Norse Mythology Tales: Frigga - The God Queen | For Sleep

The third part of the series on Norse Mythology. This time focusing on the strong female leader of the pantheon - Frigga. The wife of Odin the Allfather, she is known for many of her qualities and interesting stories surrounding her. Listen to her stories over the sound of a cold winter storm to help you relax and fall asleep.

Transcript

Tales of Norse mythology.

Frigga,

The queen of the gods.

Frigga,

Or Frigg,

Daughter of Fjörgin,

A sister of Jörðr,

According to some mythologists,

Is considered by some as a daughter of Jörðr and Óðinn,

Whom she eventually married.

This wedding caused such general rejoicing in Ásgard,

Where the goddess was greatly beloved,

That ever after it was customary to celebrate its anniversary with feasts and song,

And the goddess being declared patchiness of marriage,

Her health was always proposed with that of Óðinn and Þor at wedding feasts.

Frigga was goddess of the atmosphere,

Or rather of the clouds,

And as such was represented as wearing either snow-white or dark garments,

According to her somewhat variable moods.

She was queen of the gods,

And she alone had the privilege of sitting on the throne Hjaltskjall,

Beside her august husband.

From thence she too could look over all the world and see what was happening,

And according to the belief of our ancestors,

She possessed the knowledge of the future,

Which however no one could ever prevail upon her to reveal,

Thus proving that northern women could keep a secret and violate.

She was generally represented as a tall,

Beautiful,

And stately woman,

Crowned with her own plums,

The symbol of silence or forgetfulness,

And clothed in pure white robes,

Secured at the waist by a golden girdle,

From which hung a bunch of keys,

The distinctive sign of the northern housewife,

Who special patroness she was said to be.

Although she often appeared beside her husband,

Frigga preferred to remain in her own palace called Fensalir,

The hall of mists or of the sea,

Where she diligently plied her wheel or distaff,

Spinning golden thread,

Weaving long webs of bright-collared clouds.

In order to perform this work she made use of a marvelous jewel spinning wheel or distaff,

Which at night shone brightly in the sky as a constellation,

Known in the north as Frigga's spinning wheel,

While the inhabitants of the south called the same stars Orion's girdle.

To her hall Fensalir,

The gracious goddess invited husbands and wives who have led virtuous lives on earth so that they might enjoy each other's companionship even after death and never be called upon to part again.

Frigga was therefore considered the goddess of conjugal and motherly love,

And was specially worshipped by married lovers and tender parents.

This exalted office did not entirely absorb her thoughts,

However,

For we are told that she was very fond of dress,

And whenever she appeared before the ensemble gods her attire was rich and becoming,

And her jewels chosen with much taste.

Frigga's love of adornment once led her sadly astray,

For in her longing to possess some new ornament she secretly purloined a piece of gold from a statue representing her husband,

Which had just been placed in his temple.

This stolen metal was entrusted to the dwarfs,

With instructions to fashion a marvelous necklace for her use.

This,

When finished,

Was so resplendent that it greatly enhanced her charms and even Odin's love for her.

But when he discovered that the thefts of gold,

He angrily summoned the dwarfs and begged them reveal who had dared to touch her.

The gold was then taken away.

But when he troubled out the pieces of gold,

He angrily summoned the dwarfs and begged them reveal who had dared to touch his statue.

Unwilling to betray the queen of the gods,

The dwarfs remained obstinately silent,

And,

Seeing that no information could be elicited from them,

Odin commanded that the statue should be placed above the temple gate,

And set to work to devise speech and enable it to denounce the thief.

When Frigga heard these tidings,

She trembled with fear and implored her favorite attendant Fula to invent some means of protecting her from all father's wrath.

Fula,

Who was always ready to serve her mistress,

Immediately departed and soon returned accompanied by a hideous dwarf,

Who promised to prevent the stature from speaking if Frigga would only deign to smile graciously upon him.

