Reverend Hannes stood by the living room window of the vicarage observing the movement of people beyond the cove. The boy he had sent down with the message had vanished from sight some time ago, and there was no sign of his request having been met.
“Maybe I should just go down and talk to Grimur myself,” the priest said uneasily to his wife, Frida, who sat in a comfortable armchair behind him, embroidering a white tablecloth. She looked up from her sewing, peering over her glasses, and sternly shook her head.
Reverend Hannes shuffled on his feet. “I think the authorities should know about this as soon as possible,” he said anxiously.
“No, you’re not going anywhere,” the priest’s wife snapped sullenly. “There’s no way you’re going down to Grimur’s filthy landing,” she added.
“It’s not so bad on the shore when it’s not raining. I can go in my old galoshes,” said the priest.
“Don’t you remember when you slipped on that whale oil and ruined your pants?”
Reverend Hannes remembered and gave up. He could also now see that the man from the district magistrate’s office was heading up the embankment beyond the cove with a heavy bucket in his hand and little Svenni following him at a short distance behind.
“Here comes that fellow from the magistrate’s office. I just hope he’s coming here, but I can’t see the district officer anywhere. He must have been busy.”
Frida shook her head again and muttered, “I think you’re better off telling the magistrate’s man about this. He’s of a higher rank. Besides, you can’t let Grimur into this house in his filthy working clothes. It’s indecent for an official like the district administrative officer to be walking around looking like that.”
Reverend Hannes decided not to comment. The woman was born and bred in Reykjavik and seemed to refuse to come to terms with the fact that on these islands men had to be jacks of all trades, and that they didn’t wash until the end of the day when they’d produced enough food for their families. Personally, he happened to like Grimur and Hogni, the teacher, and he tried to meet up with them as often as possible. There was always the hope of a good story or some fun conversation. Of course, the men sometimes gave off a bit of a smell after a day’s work, but that was just the way things were out on the islands. Reverend Hannes had been brought up in the Dalir district but had never had the guts to tell his wife that he actually quite liked that cowshed smell.
“Yes, you’re probably right,” he finally said. “The magistrate’s representative seems to be a responsible and well-educated man. He’ll probably know what the best thing to do is. This is a deadly serious matter.”
The priest stepped outside and waited for Kjartan to arrive under the gable of his house.
“I hope you’re here to see me,” said Reverend Hannes.
“Yes, the district officer sent me up and asked me to bring some fresh bits of seal to your wife while I was at it,” said Kjartan, handing him an old white iron bucket full of raw meat.
“Bless you for that, and God be praised for the food that He and the sea provide to man,” said Reverend Hannes, taking the bucket. He then invited Kjartan to step into the small room he reserved for receiving parishioners, but he deposited the bucket in a little pantry off the hall.
“I’ve just had quite a shock, yes, quite a shock.” Reverend Hannes poured coffee out of a thermos into two ready cups on the desk.
“Oh?” said Kjartan, picking up one of the cups.
“Yes, I walked down to the co-op earlier and saw the notice from your office when I was checking to make sure my mass notice was in its right place.”
“Yes?” said Kjartan.
“Yes and ahem…I think I know who the deceased is.”
“Really?”
“Yes, it just has to be Professor Gaston Lund from Copenhagen.”
“How do you know that?”
“It’s a bit of a long story. The professor came here from Reykholar at the beginning of September of last year with some of the women who had been to the mainland to pick berries. He sent me Reverend Veigar in Reykholar’s regards and asked me if we could put him up for two nights, which, of course, was fine. He was obviously quite a distinguished man.”
The priest took the lid off a cake dish and handed it to Kjartan.
“Here, have a pancake with sugar.”
“He was Danish, you were saying?” Kjartan asked, taking a pancake.
“Oh yes. He was a professor from the University of Copenhagen. He’d spent the summer following the saga trails in the Flatey Book, i.e., the saga of Olaf Haraldsson and the saga of Olaf Tryggvason, in Norway, of course, and then he came out here to Iceland on a short trip, as I understand it. First he went east to Skalholt, where Brynjolfur served as bishop. Then he traveled north to Vididalstunga, where the manuscript was put together and written. After that he traveled west to Reykholar, where the manuscript was preserved for some time, and then over here to Flatey. He realized, of course, that no one could call themselves experts on the Flatey Book without first visiting the place the manuscript derived its name from. He also wanted to try to solve the old Aenigma Flateyensis, which I only realized later. From here he traveled directly to Reykjavik to catch a flight to Copenhagen. He was due to attend a very important manuscript symposium in Copenhagen, and then, of course, he had to start lecturing at the university straight after that.”
