Part 5 (1/2)

Then one of the Dwarfs reached up and put his arms round her neck and kissed her with his ugly mouth. Freya tried to break away from them, but the Dwarfs held her. ”You cannot go away from us now until the c.o.c.ks of Svartheim crow,” they said.

Then one and then another of the Dwarfs pressed up to her and kissed her. They made her sit down beside them on the heaps of skins they had.

When she wept they screamed at her and beat her. One, when she would not kiss him on the mouth, bit her hands. So Freya stayed with the Dwarfs until the c.o.c.ks of Svartheim crew.

They showed her the mountain on the top of which the Three banished from Asgard had their abode. The Giant Women sat overlooking the World of Men. ”What would you have from us, wife of Odur?” one who was called Gulveig said to her.

”Alas! Now that I have found you I know that I should ask you for nought,” Freya said.

”Speak, Vana,” said the second of the Giant Women.

The third said nothing, but she held up in her hands a necklace of gold most curiously fas.h.i.+oned. ”How bright it is!” Freya said. ”There is shadow where you sit, women, but the necklace you hold makes brightness now. Oh, how I should joy to wear it!”

”It is the necklace Brisingamen,” said the one who was called Gulveig.

”It is yours to wear, wife of Odur,” said the one who held it in her hands.

Freya took the s.h.i.+ning necklace and clasped it round her throat. She could not bring herself to thank the Giant Women, for she saw that there was evil in their eyes. She made reverence to them, however, and she went from the mountain on which they sat overlooking the World of Men.

In a while she looked down and saw Brisingamen and her misery went from her. It was the most beautiful thing ever made by hands. None of the Asyniur and none other of the Vanir possessed a thing so beautiful. It made her more and more lovely, and Odur, she thought, would forgive her when he saw how beautiful and how happy Brisingamen made her.

She rose up from amongst the flowers and took leave of the slight Elves and she made her way into Asgard. All who greeted her looked long and with wonder upon the necklace that she wore. And into the eyes of the G.o.ddesses there came a look of longing when they saw Brisingamen.

But Freya hardly stopped to speak to anyone. As swiftly as she could she made her way to her own palace. She would show herself to Odur and win his forgiveness. She entered her s.h.i.+ning palace and called to him. No answer came. Her child, the little Hnossa, was on the floor, playing.

Her mother took her in her arms, but the child, when she looked on Brisingamen, turned away crying.

Freya left Hnossa down and searched again for Odur. He was not in any part of their palace. She went into the houses of all who dwelt in Asgard, asking for tidings of him. None knew where he had gone to. At last Freya went back to their palace and waited and waited for Odur to return. But Odur did not come.

One came to her. It was a G.o.ddess, Odin's wife, the queenly Frigga. ”You are waiting for Odur, your husband,” Frigga said. ”Ah, let me tell you Odur will not come to you here. He went, when for the sake of a s.h.i.+ning thing you did what would make him unhappy. Odur has gone from Asgard and no one knows where to search for him.”

”I will seek him outside of Asgard,” Freya said. She wept no more, but she took the little child Hnossa and put her in Frigga's arms. Then she mounted her car that was drawn by two cats, and journeyed down from Asgard to Midgard, the Earth, to search for Odur her husband.

Year in and year out, and over all the Earth, Freya went searching and calling for the lost Odur. She went as far as the bounds of the Earth, where she could look over to Jotunheim, where dwelt the Giant who would have carried her off with the Sun and the Moon as payment for the building of the wall around Asgard. But in no place, from the end of the Rainbow Bifrost, that stretched from Asgard to the Earth, to the boundary of Jotunheim, did she find a trace of her husband Odur.

At last she turned her car toward Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge that stretched from Midgard, the Earth, to Asgard, the Dwelling of the G.o.ds.

Heimdall, the Watcher for the G.o.ds, guarded the Rainbow Bridge. To him Freya went with a half hope fluttering in her heart.

”O Heimdall,” she cried, ”O Heimdall, Watcher for the G.o.ds, speak and tell me if you know where Odur is.”

”Odur is in every place where the searcher has not come; Odur is in every place that the searcher has left; those who seek him will never find Odur,” said Heimdall, the Watcher for the G.o.ds.

Then Freya stood on Bifrost and wept. Frigga, the queenly G.o.ddess, heard the sound of her weeping, and came out of Asgard to comfort her.

”Ah, what comfort can you give me, Frigga?” cried Freya. ”What comfort can you give me when Odur will never be found by one who searches for him?”

”Behold how your daughter, the child Hnossa, has grown,” said Frigga.

Freya looked up and saw a beautiful maiden standing on Bifrost, the Rainbow Bridge. She was young, more youthful than any of the Vanir or the Asyniur, and her face and her form were so lovely that all hearts became melted when they looked upon her.