This boon having been granted,

The dwarf hastened off to the temple,

Caused a deep sleep to fall upon the guards,

And while they were thus unconscious,

Pulled the stature down from its pedestal and broke it to pieces so that it could never betray Frigga's theft,

In spite of all Odin's efforts to give it the power of speech.

Odin,

Discovering the sacrilege on the morrow,

Was very angry indeed,

So angry that he left Ausgard and utterly disappeared,

Carrying away with him all the blessings which he had been wont to shower upon guards and men.

According to some authorities,

His brothers,

As we have already seen,

Took advantage of his absence to assume his form and secure possession of his spirit and wife,

But although they looked exactly like him,

They could not restore the lost blessings and allowed the ice giants,

Or Jötnar,

To invade the earth and bind it fast in their cold fetters.

These wicked giants pinched the leaves and buds till they all shriveled up,

Stripped the trees bare,

Shrouded the earth in a great white coverlet,

And veiled it in impenetrable mists.

But at the end of seven weary months,

The true Odin relented and returned,

And when he saw all the evil that had been done,

He drove the usurper away,

Forced the frost giants to relax the grip of the earth and to release her from her icy bonds,

And again showered all his blessings down upon her,

Cheering her with the light of his smile.

As has already been seen,

Odin,

Or the god of wit and wisdom,

Was sometimes no match for his wife Frigga,

Who,

Womanlike,

Was sure to obtain her way by some means.

On one occasion,

The august pair were seated upon Hyltski Alf,

Gazing with interest upon the Vinylers and the Vandals,

Who were preparing for a battle,

Which was to decide which people should henceforth have supremacy.

Odin gazed with satisfaction upon the Vandals,

Who were loudly praying to him for victory,

But Frigga watched the movements of the Vinylers,

With more attention because they hadn't treated her aid.

She therefore turned to Odin and coaxingly inquired whom he meant to favor on the morrow.

He,

Wishing to evade her question,

Declared he would not decide as it was time for bed,

But would give the victory to those upon whom his eyes first rested in the morning.

This answer was rudely calculated,

For Odin knew that his scout was so turned that upon waking he would face the Vandals,

And he intended looking out from thence,

Instead of waiting until he had mounted his throne.

But,

Although so cunningly contrived,

This plan was frustrated by Frigga,

Who,

Divining his purpose,

Waited until he was sound asleep and then noiselessly turned his couch so that he should face her favorites.

Then she sent word to the Vinylers to dress their women in armor and send them out in battle,

Array at dawn,

With their long hair carefully combed down over their cheeks and breasts.

These instructions were carried out with scrupulous exactness,

And when Odin awoke the next morning,

His first conscious glance fell upon their armed host,

And he exclaimed in surprise,

What longbeards are those?

In German the ancient word for longbeards was Langoparden,

Which was the name used to designate the Lombards.

Frigga,

Upon hearing this exclamation,

Which he had foreseen,

Immediately cried out in triumph that Alvater had given them a new name,

And was in honor,

Bound to follow the usual northern custom and give also a baptismal gift.

Odin,

Seeing he had been so cleverly outwitted,

Made no damner,

And in memory of the victory which his favor vouchsafed to them,

The Vinylers retained the name given by the King of the Gods.

Whoever after watched over them with special care,

Giving them many blessings,

Among others a home in the sunny south under fruitful plains of Lombardy.

Frigga had,

As her own special attendants,

A number of beautiful maidens,

Among whom were Fulla,

Her sister,

According to some authorities,

To whom she entrusted her jewel casket.

Fulla,

Always presided over her mistress's toilet,

Was privileged to put on her golden shoes,

Attend her everywhere,

Was a confidant,

And often advised her how best to help the mortals who implored her aid.

Fulla was very beautiful indeed,

And had long golden hair,

Which she wore flowing loose over her shoulders,

Restrained only by a golden circlet or snood.

As her hair was emblematic of the golden grain,

This circlet represented the binding of the sheaf.

Fulla was also known as Abundia or Abundantia in some parts of Germany,

But she was considered a symbol of the fullness of the earth.

Hlin,

Frigga's second attendant,

Was the goddess of consolation,

Sent out to kiss away the tears of mourners,

And pour balm into hearts wrung by grief.

