Iceland

冰島

Icelandic children were once told to behave or they would be eaten by a pair of ogres that lived up in the hills. The characters were considered to be so terrifying that a public decree banned the use of these stories to scare children into behaving.

冰島的孩子們曾經被告知，如果表現不好就會被住在山上的食人魔夫婦吃掉。由于“食人魔”形象太過恐怖，冰島頒布了一項公開法令，禁止用這個故事來嚇唬不聽話的小孩子。

Instead of talking about the ogre couple, parents instead started telling stories of the ogre’s children, the Jolasveinar, who are bad, but not nearly as evil as their parents. Jolasveinars were originally said to play tricks on people and steal food, but now they are responsible for giving gifts to children. Bad children don’t get presents though, they get potatoes or other items that remind them that they weren’t forgotten, but don’t deserve real presents.

父母們不再講食人魔夫婦，轉而講他們倆的孩子（Jolasveinar）。食人魔小孩很壞，但不像他的爸媽那樣邪惡。據說食人魔小孩經常捉弄人們，還偷食物。但他們現在負責給孩子們發禮物。壞孩子們雖然得不到禮物，但他們得到土豆或者其他物品，這是用來告訴他們，他們沒被遺忘，但不值得得到真正的禮物。