Some translations-
gagnslaus- Icelandic for "useless"
liten- Norwegian for "tiny" or little
Ja/Já- Norwegian/Icelandic for "yes"
Hallo- Norwegian for "hello" (no, it was not a typo)
Enjoy the story!
What's your name?
Once upon a time, a long time time ago, there was an island that was completely separated from the rest of the world by the sea. The island was full of stunning scenes of nature- beautiful forests, majestic glaciers and formidable volcanoes. The island also had many animals who lived their lives there.
But among the wild animals lived a small child, a boy with strange, ashen colored hair. He lived with a flock of puffins, and happily stayed with them, eating the fish they caught and swimming in the water- completely unaware that he was the only one of his kind there, and unaware that there were others like him.
"Norway? Norway? Noooorway?" The Viking ship rattled with the sound of heavy footsteps of someone coming onto the deck. The other Viking who was standing on the ship turned around to face his comrade.
"Ja, Denmark?" he asked.
"Are we there yet, Nor? Please tell me we're there 'cause if we're not-"
"See for yourself, Denmark," The Norwegian said with a hint of annoyance. Denmark looked around the shore of the island, and grinned.
"Cool! Are we going to look around yet?"
Norway shook his head. "No."
"Why not?" Denmark tilted his head.
"I'm going by myself," Norway said tersely.
"What?!" Denmark's eyes widened. "No way! I'm coming with you!"
"I said no," Norway said in a tone that closed off any argument.
"But what am I gonna do here while yer gone? It'll be boring without ya!"
"Don't worry," Norway said, picking up his shield and hammer. "The troll can keep you company."
"But-" Denmark squeaked. Then he glanced over at Norway's troll. Denmark shut his mouth immediately. "Fine."
"Good," Norway nodded, then exited the ship.
Norway looked around the island. The temperature was cold, but it was nothing the Scandinavian wasn't used to. It didn't take him long to figure out the island was uninhabited. Guess I won't have to pillage anything, Norway thought. Looking around, Norway's attention was caught by a multiple figures on the top of a tall mountain. Seeing nothing better to do, Norway decided to climb and see what was up there.
Norway stopped near the top of the mountain, taking a moment to pause for a breath. He could see that the figures were still there at the top of the mountain, but what the figures were genuinely surprised him. A small boy was playing with a flock of birds- puffins. Norway was surprised, there was no one else on this island as far as he knew except for this boy. His hair was also a strange color, it looked almost silver. Deciding what he should do, Norway approached the child. "Hallo, what's your name?"
The child turned around, and his flock of puffins followed. He didn't say anything, he simply gaped at the sight of Norway like it was first time he had seen another human. For all Norway knew, it could have been.
"Yah!" The child darted forward, swiftly kicked Norway in the leg, then dashed away.
"Agh! What the-?" Norway stopped short, realizing the child was running away from him. Norway grit his teeth and took off running after the kid. For his size, the child was very fast. Norway was glad Denmark was still on the ship now, the sight of the most brutal Viking in the land chasing after a toddler was not a sight he needed anyone to see. Norway started to gain on the kid, causing the one being pursued to gasp in fear. "I'm not going to hurt you!" Norway yelled. "I just want to know your name!" However, the child did not stop, instead he flapped his arms like he wanted to fly like his flock of puffins.
As if on cue, the puffins began to fly toward Norway and fly all around him and peck him painfully on the head. "This is ridiculous," Norway growled. He stopped closed his eyes, and focused his concentration on the puffins. Using his magic, Norway managed to make the puffins temporarily disappear. The kid stopped running and looked around, horrified.
"What did you do?" he asked Norway accusingly. "I just made your friends go away. They'll come back soon," Norway tried to sound comforting, or at least not intimidating, but he somehow doubted he was doing a good job.
"I want them back now! Make them come back!" The child ordered, folding his arms and pouting.
