In these uncertain times perhaps you have considered going back to school.
How about Iceland’s Elf School?
With a syllabus, classrooms, textbooks, diplomas, and ongoing research, Álfaskólinn (Elf School) teaches about elves, hidden people, light-fairies, dwarfs, gnomes, and mountain spirits. There are many variations: 13 types of elves, 3 kinds of hidden people (including the Blue People), 4 varieties of gnomes, 2 forms of trolls, and 3 types of fairies. You will also learn how to discern one from another.
For example, Icelandic elves have chicken-thin legs, floppy ears, and shaggy hair. Contrary to mythology they don’t wear pointed hats or shoes.
Icelandic dwarves, on the other hand, have a penchant for pointy hats and shoes as well as long cloaks, and sometimes even a beard.
Magnus Skarphedinsson is the head of The Icelandic Elf School. Despite Magnus never having a personal encounter with an elf, hidden person, or fairy, he has spent years recording the statements of others who have.
According to Magnus, while only 4% of Americans believe in hidden people, 54% of Icelanders do. And 90% of the population “takes notice” of this community, which is said to number anywhere from 7000 to 20,000.
Not long ago there was an incident between the Public Roads Administration and a rock on the side of the road outside Reykjavik, a locale said to be owned by dwarfs. A multi-lane highway construction was delayed while the rock was moved out of the construction zone.
No doubt the move saved significant expense as other road projects that have threatened hidden people’s homes have met with baffling equipment breakdowns and even illness and injuries to workers. Soon-to-be-homeless hidden folk have been known to resort to sabotage.
Could a diploma from Elf School secure you employment as a lobbyist for the wee furies?
Financial advisor Suze Orman says unless you have abundant disposable income, Elf School should not be thought of as a good investment.
Posted by Christina Oxenberg on November 07, 2009