Two married women argued about which of their husbands was the bigger fool. Finally, they decided to test their husbands to see if they were as foolish as they seemed.
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This episode is part of my Folklore Friday series where I am sharing an Icelandic folklore story every Friday in 2024.
The First Wife sets up the Trick for her Husband
One woman played a trick on her husband. When he came home from work, she took a spinning wheel and carders, sat down, and started to card and spin, even though there was no wool in her hands. Her husband noticed this and asked if she was crazy to scrape the teasels together and spin the wheel without any wool.
He asked her to explain what she was doing. She said that it was no surprise that he couldn’t see what she was doing because she was making a very fine linen that was too thin to be seen with the eye. She told him she was going to make him clothes from this invisible linen.
Her husband thought this was a brilliant explanation. He was amazed by his wife’s cleverness and looked forward to the joy and pride he would feel when he wore these amazing clothes.
When his wife had spun enough “wool” for the clothes, she set up the loom and wove the invisible fabric.
Her husband visited her from time to time, marveling at her skill. She was amused and quickly finished the trick. She took the invisible cloth off the loom, washed and dried it, and then sat down to cut and sew the clothes.
The Most Invisible Clothes in the World
When she finished, she told her husband to come and try on the clothes. However, she didn’t let him put them on alone. She pretended to help him dress, but in reality, he was completely naked. He was so sure that his wife had made him these wonderful invisible clothes that he didn’t realize he was actually naked. He was so happy with his “new clothes” that he couldn’t stop jumping around with joy.
The Other Wife's Trick:
When her husband returned home from work, his wife asked him why he was walking around looking so upset. Startled, he asked her why she would even think that. She insisted he looked upset and told him he was very ill and should go to bed immediately. He believed her and went to bed.
After a while, his wife told him she was going to perform the last rites for him. He begged her not to, but she insisted, saying, “Why are you acting like a fool? Don’t you know you died this morning? I’m going to have them make your coffin right now.” The poor man, believing this to be true, stayed in bed until the coffin was ready.
A Fake Funeral Interrupted
His wife hired six men to carry the coffin and invited the other couple to attend the funeral. She even had a window cut into the side of the coffin so her husband could watch what was happening.
The friend and neighbor of the supposedly deceased, who had on invisible clothes for the funeral, expected everyone to admire his “delicate clothes” (which were actually his naked body) as he arrived. Instead, the coffin-bearers, though sad, couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of him completely naked. When he saw them laughing, he cried out, “I would be laughing too if I wasn’t dead!”
The funeral was canceled, and they took him out of the coffin.
The consequences:
It was eventually discovered that both wives had tricked their husbands. As punishment, they were publicly whipped in the parish court.
Random Fact of the Episode
I did a hilarious prank on TikTok a few years ago for April Fools Day that was harmless but worked pretty well. I said that the Icelandic government decided to make English an official language. Surprisingly, even some Icelanders thought it was true and were shocked to hear the news until they realized that I was joking.
Icelandic Word of the Episode
Hrekkur – prank
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