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Adventure XI
How the Spring-time Came.
Siegfried, when he came to Gunther's castle, thought of
staying there but a few days only. But the king and his
brothers made every thing so pleasant for their honored
guest, that weeks slipped by unnoticed, and still the hero
remained in Burgundy.
Spring had fairly come, and the weeping April clouds had
given place to the balmy skies of May. The young men and
maidens, as was their wont, made ready for the May-day
games; and Siegfried and his knights were asked to take part
in the sport.
On the smooth greensward, which they called Nanna's carpet,
beneath the shade of ash-trees and elms, he who played Old
Winter's part lingered with his few attendants. These were
clad in the dull gray garb which becomes the sober season of
the year, and were decked with yellow straw, and dead, brown
leaves. Out of the wood came the May-king and his followers,
clad in the gayest raiment, and decked with evergreens and
flowers. With staves and willow-withes they fell upon Old
Winter's champions, and tried to drive them from the sward.
In friendly fray they fought, and many mishaps fell to both
parties. But at length the May-king won; and grave Winter,
battered and bruised, was made prisoner, and his followers
were driven from the field. Then, in merry sport, sentence
was passed on the luckless wight, for he was found guilty of
killing the flowers, and of covering the earth with
hoar-frost; and he was doomed to a long banishment from
music and the sunlight. The laughing party then set up a
wooden likeness of the worsted winter-king, and pelted it
with stones and turf; and when they were tired they threw it
down, and put out its eyes, and cast it into the river. And
then a pole, decked with wild-flowers and fresh green
leaves, was planted in the midst of the sward, and all
joined in merry dance around it. And they chose the most
beautiful of all the maidens to be the Queen of May, and
they crowned her with a wreath of violets and yellow
buttercups; and for a whole day all yielded fealty to her,
and did her bidding.
It was thus that May Day came in Burgundy. And in the
evening, when the party were seated in King Gunther's hall,
Siegfried, at the command of the May-queen,--who was none
other than Kriemhild the peerless,--amused them by telling
the story of
Idun and Her Apples.
It is a story that Bragi told while at the feast in AEgir's
hall. Idun is Bragi's wife. Very handsome is she; but the
beauty of her face is by no means greater than the goodness
of her heart. Right attentive is she to every duty, and her
words and thoughts are always worthy and wise. A long time
ago the good Asa-folk who dwell in heaven-towering Asgard,
knowing how trustworthy Idun was, gave into her keeping a
treasure which they would not have placed in the hands of
any other person. This treasure was a box of apples, and
Idun kept the golden key safely fastened to her girdle. You
ask me why the gods should prize a box of apples so highly?
I will tell you.
Old age, you know, spares none, not even Odin and his
Asa-folk. They all grow old and gray; and, if there were no
cure for age, they would become feeble and toothless and
blind, deaf, tottering, and weak minded. The apples which
Idun guarded so carefully were the priceless boon of youth.
Whenever the gods felt old age coming on, they went to her,
and she gave them of her fruit; and, when they had tasted,
they grew young and strong and handsome again. Once,
however, they came near losing the apples,--or losing rather
Idun and her golden key, without which no one could ever
open the box.
In those early days Odin delighted to come down now and then
from his high home above the clouds, and to wander,
disguised, among the woods and mountains, and by the
seashore, and in wild desert places. For nothing pleases him
more than to commune with Nature as she is found in the
loneliness of vast solitudes, or in the boisterous uproar of
the elements. Once on a time he took with him his friends
Hoenir and Loki; and they rambled many days among the icy
cliffs, and along the barren shores, of the great frozen
sea. In that country there was no game, and no fish was
found in the cold waters; and the three wanderers, as they
had brought no food with them, became very hungry. Late in
the afternoon of the seventh day, they reached some
pasture-lands belonging to the giant Hymer, and saw a herd
of the giant's cattle browsing upon the short grass which
grew in the sheltered nooks among the hills.
"Ah!" cried Loki: "after fasting for a week, we shall now
have food in abundance. Let us kill and eat."
So saying, he hurled a sharp stone at the fattest of Hymer's
cows, and killed her; and the three quickly dressed the
choicest pieces of flesh for their supper. Then Loki
gathered twigs and dry grass, and kindled a blazing fire;
Hoenir filled the pot with water from melted ice; and Odin
threw into it the bits of tender meat. But, make the fire as
hot as they would, the water would not boil, and the flesh
would not cook.
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