I want to write a quick post about my inspiration for TheVolk. If you read my website carefully you’ve already found a little paragraph about them and the story behind them.

But today i discovered an article about the hidden people in rekjavik which is so good, that i want to share some of the hard facts. If you want to read the whole article, HERE is the link.

Firstly i want to mention that they are not the same, hidden people and TheVolk, they are like remote relatives to each other, or family from times long gone.

What i found really interesting is the story about how the hidden people actualy came into being. Here goes:

The story finds Adam and Eve at home in their beautiful garden. One day, God comes to visit and asks to meet all the couple’s children. However, Eve had only finished bathing a few of her children, and was embarrassed to show her Creator the dirty ones. So she introduced the clean children and hid the others.

“Are there any children I haven’t met yet?” God asked. Eve said no.

Of course, being omniscient, God knew that he was being tricked and declared, “Those who you hide from me shall also be hidden from men.”

And so, the hidden children became invisible, taking to the hills and moors and rocks. It is from these children that the Hidden People are descended, while humankind is descended from the children whom Eve showed to God. Hidden People can only be seen by human eyes if they want to be.

I like the thought that hidden people are the outcasts, hidden in the shadows.

But not only is it the thought that they are based on religion, the are very nature bound, just like me 🙂 maybe that’s why i like them.

It seems, however, that there is easily more to it than that, particularly given that increasingly, Hidden People and their stories have—as Terry Gunnell wri-tes—“come to represent the old rural world, with its values and close connections to nature.” A respect of nature verging on awe is easily a religion in and of itself in Iceland, where surviving the elements was, for centuries, basically a matter of luck. And then here are these beings who literally live in nature, who dwell and flourish in the rocks and hillsides and barren landscapes where, to this day, people get lost and die. It makes a lot of sense that the mythology behind them still resonates.

And hidden people can be super mean, no doubt. They can be violent, frequently mischievous and the bring harm to people without any obvious reason. But in the end, they respond perfectly to kindness. If you are kind to them, they will repay you in many ways.

They can be changeable and petty, ill tempered and vengeful.

Just like people, come to think of it.

And her is a picture made by a man who knows everything about the hidden people. Brian Froud! When i was fourteen i got his book “fairies” for my birthday and i so much fell in love with his work. I will definitily write a post in the near future about him, because he was so important for me, my work and my way.