Pottasleikir.....Pot-scraper arrived today. He found the big stew pot unattended. He grabbed it and hoisted it outside to have himself a good meal. There in the pot were four pieces of meat. He has not had such luck for many years.


When I was twelve years old we lived next door to my Aunt and Uncle's house. One of my little cousins was a four years old boy, who had a way of testing ones patience. One evening just before Christmas he came over to our house for a visit. My Mother and I were baking cookies and my father was wrapping presents. He was getting in every ones way, snatching a cookie here, playing with the tape, getting hold of the scissors and asking questions over and over. Finally our patience wore thin so we used the Christmas Cat threat, which started with us saying “The Christmas Cat will get you if you are not good” and ending by knocking on any handy wooden surface while he was not looking and saying “That is the Christmas Cat, he is trying to get you”
Why we did all the knocking still amuses me. Did we think the Christmas Cat was so polite, that he would knock? My little cousin told us that there was no Christmas Cat and that we were just teasing him. Finally my Mother asked me to take my cousin back to his house. When we opened the door there was a new fallen snow and there, coming from around the corner of our house right up to the door were cat prints. The little cousin screamed in terror, grabbed my leg and tried to pull me away from the door. Finally after soothing him and hearing promises from him to be good, he agreed to me carrying him back to his house. Last time I was in Iceland he told me how grateful he was, that I had saved him from the Christmas Cat, when he was little.