This chapter sets some landscapes. The Prologue introduced one of the main characters . This Introduction reveals that not all is shiny and bright for Asgard. Odin has numerous enemies and the All-Father is more like an all-tyrant.
Introduction.
A long time ago.
Vanaheimr.
Steppes. Moors. High hills and higher mountains. Grey skies. Water-falls. Riding horsemen. When night comes, men and women alike get together inside the yurts. There, music is played and tales of lore are told.
Vanirs unlike Aesirs bear not ill will to Jotuns. Vanirs believe that' the enemy of my enemy is my friend'. Thus, Vanirs engage in trade with the Frost giants. Vanirs do see through the ice armours, and see men like them. Almost like them.
Aesirs see Vanirs as rebels; barbarian rebels. And pagans. Vanirs refuse the rules set by the All-Father. Vanirs who live in tribes and clans vaguely united under Great Khan, worship the All-Mother. Vanirs approve of Midgard's many nations. Vanirs are if anything anarchists. They refuse to be bound to cities. They like to roam free in the vast expense of the limitless tundra. They laugh at the audacity of a single man calling himself the All-Father.
Jotuns are bewildered by the anarchist Vanirs but enjoy their tolerant eyes. Jotuns live like Jotuns; this is the way the All-Mother has always wanted her children to be. Free to be what you are. Not envious, not told to change. Be. Simply to be what you are. Needless to say, Jotuns are a lot friendlier with the carefree Vanirs than with the Asgardians. Needless to say. Vanirs know a lot more about Jotuns that Odin and his slaves will ever know or suspect.
Jotuns and Vanirs share the same love for Honour and a lot more things Aesirs would like to know but will not. Asgard hates the Jotuns and dislikes the Vanirs. Again and again, the Bifrost opens. Again and again, Odin's villainous boors, an infamous rabble of warriors try and raid the steppes to proclaim they won a war they never fought. As soon as the Rainbow Bridge shimmers in the distance, the Vanirs flee to the steppes and the Aesir boors find only settlements devoid of human activities. In the distance far way, too far from them, they see tantalizing glimpses of cavaliers. Soon enough a rain of deadly arrows pours on and they leave after burning the yurts and killing the cattle and the horses.
Interestingly, Jotuns feel they can get avenged by killing dumb animals. Like the Aesirs. Poor Vanirs who call themselves the Free Men despise Aesirs for killing innocent brutes. Aesirs rejoice in setting fire to the tundra. Woe to Asgard. All-Mother will avenge her children.
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Jotunheimr.
Cold. Freezing cold. Mostly dark. Full of ice spires, cathedrals of snow and cloisters of subterranean cracks, all eager to let you to worship Death. Asgard hates this realm and calls its inhabitants monsters. Frost giants beg to differ.
One does not wage war; one does not engage deadly fights in outfits chosen to woo maidens. Frost giants wear armours and battle gears because they have no choice. If they look horrible to Odin's warriors, the same is said for the Aesirs. When seen through red eyes.
The Elders say that Aesirs and Jotuns are almost alike. Odin knows. Does he? The Aesirs only know the appearance of battling Giants. Aesirs are easily deceived by masks and disguises. What is underneath, they miss. They call the Jotuns shape-shifters. When all it takes is to remove the ice shield which transforms a frost youth into a mighty warrior. They say Jotuns have no gender or only one gender because they only see warriors engaging in war. Aesirs are blind and stupid.
Deep inside the snow, there are great halls, lighted by fountains of ices. Inside the snow halls, you will see who dwells in them. Noble knights, wise men, spirited youths … and sweet ladies. Naturally, Aesirs know naught of the snow maidens. Aesirs know about the warriors. The warriors only.
Maidens do not engage in wars. Maids are made to sing, dance, weave soft blankets of the finest snow and ladies are made to bear their lords offspring and raise children. Women do not grace battlefields. The monstrosity who is the Aesir Lady Sif does not dwell mercifully in Jotunheimr.
