Monday 9 March 2009

Icelandic Fairy Story

I do love a good fairy story, especially when it is true.

From Iceland (via Vanity Fair magazine)

"Alcoa, the biggest aluminum company in the country, encountered two problems peculiar to Iceland when, in 2004, it set about erecting its giant smelting plant.

The first was the so-called “hidden people” — or, to put it more plainly, elves — in whom some large number of Icelanders, steeped long and thoroughly in their rich folkloric culture, sincerely believe.

Before Alcoa could build its smelter it had to defer to a government expert to scour the enclosed plant site and certify that no elves were on or under it.

It was a delicate corporate situation, an Alcoa spokesman said, because they had to pay hard cash to declare the site elf-free but, as he put it, “we couldn’t as a company be in a position of acknowledging the existence of hidden people.” "

sneezy

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love this story. I'm even fascinated by the idea of a government which employs a task force charged with protecting the health and well-being of hidden people.

Erica said...

you have to wonder about the criteria involved, what do they look for?

I remember another story from Scotland about a developer wanting to move a huge rock and the locals being worried about disturbing the fairies, I'll have a look for that story ....

Jackie said...

Hah! Thanks for that.I enjoyed it.

Erica said...

thanks Jackie

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