Iceland Tid Bits

Leaving Iceland today. It is such a lovely country, for a place with very few trees. The people I have met are all splendidly friendly and kind and nice to strangers. They all seem to be very happy that you have come to visit their country. They laugh about their language and how hard it is. They gently correct your mistakes when you do try to speak it and make fun of themselves when they mispronounce something in another language.
They love their kids but it's hard to see the kids when the weather is chilly. I've never seen so many children bundled up so much and it's not really even winter yet. The prams and buggies they have the babies in are tight little compartments, think they are waterproof as well. Apparently the thing to do is dress the child, then put the child in some sort of heavy jumpsuit or long coat, then hat and gloves, then wrap in a blanket, then into the pram and tuck another blanket around them, then the pram cover. It must take hours to dress more than one child and then hours to get out of the clothes when they are home for the day.
Heard another volcano story. One man had 100 cows that were killed in an explosion or the gases or something (the man who told me the story didn't speak English very well so it was hard to get some of the details). All that this man could save were the hides. so what do you do with 100 cow hides. You write on them. And supposedly that was the beginning of the epic writings and tales of Iceland.
This same man also told of a young boy with sheep who was out in a field when a fissure opened and lava started spewing out. The boy ran with his sheep up a hill and saved all his sheep. Then he waited on the hill top until he could walk on the lava and leave. I asked how long this would take. The man said could be just hours or days or weeks. I'm a bit too practical in that I'm thinking the boy and sheep would have long perished if they had to wait for weeks but maybe the boy was busy eating sheep to keep alive.
I'm sure there are many more Icelandic tales involving volcanoes and hot springs. wish I had time to hear them. I did buy a troll book. They say there are trolls everywhere. I didn't see any except in the shops. Next time here I must look harder.