“But how did he end up in Ketilsey then?” Kjartan asked.
“It’s totally incomprehensible to me. He said good-bye to me when the mail boat was about to come in and set off for the pier with plenty of time to spare.”
“So how do you know it was him then?”
“I should have recognized him from the description of the clothes, but since I just assumed that he was in Copenhagen, it never occurred to me. But it was the note with the quotation from the Flatey Book that convinced me. It’s probably written in my handwriting.”
“Oh?” Kjartan pulled out the note that he had stuck into his wallet the night before and handed it to the priest.
Reverend Hannes took the note and nodded after glancing at it. “I’ve sometimes had to receive foreign visitors who come here on the Flatey Book trail,” he said. “I’ve tried to acquaint myself with the history of the manuscript as well as I can and, in the process, formed my own ideas about its history. The theory has been advanced that Jon Finnsson of Flatey inscribed the manuscript with those words that are quoted on the note to dispel any ambiguities regarding heirship. I, on the other hand, believe that he wrote this in the manuscript when he once lent it in Skalholt, quite some time before it was finally handed over to Bishop Brynjolfur. And I’m also sure that Jon Finnsson only intended to lend Brynjolfur the manuscript when he came for a visit in the belief that it would return to him once it had been transcribed and researched. Otherwise, he would have forfeited his ownership by his own hand with some declaration of ownership in the manuscript. A man doesn’t give away an inscribed book without transferring the ownership in writing first. That’s how it worked back then, and that’s how it works now. I explained all this to the professor and copied the text down on that note for him. We actually disagreed on whether the Danes should return the manuscript to Iceland or not. He was very opposed to the idea and was collecting material for a thesis to support his opinion. But I think I managed to get him to listen to my point of view. I believe that Jon Finnsson’s descendants or the Icelandic nation own the Flatey Book by right.”
Kjartan listened to the lecture but was still gnawed by doubt. “But the man must have been missed in Copenhagen. Why wasn’t there a search for him?” he asked.
“That’s what I simply don’t get. He led me to understand that he wanted very little attention on this trip and avoided meeting up with Icelandic colleagues or anyone he knew. These manuscript issues are so sensitive that he wanted to avoid any public debates here. Professor Lund was obviously one of the most prominent opponents on this issue. It’s also possible that no one in Copenhagen knew he was coming out here. He was a bachelor and didn’t contact anyone back in Denmark during his trip here.”
“Did he speak Icelandic?” Kjartan asked.
“Yes, yes. He could understand it quite well, and could read and write OK. But, as with most Danes, his spoken Icelandic was a bit ropey, of course, although he got by just fine.”
“What’s that thing he wanted to solve you just mentioned?” Kjartan asked.
“The Aenigma Flateyensis. It’s a semi kind of crossword. It came with the facsimile version of the Flatey Book that was given to the library on the centenary in 1936. The pages are loose inside the book, and no one is allowed to take them out of the library building or to copy the key that solves it. Every now and then visitors come here and take the test. But no one has succeeded so far. Some of the clues are, of course, very unclear, and the key is incomprehensible.”
“Why was this man trying to solve the enigma?”
Reverend Hannes smiled faintly. “The professor is-or was, should I say-a member of Copenhagen’s Academy of Scholars. They meet once a week at a famous restaurant called Det lille Apotek. The group is divided into two sections. Those who’ve distinguished themselves in the field of humanities and received recognition for it get to sit on the bench by the wall that offers the best view. The others have to sit opposite the wall by the passageway and sometimes get splashed with beer. The professor was going to win himself a better seat by solving the enigma.”
“Did he succeed?”
“I don’t know. He didn’t want to say, and he was very reticent on the subject. Although I suspect he intended to disclose it when he got back to Copenhagen. Who knows? He gave me a copy of his answers, but I don’t know if they fit the key.”
