And then we move on to another story I've enjoyed. I have read a good portion of the Poetic Edda to help me with a character I'm developing for my novel Humanly Goddess. Unfortunately when I moved I threw away the book. Some soda had spilled on it and couldn't be salvaged.
Freyja has always been a fascination to me though and while reading the Edda I'd always pay close attention when her name popped up. She is the goddess of war, fertility, and love. She's a strong woman and that is what I'm drawn to. She is associated with a chariot pulled by two cats. She is the mistress of magic so its no wonder I am so drawn to her.
One story tells of her seeking jewelry; a necklace made by dwarfs. The dwarfs refuse to give the necklace unless she sleeps with them all. Overcome with the jewels beauty, she agrees. But Loki has found out her secret, and so he steals the necklace and tells Odin of her misdeeds.
Odin is furious with Freyja's infidelity to Odur, and he orders her to eternally wear the necklace and wonder the earth searching for her lost love.
The Sun had fallen to the Earth, plants were dying and rivers were drying up. The animals were afraid of dying of hunger and thirst, and they needed to find a way to push the Sun back into the Sky.
ReplyDeleteMany animals had tried and failed, giving up after being burned by the Sun, until a noble bird with beautiful plummage volunteered himself for the task. He placed his head against the Sun and began pushing it towards the Sky. The Sun burned the beautiful feathers off his head and turned the skin beneath red, but still he carried on, until finally the Sun was returned to its rightful place in the Sky.
When he returned to Earth, the animals withdrew from him in disgust. His head was bald and scorched red from the Sun, his feathers charred black. He was ugly. He had sacrificed his beauty for the lives of the animals, and now the animals feared him.
This is why the Vulture spends his life alone with the dead; he is no longer able to associate with living animals, for they can not bear to look at his ugliness.
YES! This is it Andrea thank you so much!
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