Live forever, or die trying.

There’s a theory that early Europeans started saying “brown one” or “honey-eater” instead of “bear” to avoid summoning them, and similarly my friend has started calling Alexa “the faceless woman” because saying her true name awakens her from her slumber

English has an avoidance register used in the presence of certain respected animals, which sounds fancy until you realize it’s spelling out w-a-l-k and t-r-e-a-t in front of the dog.

All evil whales are, well, evil. So evil that if you speak their name at sea, they will hear it and home in on you. So instead you use all sorts of euphemisms for their names. Also if you try to cook their meat it literally disappears from the pot. That’s right, they’re so evil, you can’t even eat them.

They include such types as the hrosshvalur (horsewhale), with big eyes and a red mane and tail. This is probably the best known and most feared of the lot.

The raudkembingur (redcomb) is especially cruel and bloodthirsty even by illhveli standards. If you manage to escape it, it will die of frustration.

Good luck escaping the mushveli (mousewhale) though, it has legs! And will clamber onto the beach in pursuit!

Or what about death from above? The stökkull (jumper) leaps high into the air and pile-drives boats to pieces.

Meanwhile the skeljungur (shellwhale) sits in the path of boats and lets them get wrecked on its shelly hide…

… while the sverdhvalur (swordwhale) slices through boats with its dorsal fin.

The katthveli (catwhale) is relatively harmless though. It meows.

The same can’t be said of the lyngbakur (heatherback), a classic island fish that lets sailors get on its back and then dives, taking them to a watery grave.

The nauthveli (oxwhale) on the other hand specially targets cattle, attracting them into the sea with its bellow before tearing them apart.

How can you avoid all these murderous whales, like the taumafiskur (bridlefish) here? Any of a number of ways, including getting a steypireydur to help. There are substances, ranging from angelica to sheep dung and chopped fox testicles, that they find abhorrent. And you can distract them with loud noises and barrels.

For more, I assure you this link will answer all your questions.

https://abookofcreatures.com/category/illhveli/

"Why?"

"I was in a relationship for five years and he loved me in all the ways I was supposed to be loved. He had the motivation. The patience, the consistency. I convinced my self that should've been enough, but what I was missing was the fluency.

"He didn't remember things about me the way I remembered things about him. And I know it sounds silly but I'd buy him his favorite mouthwash at CVS because I remembered he liked the taste. I wouldn't cook with oranges because I remembered he hated them. And I didn't realize how much I needed that reciprocated until a year ago when I reconnected with this guy on hinge.

"There was absolutely no foundation for a relationship but after we met he caught me off guard with 'let me make you dinner' and I said, 'just reminding you I'm celiac.' And even though we hadn't spoken in a year he said 'Dont worry. I already got your favorite chickpea pasta.'

"And I just stood there in his kitchen because I have never been in love with this man and he has never been in love with me, but in that moment, I felt strangely seen and loved, because it wasn't just 'oh he remembered I have an allergy.'

"It's that after a year of silence, there were details about me that felt worth holding onto and that felt more intimate than any partner saying 'I love you' to me becuse declarations of love are just words, but remembering is the action of it. Because you can fake loving someone but you cannot fake remembering.

"And most importantly it implies that I think of you in your absence, whether it's convenient or not. Like when you're going about your day and suddenly there thet are. I find you in the mouthwash aisle. I find you in the fruit bowl. I find you in a thousand small choices I make without thinking. Because even though I don't want to, for the rest of my life I will remember my ex hated oranges."

"What was your name?"

"Sophie."