Icelandic legends
The saga of Bárður tells of a settler half man and half troll who, after his feud with Þorkell, withdraws into Snæfellsjökull. At Arnarstapi, the tale lives on in place names, the cliffs, and a modern statue.
Behind Fardagafoss, in eastern Iceland, tradition places a tröllskessa and her golden cauldron: the treasure ends up at Gufufoss, between cave and waterfall.
Among the black lava fields of Mývatn, Dimmuborgir has been adopted as the home of Grýla and the Jólasveinar; the connection is chiefly modern, while the legend took shape between the Middle Ages and the early modern period. ([arnastofnun.is](https://www.arnastofnun.is/is/utgafa-og-gagnasofn/pistlar/nofn-jolasveina))
The tradition of Guðrún Önundardóttir, known as Gunna, brings together debt, resentment, and revenants: at Gunnuhver, her name remains bound to Reykjanes’s most celebrated geothermal field.
At the Hvítserkur sea stack in Vatnsnes, folklore sees a troll who set out from Strandir against the bells of Þingeyrarkirkja and was stopped by the sun.
In the tale collected by Jón Árnason, a worm raised on gold becomes the monster of Lagarfljót; the annals already allude to it in 1345, and East Iceland still binds it to its landscape. ([visindavefur.is](https://www.visindavefur.is/svar.php?id=62704))
In the *Heimskringla*, an envoy of Haraldr Gormsson is driven back by the four landvættir; today, the same guardians remain on the national coat of arms. ([visindavefur.is](https://www.visindavefur.is/svar.php?id=5415&utm_source=openai))
In the legend recorded by Jón Árnason, a tröllkona tries to board a ship at Þórshöfn; the king’s son’s refusal binds her forever to the sea stacks of Reynisfjara, beneath Reynisfjall.
Folklore links Skógafoss to the golden chest of Þrasi Þórólfsson: a late tradition, formed around an early settler and anchored by the ring now kept at Skógasafn. ([skogasafn.is](https://www.skogasafn.is/skogar-museum/artifacts/%C3%BErasis-ring/))
Ásbyrgi’s horseshoe shape gave rise to the legend of Sleipnir’s hoofprint, the horse of Óðinn; yet the canyon is above all the mark of ancient glacial floods. ([vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is](https://www.vatnajokulsthjodgardur.is/svaedi/jokulsargljufur/asbyrgi))
The point of Þórsmörk is not an action saga, but a name: Þórr enters the landscape between Krossá and Markarfljót, and the renewal of the birch woodland has reinforced the valley’s image. ([arnastofnun.is](https://www.arnastofnun.is/is/utgafa-og-gagnasofn/pistlar/ornefni-vid-eyjafjord))
Hafnarfjörður is considered Iceland's capital of the Huldufólk, the 'hidden people'. Thousands of Icelanders still believe that elves and fairies inhabit the town's lava formations.
Selkies are creatures of Norse mythology capable of transforming from seal to human. Iceland's Westfjords hold the oldest legends of these melancholy beings.
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