Crimes and Mysteries 71
Many Icelandic people believe that little people live on
our island. They call them elves, fairies or hidden people.
Sometimes roads curve just to avoid having to blow up a
rock or a cliff during construction because little people
might live there. Sometimes construction workers are
more worried about the little people than about the great
dangers in nature, like boiling geysers, burning lava or
glaciers. The natural wonders don’t stop them – but the
elves just might.
One explanation for this belief is that there are so few on
the island that we doubled our population with tales of
elves and fairies.
The hidden
people of Iceland
