Iceland’s Skaftafell Hotel Hard by Svinafell

It was August 2001. I was spending a couple of nights at the Skaftafell Hotel in Svinafell pictured above. While I was eating dinner in the hotel’s restaurant, I was bothered by a rowdy crew of Americans who were yucking it up at a nearby table. When the leader of the crew stepped out to the restroom, the remaining members started talking about him.

Apparently, the missing partyer was none other than Charles H. Keating, Jr., described by Wikipedia as “an American sportsman, lawyer, real estate developer, banker, financier, conservative activist, and convicted felon best known for his role in the savings and loan of the late 1980s.”

When he returned to the table, he saw that I was looking somewhat disgruntled. To make up for the noise his party was making, he invited me to join them and pay for my meal. I respectfully declined, not wanting to associate myself with someone who was a real estate developer, crooked banker, and worse.

The group was traveling around Iceland in a guided minibus tour of the country.

Charles H. Keating, Jr. (1923-2014)

As a saw the white minibus drive away with its noisy contingent, I though back to the one mention of Svinafell in The Njáls Saga. According to Medievalists.Net:

One of the most prominent sexual insults is when Skarpheðin calls Flosi the bride of the troll of Svinafell, this implies that he is used sexually by the troll. This insult is a form of nið, an insult intended to imply that the object is ragr, a passive homosexual or is used in this way by a man, animal or supernatural creature.

Having followed the saga of Lincoln Savings & Loan in the press, I thought he would make a good partner for the Svinafell Troll. Since he is no longer among the living, that is quite possibly what he is doing now.