His compatriots were very proud of him. Icelandic students
declared that Grimur possessed twelve dress shirts, three pairs of
patent leather boots, and had embraced a marchioness in Paris. At
gymnastics, Grimur Thomsen showed himself audacious and not seldom
coarse in what he said and hinted. It is true that by reason of my youth
I was very susceptible and took offence at things that an older man
would have heard without annoyance.
IV.
I continued to be physically far from strong. Mentally, I worked
indefatigably. The means of deciding the study question that, after long
reflection, seemed to me most expedient, was this: I would compete for
one of the University prizes, either the aesthetic or the philosophical,
and then, if I won the gold medal, my parents and others would see that
if I broke with the Law it was not from idleness, but because I really
had talents in another direction.
As early as 1860 I had cast longing eyes at the prize questions that had
been set, and which hung up in the Entrance Hall of the University. But
none of them were suited to me. In 1861 I made up my mind to attempt a
reply, even if the questions in themselves should not be attractive.
There was amongst them one on the proper correlation between poetic
fiction and history in the historical romances.
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