Maids are to be respected, wooed, cherished and protected. Protected from the vile Aesirs. Aesirs do not respect snow maidens. Old king Laufey has learnt the bitter lesson. Never to trust an Aesir. Never to trust Odin.
Inside the great frosted halls, children, maids and youths listen to the tales of yore sung by the skalds. A favourite tale is the sad story of Princess Farbauti .
A long time ago, Jotuns had entered into a truce with that monster of Asgard. Yes, the All-Father himself had poured words as light as sweet snowflakes, words of peace in the ears of the Jotun King of this particular time. Now you have to know, this king had two children. Twins. One was a boy, a prince. Laufey, heir of Jotunheimr. One was a girl. Farbauti, the most beautiful of snow maidens. Her skin had the most tender azurean blue and her eyes shone like rubies while her braids as dark as the darkest ice fissures of the darkest mountains reached the floor.
Because it was a truce, the first ever, Laufey allowed Odin to walk into his hall and see the real beauty of the Kingdom of the Jotuns. Odin saw the beauty, the riches … and noticed the gracious princess.
As you know, one can speak to a girl only after being approved by her menfolk. Only when one is vetted and allowed, one can reach to her hand and whisper sweet nothings.
Woe to the man who dishonours the maid. Woe to the maid who allows this knave of man, this lie-smith with his silver tongue to hold her hand, bed her and leave her heavy with child and no husband to show. Honour must be restored.
Once the child is born, he will be exposed to die in the temple as only Death will forgive the trespassing of the innocent's life. While the child will die, the longest, thinnest ice blade will pierce this wanton of a mother's shallow heart as only cruel Death can erase her shame. Said blade will be held by the man of the highest in honours of her kinfolk. As her lack of virtue shames he and his male bloodline and only her Death can repair his honour.
What happened is anybody guesses. The traitorous Aesir must have spoken to Farbauti; the vile Asgardian must have got entry to her bedchamber. What is known is that the next day Odin left and all too soon for all to see, Farbauti's belly got enlarged. The truce lived one night. And one night was all it took for the All-Father to impregnate the loveliest of all the ice maidens.
Laufey selected himself the blade his father would use. Farbauti was locked in the loneliest of dungeons. Yet she steadfastly refused to give out the name of her accomplice. The princess shed too many tears to live long after losing her maidenhood to an Aesir. And all the listeners of this tale of sorrows will shudder in unison for the tale reaches its climax.
She lived long enough to give birth, early way too early to a small child. A bastard son, grandson and nephew who was left to die on the steps of the Temple. The old king killed his daughter and followed her in death immediately as he knew he should have never allowed the All-Father to enter his Royal Hall. For upon seeing the new born child, the identity of the father was all too clear. The baby would have raven locks like his mother and in every aspect he was like any healthy Frost Giant Baby, albeit smaller for he was born too early. The Runes adorning his forehead, Runes did say he was claimed as Son to Odin!
Laufey, now king decided to show Asgard no Aesir, slave or king should be allowed to live after wreaking such grief on innocent Jotuns. It was war. War almost won through the Casket of Winters, a weapon devised by his father through his sister's tears (if the night is still young, the skald will tell you of Farbauti's tears and the secret behind it)… as the poet restarts the tale… war almost won but Fate was against it as it was Farbauti who had allowed Odin to lay by her and war was lost. The Casket of winters was taken away. But Fate was fair; Odin's bastard disappeared as he had never existed.
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When the old Jotun king died, Vanaheimr sent an arrow. However long it would take, one day, this arrow would find the heart of him who had shamed their allies.
Vanir horsemen and Jotun warriors share the same vigilant hate for Asgard. Vanirs and Jotuns sing tales written in different languages telling the same stories of defiled innocence and desire of revenge.
Odin does not fear them. What vengeance could result from the alliance of cowardly Vanirs and monstrous Jotuns?Ragnarork? All Asgard erupts in laughter. Ragnarork indeed….They all guffaw.
Asgard laughs. The Fates meanwhile weave the Future, which is always nearer than one believes it to be.