Once upon a time, there lied a large city, named Galdraborg, in the middle of the ocean that are now the waters of breiðafjörður. From wide and far, people would travel to Galdraborg, for it was known for its healers. The city flourished for a long time and at its peak, two or three new healers were born every year.
No one knew where their power came from, but they could heal with their hands. They could feel were the sickness lied inside the body or the head and they could accelerate the healing of wound significantly enough to save peoples life. The magic of these healers was so strong that it lasted a lifetime.
But as it goes for all things in life, everything born, should once die. And so it happened that the city of Galdraborg slowly started to sank down in the ocean. When the water started claiming the land, the power of the healers started to decline. Not only were they born less often, their magic also started to become less powerful. Multiple healers were needed for severe sickness and after two or three decades of healing, their magic was exhausted and they had to retire.
After a couple hundred of years, Galdraborg was a shadow of what it once was. Most of the magnificent buildings were drowned by the sea and the shores were closing in the land. Now it happened that after 37 years of nothing, the last healer was born. They called her Einrún and in her hands, only enough magic lied for one healing. She grew up to be a tall young woman, with long dark brown hair, waving down her back.
When Einrún reached the age of 24, the last citizens of Galdraborg decided to abandon the city, for it was on the verge of disappearing under the waves. The people packed all of their belongings and assembled on the ships that would take them to the main land, were they could start a new life.
Before she left Galdraborg, Einrún walked up to the shore. Knee-deep in the water, she put her hands into the ocean and gave her healing power to a single cel of seaweed. The people from Galdraborg sailed to their new home and Einrún lived a long and happy normal life.
Thanks to her last magic, a whole forest of seaweed flourished now in Breiðafjörður.
Many years passed by and the city of Galdraborg became a legend of the past. But legend or not, up until today, the people that live at the shores of Breiðafjörður, use the seaweed for healing and rejuvenating. A distant shadow of those golden healing days, but nevertheless one to cherish.
The end.
INSPIRATION
I got the inspiration after visiting Sjávarsmidjan in Reykhólar in the Westfjords of Iceland. Read more about it here.