2012Christmas Stamps - Sheetlets

The motifs for the 2012 Christmas stamps are based on the story of the Night Troll which is included in the Jón Árnason collection of Icelandic folk tales. The story as told by an old woman from Rangárþing was recorded in the 19th century. According to the story, persons who were responsible for looking after a certain farm in Iceland on Christmas night were either found dead or gone insane. Once a peasant girl offered to stay at home on Christmas night. She sat in the communal sleeping room of the farmhouse singing to the child she was holding. That night a troll came to the window and started reciting verses in praise of the girl’s beauty. She answered immediately, reciting her own verses in return. At sunrise the troll disappeared from the window. The same morning a large rock was found in the farmyard, and it has been there ever since. The girl recounted the happenings of the night and it became clear that a night troll had appeared at the window and turned to stone at the dawn of day.