Re: Waiting for the Other Shoe to Drop

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