Song of Ice and Backfire

Just before construction started on the new avalanche barrier outside Bolungarvik, Iceland, rock and dirt rained down on the town. Locals were sure they knew the cause:

Some people pointed the finger of blame on angry elves who had finally snapped. The dynamiting for the town’s new avalanche defence barrier comes less than a year after a new road tunnel through the Oshlid hill was completed — neither of which with the prior blessing of the hidden people.

The Ice News reports those townfolk decided the solution was to sing songs and say prayers in honor of the “peeved hidden folk and elves.”

“I have now been asked by both elves and men to broker a compromise here, and I hope that this song will suffice,” said Bolungarvik musician Benedikt Sigurdsson. All heavy machinery at the site was stopped while the ceremony went ahead, and pre-school children and other interested residents gathered round to show their support.

Then they resumed dynamiting.

And that was fine? Is anyone beside me finding it hard to follow the theology here?

[Thanks to Janice Gelb for the story.]