Latest / The Art of Story-Telling by Julia Darrow Cowles / How the Queen of the Sky Gave Gifts to Men

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How the Queen of the Sky Gave Gifts to Men · The Art of Story-Telling by Julia Darrow Cowles

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  Speaker 1: Section twenty six of the Art of story Telling with
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  Speaker 1: the nearly half a hundred stories. This is a LibriVox recording.
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  Speaker 1: All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more
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  Speaker 1: information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org. The
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  Speaker 1: Art of story Telling by Julia Darrow cowls how the
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  Speaker 1: Queen of the Sky gave gifts to men by the
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  Speaker 1: side of all Father Odin upon his high seat in
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  Speaker 1: Asgard sat Frica, his wife, the Queen of the Asis.
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  Speaker 1: Sometimes she would be dressed in snow white garments, bound
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  Speaker 1: at the waist by a golden girdle, from which hung
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  Speaker 1: a great bunch of golden keys, and the earth dwellers
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  Speaker 1: gazing into the sky would admire the great white clouds
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  Speaker 1: as they floated across the blue, not perceiving that these
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  Speaker 1: clouds were really the folds of Frigga's flowing white robe
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  Speaker 1: as it waved in the wind. At other times she
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  Speaker 1: would wear dark, gray or purple garments. Then the earth
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  Speaker 1: dwellers made haste into their houses, for they said, the
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  Speaker 1: sky is lowering to day, and a storm is nigh
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  Speaker 1: at hand. Friga had a palace of her own called Fencelaar,
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  Speaker 1: or the hall of Mists, where she spent much of
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  Speaker 1: her time at her wheel, spinning golden thread, or weaving
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  Speaker 1: web after web of many colored clouds. All night long
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  Speaker 1: she sat at this golden wheel, and if you look
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  Speaker 1: at the sky on a starry night, you may chance
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  Speaker 1: to see it set out where the men of the
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  Speaker 1: south show a constellation called the girdle of Orion. Friga
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  Speaker 1: was especially interested in all good housewives, and she herself
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  Speaker 1: set them an excellent example infensolar. When the snowflakes fell,
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  Speaker 1: the earth dwellers knew it was Frigga shaking her great
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  Speaker 1: feather bed, and when it rained, they said it was
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  Speaker 1: her washing day. It was she who first gave them
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  Speaker 1: the gift of flax, that the women upon earth might
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  Speaker 1: spin and weave and bleach their linen as white as
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  Speaker 1: the clouds of her own white robe. And this is
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  Speaker 1: how it came about. There was once a shepherd who
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  Speaker 1: lived among the mountains with his wife and children, and
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  Speaker 1: so very poor was he that he often found it
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  Speaker 1: hard to give his family enough to satisfy their hunger.
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  Speaker 1: But he did not grumble. He only worked the harder,
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  Speaker 1: and his wife, though she had scarcely any furniture, and
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  Speaker 1: never a chance of a new dress, kept the house
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  Speaker 1: so clean and the old clothes so well mended, that
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  Speaker 1: all unknown to herself, she rose high in the favor
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  Speaker 1: of the all seeing FRIGA. Now, one day, when the
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  Speaker 1: shepherd had driven his few poor sheep up the mountain
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  Speaker 1: to pasture, a fine reindeer sprang from the rocks above
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  Speaker 1: him and began to leap upward along the steep slope.
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  Speaker 1: The shepherd snatched up his cross boat and pursued the animal,
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  Speaker 1: thinking to himself, now we shall have a better mill
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  Speaker 1: than we have had for many a long day. Up
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  Speaker 1: and up leaped the reindeer, always just out of reach,
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  Speaker 1: and at a length, disappeared behind a great boulder. Just
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  Speaker 1: as the shepherd, breathless and weary, reached the spot. No
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  Speaker 1: sign of the reindeer was to be seen, but on
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  Speaker 1: looking around, the shepherd saw that he was among the
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  Speaker 1: snowy heights of the mountain and almost at the top
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  Speaker 1: of a great glacier. Presently he pursued his vain search
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  Speaker 1: for the animal. He saw that he was amazement unopened
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  Speaker 1: door leading apparently into the heart of the glacier. He
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  Speaker 1: was a fearless man, and so without hesitation, he passed
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  Speaker 1: boldly through the doorway and found himself standing in a
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  Speaker 1: marvelous cavern, lit up by blazing torches which gleamed upon
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  Speaker 1: rich jewels. Hanging from the roof and walls. In the
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  Speaker 1: midst stood a woman most fair to behold, clad in
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  Speaker 1: snow white robes, and surrounded by a group of lovely maidens.
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  Speaker 1: The shepherd's boldness gave way at this awesome sight, and
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  Speaker 1: he sank to his knees before the asa Friga, for
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  Speaker 1: she it was. But Friga bade him of good cheer,
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  Speaker 1: and said, choose now whatsoever you well to carry away
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  Speaker 1: with you as a remembrance of this place. The shepherd's
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  Speaker 1: eyes wandered over the glittering jewels on the walls and roof,
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  Speaker 1: but they came back to a little bunch of blue
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  Speaker 1: flowers which Friga held in her hand. They alone looked
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  Speaker 1: homelike to him. The rest were hard and cold, So
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  Speaker 1: he asked that he might be given the little nosegay.
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  Speaker 1: Then Frigus smiled kindly upon him. Most wise has been
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  Speaker 1: your choice, said she Take with the flowers this measure
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  Speaker 1: of seed, and sew it in your field, and you
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  Speaker 1: shall grow flowers of your own. They shall bring prosperity
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  Speaker 1: to you and yours. So the shepherd took the flowers
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  Speaker 1: and the seed, and scarcely had done so, when a
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  Speaker 1: mighty peal of thunder, followed by a shock of an
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  Speaker 1: earthquake or rent the cavern, And when he collected his scents,
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  Speaker 1: he found himself once more upon the mountain side. When
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  Speaker 1: he reached home and had told his tale, his wife
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  Speaker 1: scolded him roundly for not bringing home a jewel, which
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  Speaker 1: would have made them rich forever. But when she would
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  Speaker 1: have thrown the flowers away, he prevented her. Next day
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  Speaker 1: he sowed the seed in his field, and was surprised
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  Speaker 1: to find how far it went. Very soon after, the
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  Speaker 1: field was thick with tiny green shoots, And though his
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  Speaker 1: wife reproached him for wasting good ground upon useless flowers,
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  Speaker 1: he watched and waited in hope until the field was
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  Speaker 1: blue with starry flax blooms. Then, one night, when the
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  Speaker 1: flowers had withered and the seed was ripe, Friga, in
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  Speaker 1: the disguise of an old woman, visited the lowly hut
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  Speaker 1: and showed the shepherd and his astonished wife, how to
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  Speaker 1: use the flax stocks, how to spin them into thread,
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  Speaker 1: and how to weave the thread into linen. It was
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  Speaker 1: not long before all the dwellers in that part of
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  Speaker 1: the earth had heard of the wonderful material and were
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  Speaker 1: hurrying to the shepherd's hut to buy the bleached linen
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  Speaker 1: or the seed from which it was obtained. And so
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  Speaker 1: the shepherd and his family were soon among the richest
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  Speaker 1: people in the land, and the promise of Friga was
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  Speaker 1: amply fulfilled. End of section twenty six read by Saint
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  Speaker 1: Honanda Norwrig, England, January twenty twenty two.