"You don't make demands of me, liten," Norway said. "All I wanted you to do was answer a question. What is your name?"
The boy swallowed. He seemed to have realized he was the weaker one, and shrank a little under Norway's glare. Good. He knew his place now. "Um..." The boy looked around like he was searching for a puffin to fly out of the sky and give him an answer. "What's a name?" he asked.
"A name is..." Norway had to pause and think about how to explain it. "Well, it's something you call someone else. Did your puffins call you something."
"Oh!" The kid exclaimed, realizing something. "They call me gagnslaus because I can't catch fish on my own! But I don't like that...name."
"We can come up with something else," Norway suggested. No one should have to have a name like that, those puffins were evil.
"Do want to show me around this place? I've never been here before," Norway asked politely.
"Já!" The boy nodded. "I'll show you!" The two of them walked down the mountain and had a surprisingly good time wandering along. The child enjoyed telling his new companion about the animals and what all of the plants were called. "I guess I have been naming things all along!" he said cheerfully. "Just not me."
"Just not you, huh?" Norway repeated.
"Look!" the kid ran ahead of Norway, and he once again ran to catch up with him. Up ahead was an enormous glacier. The kid, as though he had seen this many times simply broke off a piece of ice with his hands and began to suck on it. Norway had an idea.
"Hey, how about I call you Iceland? That can be your name."
"Okay!" Iceland said, smiling.
Right then, Norway's spell wore off. Norway had to give credit to those birds for their timing. The flock of puffins reappeared and resumed attacking Norway. "Iceland?" Norway yelled. "Could you make them stop?" Iceland made a loud squawking noise. The puffins stopped what the were doing and resumed what they were doing as if nothing happened.
Norway decided he didn't like puffins.
Iceland bent down and picked up a small puffin chick. "Does that one have a name?" he asked.
"Not yet," Iceland said, looking at the chick. "You're the kind of puffin that doesn't lay eggs," he said, addressing the chick.
"A boy?" Norway questioned.
"Is that his name?" Iceland tilted his head.
"Ah, no," Norway said hastily.
Iceland turned back to the puffin. "Your name can be...Mr. Puffy!" Iceland said happily. The puffin chick turned his head towards Norway and have him a look that said I swear, if you let him call me that, I'll kill you.
"Uh, how about Mr. Puffin?" Norway suggested. Iceland paused and thought.
"Perfect!"
"Alright," Norway said, relieved that the baby puffin didn't look like it wanted to kill him anymore. "You know, if you wanted, you could come with me. There are more people like you that you could meet."
Iceland looked surprised. "Really?"
"Ja," Norway nodded.
"I'll come!" Iceland replied.
"Great," Norway said. They began to walk back to the ship.
"If Mr. Puffin can come, too." Norway stopped dead in his tracks. No way was that demonic thing coming with him, they had enough mouths to feed.
"I don't think-" Norway stopped. Iceland was staring at him, with a terrifying expression for a small child. Norway sighed. "Fine."
Norway told Iceland about things he did and what his home was like. Iceland listened carefully. "I forgot," Iceland said once they were nearly at the ship. "What's your name?"
"My name is Norway. But you, Iceland can call me something else." "What?" Iceland asked. "You can call me Big Brother," Norway said, grinning. "Alright!" Iceland agreed.
"Is that a boat, Big Brother?"
"Ja," Norway said. "Go ahead." Iceland ascended into the boat nervously.
"Hey, Norway!" Denmark stood up, looking thrilled that Norway was back.
"Are you Denmark?" Iceland spoke up. Denmark looked at Iceland.
"I sure am!" Denmark said, with his trademark grin.
"Big Brother told me about you!" Iceland said excitedly.
"Oh, he did?" Denmark asked, glancing at Norway, who was watching.
"Já!" Iceland exclaimed. "He says you're cute when you're stupid!" Iceland beamed.
Norway couldn't decide whether to hit Iceland or Denmark with his hammer first.