She also listened with ever-open ears to the prayers of mortals,

Carrying them to her mistress,

And advising her at times how best to answer them and give the desired relief.

Gna was Frigga's swift messenger,

Mounted upon her fleet's steed of warbner,

Or hoof-thrower.

She would travel with marvelous rapidity through fire and air,

Over land and sea,

And was therefore considered the personification of the refreshing breeze.

Darting thus to and fro,

Gna saw all that was happening upon earth,

And told her mistress all she knew.

On one occasion,

As she was passing over Hunaland,

She saw King Rherir,

A lineal descendant of Odin,

Sitting mournfully by the shore,

Bewailing his childlessness.

The Queen of Heaven,

Who was also goddess of childbirth,

Upon hearing this,

Took an apple,

The emblem of fruitfulness,

From a private store,

Gave it to Gna,

And bade her to carry it to the king.

With the rapidity of the element she personified,

Gna darted away,

And as she passed over Rherir's head,

She dropped her apple into his lap with a radiant smile.

The king pondered for a moment upon the meaning of this sudden apparition and gift,

And then hurried home,

His heart beating high with hope,

And gave the apple to his wife to eat.

In due season,

To his intense joy,

She bore him a son,

Volsing,

The great northern hero,

Who became so famous that he gave his name to all his race.

Besides the three above mentioned,

Frigga had other attendance in her train.

There was the mild and gracious maiden Lofun,

Praise or love,

Whose duty it was to remove all obstacles from the path of lovers.

Vjofun's duty was to incline obdurate hearts to love,

To maintain peace,

And concord among mankind,

And to reconcile quarreling husbands and wives.

Sin or truth guarded the door of Frigga's palace,

Refusing to open it to those who were not allowed to come in.

When she had once shut the door upon a would-be intruder,

No appeal would avail to change her decision.

She therefore presided over all tribunals and trials,

And whenever a thing was to be vetoed,

The usual formula was to declare that sin was against it.

Gelfion was also one of the maidens in Frigga's palace,

And to her were entrusted all those who died unwedded,

Whom she received and made happy forever.

According to some authorities,

Gelfion did not remain a virgin herself,

But married one of the giants,

By whom she had four sons.

The same tradition goes on to declare that Odin sent her before him to visit Gylfi,

King of Sweden,

And to beg for some land which she might call her own.

The king amused at her request,

Promised her as much land as she could plough around in one day and night.

Gelfion,

Nothing daunted,

Changed her four sons into oxen,

Harnessed them to a plough,

And began to cut a furrow so wide and deep that the king and his courtiers were amazed.

But Gelfion continued her work without showing any signs of fatigue,

And when she had ploughed all around a large piece of land,

Forcibly wrenched it away and made her oxen drag it down into the sea,

Where she made it fast and called it Sealand.

As for the hollow she left behind her,

It was quickly filled with water and formed a lake,

At first called Logrum,

The sea,

But now known as Mela,

Whose every indentation corresponds with the headlands of Sealand.

Gelfion then married Skjold,

One of Odin's sons,

And became the ancestress of the royal Danish race of Skjoldings,

Dwelling in the city of Leidra,

Or Lethra,

Which she founded and which became the principal place of sacrifice for the hidden Danes.

Eira,

Also Frigga's attendant,

Was considered a most skillful physician.

She gathered symbols all over the earth to cure both wounds and diseases,

And it was her province to teach the science to women,

And who were the only ones to practice medicine among the ancient nations of the north.

Vara heard all oaths and punished Perjurers while she rewarded those who faithfully kept their word.

And there were also Vr,

Meaning faith,

Who knew all that was to occur throughout the world,

And Snotra,

Goddess of virtue,

Who had mastered all knowledge.

With such a galaxy of attendants,

It is little wonder that Frigga was considered a powerful deity,

But in spite of the prominent place she occupied in the northern religion.

She had no special temple,

No shrine,

And was but little worshiped except in company with Odin.