Reverend Hannes opened a drawer in his standing desk, took out a folded sheet of paper, and handed it to Kjartan. “There you go. I think you should keep this.”
Kjartan took the sheet and examined it carefully. The sentences were in Danish and Icelandic, although the handwriting was barely legible.
“I need to call Reykjavik,” Kjartan said, “to find out if the body could be the professor’s. Then you’ll need to look into the casket to confirm that the clothes are the same you saw him in the last time. The body itself is, of course, unrecognizable.”
Reverend Hannes sipped his coffee with trembling hands. “Yes, I suppose I better do that,” he said.
Kjartan continued: “But could it be that he fell overboard off the mail boat and swam to Ketilsey?”
“I would think that highly unlikely. The island is miles from the sailing route.”
“Are there strong currents there?”
“Yes, I’m sure, although I’m no expert on the subject. You need to talk to the seamen about that.”
“When was it he left you again?”
“It was on September fourth. I’ve checked it in my diary. I remember there was some news about the manuscript issue on the radio the same evening he left.”
“Didn’t he have any luggage?”
“He had a small traveling bag, enough for a few days, with a toiletries bag, change of underwear, and that kind of thing. A camera and small binoculars. I seem to remember him saying that his case was in storage in Reykjavik.”
Kjartan picked up the note that lay on the table between them.
“What does this mean on the note: folio 1005?”
“That’s the Flatey Book ’s registration number in the Royal Library in Copenhagen. I remember Lund wrote that on the note I gave him and then stuck it in his pocket.”
Kjartan turned the note around.
“Do you know what these letters on the back of the note stand for?” he asked.
The priest examined the note. “No. He must have written that on the note after he left here. That’s not unlike the series of letters that are supposed to be the key to the Flatey enigma, but he knew he wasn’t allowed to copy the key. And he didn’t go back to the library after I gave him the note.”
Kjartan wrote down: Gaston Lund of Copenhagen, 4 September. “I’m going to the telephone exchange to call the Danish Embassy,” he said and stood up.
Reverend Hannes escorted him to the door, said good-bye, and walked back to his wife in the living room.
“The case is in good hands,” he said. “What I’m dreading the most is having to look at that body in the casket. I always find these things so uncomfortable.”
He looked out the window and gazed into the distance for a long time before saying, “I remember the day Lund left us as if it were yesterday. I walked him to the door and shook his hand. He promised to write to me. Was I suppose to guess that something was up when I never got a letter from him?”
The woman put down her handwork. “Did you ever write to him?” she asked.
“No, I didn’t, in fact. I was more expecting the letter to come from him.”
She reflected a moment. “Maybe he was on his way here on another visit when the Lord took him away?”
The priest shook his head. “I don’t know, but I can still picture him walking down the road with that little case in his hand. He left for the boat with plenty of time to spare because he was going to drop by Doctor Johanna’s to get some seasickness tablets. He was worried about a rough crossing because the weather was getting worse.”
He stared through the window in silence and then muttered to himself: “But how on earth did he end up on Ketilsey?”
“…The medieval lettering used was Latin Carolingian script, which reached Iceland from Norway and England, albeit with a few additions to fulfill the needs of the Norse language. Accents were placed over long vowels, and new letters appeared. The? and? came from English, from which they later disappeared but survived in Icelandic. The writing of the Flatey Book also bears the personal traits of its scribes, Jon and Magnus. Jon wrote most of the first part and Magnus the latter half. And the workmanship reveals more. An unknown person with rather poor handwriting seems to have gripped the pen in four places in the first half of the manuscript, probably when Jon was sharpening his quill, because his handwriting is generally slightly thinner after the unknown handwriting that precedes it. This was no cowshed boy in Vididalstunga who had sneaked in to try his hand at writing. The priest would not have allowed that to happen. It is more likely to have been someone who had some authority over the priest, perhaps even Jon Hakon himself. I think that is quite possible.
“Magnus Thorhallsson’s calligraphy and illuminations in the Flatey Book are among the most beautiful to be found in Icelandic medieval manuscripts. One can assume that this artist was a sought-after scribe and that he made several manuscripts. He was well trained by the time he came to the Flatey Book. However, his workmanship and handwriting can only be found in a few words in two other manuscripts. One can therefore assume that his life’s work has been lost…”