Kópakonan Traditional Cache

FO: á bakkanum í Mikladali við útsýni yvir standmyndina av Kópakonuni á Stórakneysa

EN: at the steep coastline of Mikladalur. Walk a few steps down to get view of the shore and the statue of the Sealwoman

Kópakonan

In english at bottom
Søgnin um kópakonuna í Mikladali hevur livað á manna munni, til V. U. Hammershaimb festi hana á blað og gav hana út í savninum Færøsk Anthologi, bd. 1, 1891.
Í stuttum sigur søgnin, at ein ungur drongur á Sunnanágarði í Mikladali hevði frætt, at kópar komu á helluna at dansa á trettandu nátt. Hann leitaði sær oman at hyggja, og sá tá eina so ómetaliga vakra gentu lata seg úr haminum. Meðan tey dansa tekur hann kópahamin, og tá lýsir fyri degi, og kóparnir skulu aftur á sjógv, finnur hon ikki ham sín. At enda finnur hon hamin hjá mikladalsdronginum, sum ikki vil geva henni hamin aftur. Sostatt noyðist hon at fylgja honum til bygdar og gerst kona hansara. Hamin goymdi hann í eini læstari kistu, og lykilin hevði hann altíð hjá sær. Tey fingu so nøkur børn saman, sum árini gingu. Ein dag á útróðri varnast maðurin, at hann hevur gloymt lykilin eftir við hús og rópar tá: “Í dag verði eg konuleysur!” Teir skunda sær til lands, men tá er konan horvin. Hon hevði sløkt eldin á grúgvuni og goymt alt hvast burtur, so børnini ikki skuldu fáa skaða, meðan tey vóru einsamøll, og tá maðurin kom, sótu tey kvirr eftir. Tá hon varnaðist lykilin og fann húðina, kundi hon ikki halda sær longur. Haðani kemur orðatakið: “Kann ikki ráða sær heldur enn kópur, táið hann sær húðina.”
So leið tíðin og nøkur ár eftir hetta ætla mikladalsmenn at fara á kópaveiði. Náttina frammanundan kom kópakonan í dreymi til mannin og bað teir ikki drepa brymilin, ið stóð frammanfyri látrinum og teir báðar kobbahvølparnar, ið lógu innast í látrinum – teir vóru maki og synir hennara. Hetta virdi bóndin tó ikki, og fyri tað lovaði kópakonan hevnd: at so mangir skuldu sjólátast ella detta oman í bjørgunum, at teir skuldu kunna halda hvør annan í hond og fevna um alla Kalsoynna.
Søgnin um kópakonuna er ferðasøgn, sum eisini er kend í Skálavík eins og í øðrum londum.
1. august 2014 varð standmyndin av kópakonuni á Stórakneysa í Mikladali avdúkað. Tað er Hans Pauli Olsen, listamaður, ið hevur gjørt standmyndina. Tað var arbeiðsbólkur handan tiltakið “Sjómannadagur” í Klaksvík, ið tók stig til og stóð fyri at fáa standmyndina gjørda. Sami bólkur hevur eisini staðið fyri at fáa gjørt nakrar standmyndir í Klaksvík, m.a. húkin í rundkoyringini við Borðoyavík.

English: Seal-woman
The folk-tale of the seal-woman in Mikladalur has been told for generations, and  in 1891 the faroese priest and folklorist V. U. Hammershaimb had it published in his “Færøsk Anthologi, I”
In short the tale tells, that a young boy in “Sunnanágarður” (the farm south of the river), had heard, that on the night of 6. January each year the seals entered the shore of Mikladalur and undressed ther sealskin, then dancing like humans on the shore. The boy went to the shore and saw a beautifyl girl undress the sealskin. As they were dancing, he took her sealskin. At daybreak the seals dressed their sealskin and went back to the sea. The girl however could not find her skin, and at last, she found the boy with the skin. He would not give her the skin, and thus she had to follow him to the village. They lived as a couple for some years and had children. The skin was locked down in a locker and the man kept always the key. One day the man was out fishing, he suddenly was aware that he had forgotten the key at home. He then cried: “Today I loose my wife”. They hurried back to land finding the children sitting quiet, the woman had left, but hat extinguished the fireplace and kept all knives out of reach before she left, so the children should be safe. When she had found the key and then saw the sealskin, she could not help but took it. From this event derives the Faroese proverb: “Can not control you more than a seal finding his sealskin.”
Some years later men from Mikladalur planned seal hunting. The night before the seal-woman spoke to her previus husband in dreams telling him to spare the old seal at the entrance of the cave and the two young seals at the bottom of the cave – they were her spouse and her sons. The man did not listen, and afterwards the seal woman swore revenge: so many men from Mikladalur should be lost at sea or fell from the bird cliffs that they could hold each other’s hands reaching all the way round Kalsoy.
The folktale of the sealwoman is known in Skálavík in Sandoy too as well as in other countries.
1. August 2014 the statue of the sealwoman was unweiled at the shore in Mikladalur. The famous Faroese artist, Hans Pauli Olsen, has made the statue. It was a working group behind the event “Fishermans day” in Klaksvík which has arranged the projekt. The same group has arranged some statues in Klaksvík, including the “Fishing hook” in the roundabout at Borðoyavík, near the tunnel entrance in Klaksvík.