Burial Rites

“directthis murderess the way of truth and repentance” through the “apply[ing] theLord’s whip to her”

We are all God's children [...] this woman is my sister in Jesus

an excellent intellect and a string understanding of christainity

I turned my face upward as if in prayer.

"people did not see me. I was two dead men"

"cruel birds, ravens, but wise. And creatures should be loved for their wisdom if they cannot be loved for kindness"

I do not like to share my home with the devils children

Are you a man of traditions? If they are noble and christian

too young and sweet to die

"being a man of economic mindfulness had allowed the mural to be painted over"

evidence of the Devil: harelip, a snaggle tooth, birthmark; some small outer defect "

"good is not a word I think many choose for Natan and Petur"

"But they were good [..] noble icelanders"

"I prefer a story to a prayer"

"books written by man, not God, are faithless friends and not for your kind"

"put it under your tongue and you will be able to talk to birds"

"We ought to begin with a prayer"

"i haven't met many churchmen i care for"

"god has had his chance to free me, and for reasons known to him alone, he has pinned me to ill fortune

'

"all those lofty words had fallen flat"

"Dont disgrace yourself boy"

"before returing to his scripture"

"bastard pauper with a conniving spirit"

"the valley is small and she had a reputation for a sharp tongue and loose skirts"

"As though a prayer could simply pluck a sin out. But any woman knows that a thread, once woven, is fixed in place"

"natan did not believe in sin"

"He built his church from wives’ tales and the secret language of weather "

I don't have any family. My mother left me when I was six

Sometimes people never stood a chance from the beginning

No matter how much you try to live a godly life , if you make a mistake in this valley it is never forgotten

She did what a number of women do harmlessly in secret - agnes

a loose woman - ingibjorg

" Rafnsdottir" "no doves come from ravens eggs"

"a thinking woman cannot be trusted"

" they say they're carrying out God's law, but they're only doing the will of men"

"try to love god [.] but i cannot love these men"

roar of the servants from becoming more than a mild disturbance"

" she struck me as especially godless during the trial"

" the stern voice of a priest delivering the threat of brinstone"

" I am not a cruel man but I am god-fearing"

"You mean to make an example of her"

"i mean to deliver god's justice here on earth"

"has stenia ever had to decide whether to let the farmer up under her skirts and face the wrath of his wife [...], or to deny him and find herself homeless in the snow and fog"

"We met in a dream" "I was dropped into the earth, buried in silence and it was unbearable"

"I would be lying if I said I wasn't frightened by what I did not know. But we have God"

"go to hell for leaving two children to the mercy of the parish, which was no kind of mercy at all"

"Do these dumb animals know their fate? I have been in the killing pen for months"

" everyone in the valley gives us strange looks"

gave toti his New Testament. "you forgot this"

"in those early visits it was as though we were building something scared"

" I don't believe in heaven"

"It's a lie. Man has created God out of fear of dying"

"Agnes Jonsdottir. she sounds like the woman I should have been [..] born into a blessed marriage. Born into a family that would not be ripped apart by poverty. She would have been assured a place in heaven. She would have believed in heaven"

" I make him doubt his belief in a loving Lord"

She is not worth the time you give her

And what of the Son of God? Did he die only for the righteous?

You are not the Son of God

"you will be gone and the wind will still be there"

"does not care whether you are alive or dead"

"only the wind speaks and it will not talk sense"

" you will be lost. There is no final home, there is no burial, there is only a constant scattering, a thwarted journey [..] for there is no home, there is only this cold island"

"Toti I dont think I'm ready"

" The woman looked at the blank sky"