From a very young age I realized that I had two homes. The one I lived in with and surrounded by my large family and the other home was across the seas, where my family came from. The telling was always the same, I would sit outside with my father, my grandmother, an aunt, or any number of my extended family for the telling of "how Gotland came to be".
Fast-forward several years and I now find myself on Gotland with my youngest child, the first of my children to come to Gotland, and like all of my realitives before me it is my turn to tell the story. Why should this boy care about the story of Gotland and how it came to be? He is separated by two generations living in the United States. Because the story lives within us. Spanning more generations than can be counted we are Gutar for as far as the eyes can see. No matter where we live on this planet, it is this story which connects us to this place.
Sitting near and in Tjelvar's grave we begin the story:
Come sit and listen. This is an old story but not so old that we have forgotten.
Gotland was found by the first man, whose name was Tjelvar. In those days, Gotland was in a dusk that was so deep that the island would sink during the day and rise again during the night because it was enchanted. All of that changed, however, when Tjelvar came. He knew that fire was the only thing that could break the spell that sat over the island. Once he gathered fire and brought it to the island it sank no more.
Tjelvar had a son, Havde, who was married to Vitastjerna (White star). These two were the first people to live on the island and are the ancestors of all the people who come from Gotland. The first night that Havde and Vitastjerna spent on the island, Vitastjerna had a dream that three snakes were coming out of her chest. Havde saw this as a sign that they would have three sons. As time went on this came to pass. Their son's names were Gute, Graip and Gunnfjaun.
Many years passed and Havde died. Upon his death the island was divided into three parts, one part for each son. Graip recieved the North part of the island, Gute got the center part of the island, and Gunnfjaun the South.
Gute was made chief of the whole island, giving his name to not only the island but to the people who live there. Until this day the island of Gotland is still divided into three parts.
This story comes from a book called the Gute Saga which was written down in the year 1300 but the story has been told from generation to generation. It's beginning goes way before the story was written down.
Tjelvar's grave is about 6000 years old and is a testament to the man and his island.
