pass, a general district meeting was called to discuss the situation
and decide what should be done. Brandur's son-in-law Jon was made
chairman of the meeting.

During the discussion it was brought to light that many of the
flocks would die of hunger unless 'God Almighty vouchsafed a turn in
the weather very soon', or Old Brandur could be induced to part with
his old hay. That stack would help, if properly divided among those
who were in greatest need. The quantity of hay it contained was
estimated, and the general opinion expressed that, if it were
divided, the flocks of every farmer in the district could be fed for
at least two weeks, even if they could not in that time be put out
to pasture.

Jon being chairman of the District Council, as well as Brandur's
son-in-law, it fell to his lot to go to the old man and ask for the
hay.

So it came about that, on his way home from the meeting, Jon stopped
at Holl. The day was cold and clear, the afternoon sun shining down
upon the snow-covered landscape. The icy blanket turned back the
rays of warmth as if it would have nothing to do with the sun. But
wherever rocks and gravelly banks protruded, the ice appeared to be
peeled off, for in those spots the sun's rays had melted it, though
only at mid-day and on the south. All streams and waterfalls
slumbered in silence under the snowy blanket. A chill silence
reigned over the whole valley. Not a bird was to be seen, not even a
snow bunting, only two ravens which kept flying from farmhouse to
farmhouse, and even their cawing had a hungry note.