Four guardians protect the people of Iceland. Icelanders carry lucky charms with symbols of the guardians with them daily. In the form of their local coins! Here is the story how I understand it: -An old story embodied in The Seal of Iceland- The four Guardians of Iceland, one for each quarter of the country, are described in an old tale telling of a magician who was sent by King Harold Gormsson of Denmark to investigate the country prior to invasion. King Harold Gormsson of Denmark got the news that the Earl Hakon had reversed from Christianity and was plundering all over the kingdom. One icelandic ship had been been stranded there and was plundered as well. The King of Denmark sent his army to Norway where Hakon had his army. He attacked the army and burned down five farms. Hakon's army retreated far away. Upon returning from battle, King Gormsson was told that the people of Iceland had said rotten things about him because of what had happened with their ship. Because of these ugly things the Icelanders had said, King Harald wanted to sail his army to Iceland and take revenge. He first had to learn the best way to defeat them, so The King summoned a magician and told him to travel to Iceland in disguise and spy. The magician swam to Iceland in the form of a whale, and when he reached the country he saw that all hills, mountains and valleys were full of many spirits, large and small. He first came to Vopnafjörður (Fjord of Weapons) on the East coast and swam in. As he attempted to go ashore, a huge dragon approached him from the mountains with a train of serpents, insects and toads breathing poison over him. In fear, he fled and went north to Eyjafjörður (Fjord of Isles) and swam in as before. As he attempted to go ashore, a giant falcon, with wings so big that it covered most of the fjord flew at him. And behind the falcon came many other birds, big and small. So he retreated and approached from the west and came to Breiðafjörður (Wide Fjord). A large bull came towards him there, waded into the sea and began to bellow menacingly. A band of land spirits followed it. He went from there and south of Reykjanes (Smoke Peninsula) and wanted to take to land at Víkarsskeið (The Sands of Vikar),but was approached by a huge rock giant whose head was higher than the mountains and carried a large iron staff. He was accompanied by a gang of other giants. The magician then went east along the south coast, where he could find no landing places. Giving up, he returned home and told The King of Denmark about his disastrous journey. The King gave up making revenge for the nasty comments the Icelanders had made about him. And so, the King of the Danes intentions came to naught due to the Guardian Spirits of Iceland efforts. The Seal of Iceland, The Dragon represents the Eastern part, the Bird the Northern part, the Bull represents the Western part and the Rock Giant the Southern part.
Thanks KidRomeo and very nice coin Silvereargle. Aslanmia, it was not totally thier fault. Other governments had a hand in it as well as our mortgage crisis. Can't remember exactly, but I think it had to do with leases on electricity and being backed by something that ended up being involved with our bad mortgages.
If I'm not mistaken, things feel apart in Iceland a few weeks before the big collapse in the US. I can remember at the time thinking it was an isolated incident, and not a foreshadowing of things to come.
