Njal�s Saga, the most famous of the Icelandic sagas, tells of the first native inhabitant of Bjarnarfjör�ur, Svanur son of Björn, the settler of the area. Svanur was related to Hallger�ur langbr�k, the most famous shrew in the Sagas, and hid the slave who killed her second husband for her. The saga says that Svanur was a great sorcerer, quarrelsome and difficult to deal with. One day Svanur stands up and tells the slave that men are on their way to fetch and revenge their kinsman. The slave picks up his weapons but Svanur simply wraps a goatskin around his head, goes outside and recites:

A great fog descended on those riding across the hill south of Bjarnarfjör�ur, they could not see and fell from their saddles and some walked into bogs while others lost their weapons in the woods. Three times they attempted to cross the hill and were always met by the fog which lifted as soon as they turned back. According to legend Svanur walked into the mountain above Svansh�ll and came out far to the north close to his fishing station. Nj�l�s Saga says that eventually his boat was sunk and people saw him walk from the sea and into Mt. Kaldbakshorn where he was warmly welcomed.
 
Much later another sorcerer named Snorri lived at Svansh�ll and was somewhat of a recluse. He told his daughter that when he died his body should be buried in a certain part of the  homefield and not in the graveyard around the church at Kaldrananes. The local clergyman objected and demanded a Christian burial. Transporting the coffin proved difficult because it kept falling off the horse. When they passed close to a place that according to legend is an old burial place, the coffin suddenly became easy to handle and the burial was uneventful.

Fifty years later gravediggers found the coffin and opened it and found no bones in it, no teeth or human hair, only remnants of clothes and some of the things Snorri had told his daughter to put in the coffin - fishskin, his secret books , and some wood shavings.

 

Snorri�s son lived at Bakki across the river and had never shown any interest in his father�s knowledge. He did not want to keep anything of his father�s except a brown sheepdog that had served Snorri for ages and nobody had to control. The dog would bring the sheep home for milking every day but was never seen around the farm and nobody had to feed it. As winter approached it disappeared and reappeared soon after the lambing season in spring. Soon after Snorri died the dog moved of its own accord across the valley but never came close to the buildings at Bakki. Occasionally it was seen standing on the lowest terrace of the hillside when the sheep arrived at the farm.