ABSTRACT
The next few years would be Guðrún's best time in service: in spite of the difficult conditions that afflicted most Icelanders, employment prospects were good for young people. As so many people had lost their farms, land was more easily available than before, and diligent workers were in demand everywhere. The younger Guðrún and her brother, Kristján, did not move far from their mother's home: Kristján took the job of overseer at Syðra-Gil, about a kilometre from Teigur, while Guðrún was appointed bústýra (housekeeper/overseer) in the home of a widower at Klúkur, the neighbouring farm to Teigur. Farmers on neighbouring estates collaborated and helped each other out in many ways, for example, during the autumn round-up of livestock from summer pastures and on journeys to the nearest trading post and collective expeditions into the mountains to gather nutritious lichen; and at time of illness or bereavement, neighbours would provide moral and practical support.
