Re: Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

From: Brian M. Scott
Message: 11103
Date: 2010-05-27

At 9:56:17 PM on Wednesday, May 26, 2010, rob13567 wrote:

> Following up regarding:

> Og litlu síðar er Jórunn gekk að sofa togaði Melkorka af
> henni og lagði skóklæðin á gólfið.

> I mistranslated part of this, and I see now that the text
> is talking about "when Jorunn went to sleep." However, is
> it a good guess that this means something more like "when
> Jorunn went to go to sleep." In other words, Jorunn wasn't
> actually sleeping when the footwear was removed, was she?

No. As I read it, Melkorka was at that point acting as a
sort of lady's maid to Jórunn, helping her get undressed for
bed. Although it's literally 'went to sleep', I rather
think that the idiomatic English translation would be 'went
to bed'.

> Second question: Is there something that Melkorka does in
> putting the shoe on the floor that makes Jorunn pick up
> the stockings and beat her about the head?

If so, it's not apparent to me.

> The real issue is, of course, Hoskuld's actions, but what
> was the immediate trigger?

Possibly that discovery that Melkorka was not in fact deaf
and dumb, combined with the fact that Melkorka was right
there at hand.

Brian

Previous in thread: 11102
Previous message: 11102
Next message: 11104

Contemporaneous posts     Posts in thread     all posts