves and hidden people are an integral part of the cultural and psychological fabric of their nation. They are a part of their identity, a reflection of the struggles, hopes, resilience, and endurance of their people. What you will read about in The Little Book of the Hidden People: • The fascination in the international media: why are they so obsessed with elves? • The meaning of elf: what do hidden people stories tell us about the psyche of the Icelanders of old? • The elves' badassery—they could make or break your fortune so you’d better be nice! • The ljúflingar ... hidden men who became the lovers of mortal women • Glamorous and regal: why were the elves so damn good-looking? • The grim realities: what do scholars believe about all those children abducted by elves? ... and so much more!

In a chamber high in a tower a young woman sits at a loom, weaving threads of many colours into a tapestry so large that it pools around her feet, half covering the chamber's marble floor. When her people first went to war, years ago now, she began to weave the story of their struggle against the enemy that threatened all the world. Everyone who has come to see the tapestry take shape has marvelled at the young woman's skill. When you gaze at the intricately woven threads they seem to move, bending and parting like stalks of grass in the wind, drawing you further into the tapestry and revealing more than you had thought was -there. -- The long work is almost finished. At one end of the tapestry rise the dark clouds, like billowing towers of shadow, whence the hosts of the enemy first marched, spreading fear and death across the land. From there the images sweep across the weave like a rushing tide of story, a story of blood and battle, of bravery and death, of hope lost and found again. And at the end of th.

Selkies, fairies, gnomes, hill folk, river sprites--do you believe in them? Perhaps among the flowers, beside a mountain, or near deep waters you’ve caught a glimpse, once or twice, of what you thought might be the silvery shadow of a dwarf, or a hint of a fairy’s wing, or the tail of the water horse. Or was it just the odd light of dusk or dawn playing tricks? As Lise Lunge-Larsen’s magical, timeless stories reveal and Beth Krommes’s enchanting scratchboard illustrations capture, the hidden folk are there, all right: you just have to know where--and how--to look.

Hike vast glaciers, marvel at steaming volcanic lakes, and explore the land of the midnight sun: with Rick Steves, Iceland is yours to explore! Inside Rick Steves Iceland you'll find: Comprehensive itineraries that can be adapted for 24-hour layovers, 5-day visits, 2-week trips, and more, including the best road trips in Iceland from the Ring Road to the Golden Circle Rick's strategic advice on how to get the most out of your time and money, with rankings of his must-see favorites Top sights and hidden gems, from the stunning northern lights to hidden hikes and cozy bookstores How to connect with local culture: Soak in hidden hot springs, sample smoked fish, and chat with locals in moody and welcoming rural towns Beat the crowds, skip the lines, and avoid tourist traps with Rick's candid, humorous insight The best places to eat, sleep, and relax Self-guided walking tours of lively Reykjavík and art and history museums and mile-by-mile scenic driving tours Detailed maps for exploring on the go Useful resources including a packing list, an Icelandic phrase book, a historical overview, and recommended reading Over 500 bible-thin pages include everything worth seeing without weighing you down Complete, up-to-date information on Reykjavík, the Reykjanes Peninsula, the Golden Circle, the South Coast, the Westman Islands, West Iceland, The Ring Road, the East Fjords, and more Make the most of every day and every dollar with Rick Steves Iceland. Expanding your trip? Try Rick Steves Scandinavia or Rick Steves Northern European Cruise Ports.

"an excellent and engaging read, moving to an absorbing conclusion" --Historical Novel Society "The perfect book to curl up with on a chilly fall day, The Hidden People will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand up." --Booklist In 1851, within the grand glass arches of London's Crystal Palace, Albie Mirralls meets his cousin Lizzie for the first--and, as it turns out, last--time. Coming from a backward rural village, Albie expects Lizzie will be a simple country girl, but instead he is struck by her inner beauty and by her lovely singing voice. When next he hears of her, many years later, it is to hear news of her death at the hands of her husband, the village shoemaker. Rumors surround his young cousin's murder--apparently, her husband thought she had been replaced by one of the "fair folk" and so burned her alive--and then disappeared. Albie becomes obsessed with bringing his young cousin's murderer to justice. When he arrives, he finds a community in the grip of superstition, nearly every member believes Lizzie's husband acted with the best of intentions and in the service of the village. And the more he learns, the less sure he is that there aren't mysterious powers at work.

In Search of Japan's Hidden Christians is a remarkable story of suppression, secrecy and survival in the face of human cruelty and God’s apparent silence. Part history, part travelogue, it explores and seeks to explain a clash of civilizations—of East and West—that resonates to this day. For seven generations, Japan’s ‘Hidden Christians’ preserved a faith that was forbidden on pain of death. Just as remarkably, descendants of the Hidden Christians continue to practise their beliefs today, refusing to rejoin the Catholic Church. Why? And what is it about Japanese culture that makes it so resistant to Western Christianity?