Four men were busy one day, digging a grave. Some say that it was at the Reykholar churchyard. They were all in good spirits, but one of them was the most spirited of all.
When the grave became deeper, there appeared a number of human bones. Among them was a thighbone that had belonged to gigantically large man. The most spirited man took the bone, looked at it carefully and then placed it next to his own thigh. As the tale goes, the bone reached from the sole of his boot to his hip, even though he was a good-sized man.
While measuring, he is to have joked, “It wouldn’t be wrong to say that this fellow was a good wrestler, and it would be fun to have him as a guest whenever I get married.” The others agreed with him but said nothing further. The joker then put the thighbone back with the others.
First after five years, it is told that this same man became engaged to a maid, and the second announcement of marriage had been made. It was learned that the bride dreamt three nights in a row that a horribly big man came into her bed. He asked her if her groom thought about what he once said two years earlier in jest to him. On the last night, she dreamt that he also said they would not escape from what he had said then – that he would be a guest at the wedding feast. The maid did not answer, but her dream was so sinister and frightening when she saw how big the man was.
Only after the third night of dreaming did she tell her groom about the dream. That morning, she told him, “Who did you think of inviting to our wedding, my dear?”
“I really don’t know, my love,” he answered, “I haven’t really given it any thought; I first wanted to complete the customary three announcements.”
“So, until now you have not invited anyone?” she asked. He answered that as far as he could remember, he had invited no one. Still, he began to think about it because it seemed strange to him that she was so eager when asking him. After thinking about it, he said that he had not invited anyone; nonetheless, a couple of years past he had made a joke about the thighbone of a dead man dug from a grave, saying that it would probably be fun to have such a huge man as guest at his wedding. But that no one could suggest that he had invited anyone.
But his bride became serious, saying such a joke was not appropriate, most of all over the bones of the departed. “So now I can tell you that he about whom you made your fun now seriously intends to appear as a guest at your wedding!” With that, she then related her dreams, including the threat that the man had made in her last dream. This upset her groom greatly and he agreed that was quite right saying that it would have been better when he had held his tongue with such a joke.
He went to bed that evening as always. During the night it appeared to him as though he saw a hugely big man resembling a giant with an unfriendly and brusque manner come to him and ask if he was now willing to honor the promise he had given five years earlier; namely, to have him as a guest at his wedding.
The groom was very upset and answered that it probably must be honored. The ghost said that he could not change matters, whether he liked it or not, that it would be pointless for him to busy himself with his bones and it would serve the groom right if he got a taste of what it was like. The ghost then departed from his dream and the groom slept until the next morning.
He told his bride of his dream, and asked her what she thought he should do. She said that he should arrange for builders and enough wood to be brought, and quickly to have a house built that would fit the man who had visited them in their dreams. The house had to be large enough for him to stand up in. The inside walls must be as long as the height to the roof rafters.
The walls should then be hung with decorative covers as one does with a wedding hall. The guest’s table must be covered with a white cloth. Consecrated earth must be placed on a platter and he must be served a bottle of water; he will not eat anything else. A chair must be set before the table, and a bed must be provided in case he has the desire to rest. Finally, three candles must be placed on the table.
The groom must lead the guest into the house, being careful to go before him but above all never to be with him under the same roof. He must also avoid accepting any invitation from the man, should it be offered. The groom must talk with the man as little as possible. He should leave the man after offering the prepared meal to him, being sure to close the door behind him. So the groom did exactly as his bride had stated. He had a freestanding house of the right size built and furnished it as she had told him.
The wedding day came and the wedding was done in the usual manner. Everyone took their places at the table, and as darkness came, everyone again stood up from the table without anything unusual occurring. Some of the guests then went into the wedding hall and walked back and forth while others sat by their beakers and talked. The bride and groom sat quietly, as was the custom.
Then, there came a sudden hard knocking at the door, but no one had the courage to open it. The bride tugged softly on her groom’s arm, whose face looked as pale as death. A short time passed and again came the knock at the door, this time much harder than before. The bride took her groom by the hand and led him, even though he pulled against her, to the door and opened it.
There stood a horribly large man who said that he had now come as a wedding guest. The bride pushed her groom softly out of the wedding hall so that he could receive the man. She then closed the hall door again, asking God to give him strength.
The story goes on to say that the groom escorted the huge guest to the house that had been prepared for him, directing the guest into the house. The guest asked the groom to enter first, but the groom refused. The end then happened that the huge stranger entered the house first. He then told the groom that from this moment, on, he should never touch the bones of a dead man.
The groom acted as though he heard nothing the stranger said, and instead offered the prepared meal on the platter to the guest for his satisfaction although not thinking it unseemly if he did not remain with the guest. The guest asked the groom to come inside for only a moment, but the groom refused. The ghost then said, “Since you have no time to remain with me here or to come inside, I hope that you will give me the pleasure of being my guest in return.”
But the groom refused the invitation flatly, left and closed the door soundly. He then returned to the wedding hall where he found that things were somewhat quiet, since everyone had become somber from the events that had just occurred. Only the bride sat there with a cheerful demeanor. The guests then drifted off home, one after the other. The bridal couple then went to bed and slept until morning.
The next morning, the groom wanted to look in on the guest who had come the night before. But the bride said that he should not make a step toward there unless she was with him. So the pair went toward the guest’s house, she going first, and they opened the door.
Inside, they found no trace of the guest. The bottle of water was empty and the earth that was on the platter was scattered over the floor. “I thought this might happen,” said the bride. “If you had gone ahead of me and if you had stepped on this earth, you would have fallen under the power of the ghost and would never have been able to come back to this world. But it does me no harm to walk here, so I will sweep and clean the house.”
Others tell that when it was ready to leave, the ghost went to the door either of the wedding hall or of the couple’s bedroom and sang:
“My thanks you have not earned
for the feast upon the table;
My drink was water fresh,
My meal but earth and clay”
From that day, on, the ghost never again visited them, and they lived long together in love and happiness.