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008 - A Gift from Frigga · Asgard Stories- Tales from Norse Mythology

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  Speaker 1: Chapter eight of Esgard's 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. Read
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  Speaker 1: by Julieu Esgard, Stories by Mary H. Foster and Mabel H.
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  Speaker 1: Cummings a gift from Frigga. Long years ago, there lived
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  Speaker 1: a peasant and his wife who led a quiet, busy
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  Speaker 1: life on their little farm at the foot of a mountain.
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  Speaker 1: While the wife was busy indoors with her housework, her
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  Speaker 1: husband watched his flocks in the fields, or sometimes wandered
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  Speaker 1: up the mountainside to hunt for game, which he would
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  Speaker 1: carry home for dinner. One day, he had it farther
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  Speaker 1: than usual and found himself on the top of the mountain,
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  Speaker 1: where the ground was covered with ice and snow. All
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  Speaker 1: at once he came upon a high arched doorway opening
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  Speaker 1: into a great glacier, and he passed through to see
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  Speaker 1: whither it might lead. The passageway widened out into a
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  Speaker 1: wonderful cavern, like a broad holl, sparkling with precious stones
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  Speaker 1: and long shining stalactites that looked like icicles of marble.
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  Speaker 1: In the midst stood a beautiful goddess surrounded by fair maidens,
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  Speaker 1: all dressed in silvery ropes and crowned with flowers. The
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  Speaker 1: shepherd was so overcome by the wonder of this sight
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  Speaker 1: that he sank upon on his knees. Then the goddess
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  Speaker 1: stretched forth her hands and gave him her blessing, telling
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  Speaker 1: him to choose whatever he wished to carry home from
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  Speaker 1: the cavern. The man was no longer afraid when he
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  Speaker 1: heard her kind voice speaking to him, so he looked about,
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  Speaker 1: and at last humbly asked to have the pretty blue
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  Speaker 1: flowers which the fair one held in her hand. The
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  Speaker 1: lovely goddess Frigure, or holder, as the German people caught her,
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  Speaker 1: smiled kindly and told the poor shepherd he had made
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  Speaker 1: a wise choice. She gave him a bunch of blue
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  Speaker 1: flowers with a mesh of seed, saying to him, you
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  Speaker 1: will live and be prosperous so long as the flowers
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  Speaker 1: do not fade. The peasant bowed thankfully before the goddess,
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  Speaker 1: and when he rose, she had vanished, and he was
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  Speaker 1: alone on the mountain side, just as usual, with no cavern,
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  Speaker 1: no sparkling stones, and no fair maidens to be seen.
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  Speaker 1: If it had not been for the pretty blue flowers
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  Speaker 1: and the measure of seed in his hand, he would
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  Speaker 1: have thought it all a dream. He hurried homeward to
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  Speaker 1: tell his wife, who was angry when she heard the story,
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  Speaker 1: for she thought he had made such a foolish choice.
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  Speaker 1: How much better it would have been, said she, if
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  Speaker 1: you had brought home some of those precious stones you
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  Speaker 1: tell about, which are worth money, instead of these good
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  Speaker 1: for nothing flowers. The poor man bore her angry words
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  Speaker 1: quietly and made the best of what he had. He
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  Speaker 1: went to work at once to sow his seats, which
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  Speaker 1: he found, to his surprise, were enough to plant several fields.
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  Speaker 1: Every morning before he led his flock to pasture, and
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  Speaker 1: on his way home at night, he watched the little
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  Speaker 1: green shoes growing in his fields. Even his wife was
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  Speaker 1: pleased when she saw the lovely blue blossoms of the
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  Speaker 1: flags opening. Then, after they had withered and fallen, the
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  Speaker 1: seas formed. Sometimes it seemed to the good man, as
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  Speaker 1: he stood in the twilight looking over his field, that
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  Speaker 1: he saw a misty form like the beautiful Goddess, stretching
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  Speaker 1: out her hands over the field of flags to give
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  Speaker 1: it her blessing. When at length the seas had ripened.
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  Speaker 1: The Frika came again to show the peasant how together
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  Speaker 1: his harvest of flags, and to teach his wife to
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  Speaker 1: spin and weave it into fine linen, which she bleached
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  Speaker 1: in the sun. The people came from far and near
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  Speaker 1: to buy the linen, and the peasant and his wife
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  Speaker 1: found themselves busy and happy, with money enough and to spare.
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  Speaker 1: When they had lived many years and were growing old
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  Speaker 1: among the children and grandchildren, the peasant noticed one day
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  Speaker 1: that a bunch of blue flowers had given to him
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  Speaker 1: so many years before, which had always kept bright, were
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  Speaker 1: beginning to fade. Then he knew he had not much
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  Speaker 1: longer to stay. He climbed slowly up the mountainside and
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  Speaker 1: found the door of the cabin open a second time.
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  Speaker 1: He went in, and the kind goddess Friga took the
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  Speaker 1: peasant by the hand and led him away to stay
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  Speaker 1: with her, where she always took care of him. Frigga
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  Speaker 1: was the queen of the gods, and she helped her
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  Speaker 1: husband Odin govern the world. It was her part to
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  Speaker 1: look after the children and help the mothers take care
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  Speaker 1: of their families. End of chapter eight