This is part of my Folklore Friday series, where I am sharing an Icelandic Folklore story every Friday in 2024. 

Katla The Witch

The story today is about how Katla volcano got its name. I’ve seen the name for this folklore as “Katla the Hag”, but I’m not much a fan of that name.

Basically, there was a woman who was known as a witch, and she worked at a monastery here in Iceland. She was housekeeper for an Abbott. An Abbott is basically a person who oversees other monks. Katla was known to be a very angry person. She probably just really needed therapy I think but the fact is that she would often take out her anger on anybody.

Why Katla’s Pants Were Magical

People knew though that she had these magical pants. These magical pants which if someone were to put on, they could run so fast they would be as fast as the wind without losing breath or without getting tired. They were really cool pants but people knew she was never going to share them with anyone due to her anger, so most people steered clear of her.

Even the Abbott, who was her boss, did not like her much but I guess she was really good at her job so they kept her around.  There was a guy named Barði who was a shepherd for the Abbott and it seems that Katla had authority over him or at least she was exerting some authority over him.

Since Barði’s job was to collect the sheep, and make sure that they’re in the shed for her to be able to milk, if one of them was missing she would go berserk.  One day the Abbott and Katla were going away on a short trip and planned to be back the next day. Before leaving, Katla told Barði to have all the sheep in the shed for her when they get back or he will feel her wrath.

A Fatal Mistake

At one point Barði went to find the sheep but he was having a hard time finding all of them. This made him freak out a little because he knew Katla would be very angry if he didn’t get this done.

So, he had the brilliant idea of putting on Katla’s magical pants and ran around to get the sheep. It worked like a charm and he put the pants away before Katla and the Abbott returned.

When Katla returned, she knew immediately that he had worn her pants and her blood was boiling. In a fit of rage, she drowned him in a vat of whey and submerge the body in the bottom, which is disgusting because obviously people are using this whey.

As time went on, the level of the whey in the vat was getting lower which would mean that at some point people were going to see his body. Some people said they often heard Katla say that Barði will soon appear while standing next to the whey.

Why the Volcano is Named Katla

It must’ve been that it got to point where she thought the body is going to surface any time now, so hightailed it out of there to avoid getting in trouble for this. So she put on her pants, and she headed towards Mýrdalsjökull glacier going as fast as possible.

She threw herself into the canyon and everyone assumed that she died in there because it was a volcano that she supposedly fell into. A short time after she threw herself in there was a huge volcanic eruption that caused a massive flood because there is a glacier above the volcano.

Due to this volcanic eruption, the volcano was named after Katla.

Random Fact of the Episode

According to the Icelandic Meteorological Office, “The Katla volcanic system is the fourth most active system in Iceland and has erupted at least 21 times during the last 1100 years”

Icelandic Word of the Episode

Katla – kettle

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Þakka þér kærlega að hlusta og sjáumst fljótlega.