While Frigga was not known by this name in southern Germany,

There were other goddesses worshipped there whose attributes were so exactly like hers that they were evidently the same,

Although they bore very different names in various provinces.

Among them was the fair goddess Hulda,

Hulda or Frau Hulda,

Who graciously dispensed many rich gifts.

As she presided over the weather,

The people were wont to declare when the snowflakes fell that Frau Hulda was shaking her bed,

And when it rained that she was washing her clothes,

Often pointing to the white clouds as her linen which she had put out to bleach.

When long raystrips of cloud drifted across the sky,

They said she was weaving,

For she was supposed to be also a very diligent weaver,

Spinner,

And housekeeper.

It is said she gave flax to mankind and taught them how to use it,

And in the Tyrol the following story is told about the way in which she bestowed this invaluable gift.

There was once a peasant who daily left his wife and children in the valley to take his sheep up the mountain to pasture,

And as he watched his flock grazing on the mountainside,

He often had opportunity to use his crossbow and bring down a chamois,

Whose flesh would furnish his larder with food for many a day.

While pursuing a fine animal,

One day he saw disappear behind a boulder,

And when he came to the spot,

He was amazed to see a doorway in the neighboring glacier,

For in the excitement of the pursuit he had climbed higher and higher,

Until he was now at the top of the mountain where he glittered the everlasting snow.

The shepherd boldly passed through the open door and soon found himself in a wonderful jeweled cave hung with stalactites in the center of which stood a beautiful woman,

Clad in silvery robes and attended by a host of lovely maidens,

Crowned with alpine roses.

In his surprise,

The shepherd sank to his knees,

And as in a dream heard the queenly central figure bid him choose anything he saw to carry away with him.

Although dazzled by the glow of the precious stones around him,

The shepherd's eyes constantly reverted to a little nose-gay of blue flowers,

Which the gracious apparition held in her hand,

And he now timidly proffered a request that it might become his.

Smiling with pleasure,

Huala,

For it was she,

Gave it to him,

Telling him he had chosen wisely and would live as long as the flowers did not droop and fade.

Then giving the shepherd a measure of seed,

Which he told him to sow in his field,

The goddess bade him be gone,

And as the thunder peeled and the earth shook,

The poor man found himself out upon the mountainside once more,

And slowly winded his way home to his wife,

To whom he told his adventure,

And showed the lovely blue flowers and the measure of seed.

The woman reproached her husband bitterly for not having brought some of the precious stones,

Which he so glowingly described,

Instead of the blossoms and seed.

Nevertheless,

The man proceeded to sow the latter,

And he found to his surprise that the measure supplied seed enough for several acres.

Soon the little green shoots began to appear,

And one moonlight night,

While the peasant was gazing upon them,

As was his won't,

For he felt a curious attraction to the field,

Which he had sown,

And often lingered there,

Wondering what kind of grain would be produced.

He saw a misty form hover above the field,

With hands outstretched,

As if in blessing.

At last the field blossomed,

And countless little blue flowers opened their calyxes to the golden sun.

When the flowers had withered,

And the seed was ripe,

Holder came once more to teach the peasant and his wife how to harvest the flax,

For such it was from it to spin weave and bleach linen.

As the people of the neighborhood willingly purchased both linen and flax seed,

The peasant and his wife soon grew very rich indeed,

And while he plowed,

Sowed,

And harvested,

She spun,

Wove,

And bleached the linen.

The man lived to a good old age,

And saw his grandchildren and great-grandchildren grow up around him.

All this time his carefully-tosured bouquet had remained fresh as when he first brought it,

But one day he saw that during the night the flowers had drooped and were dying.

Knowing what this portended,

And that he too must die,

The peasant climbed the mountain once more to the glacier,

And found again the doorway for which he had often vainly searched.

He entered the icy portal,

And was never seen or heard of again,

For according to the legend,

The goddess took him under her care and bathed him live in her cave,

Where his every wish was gratified.

According to a medieval tradition,

Hulda dwelt in a cave in the Horselberg in Thuringia,

Where she was known as Frau Venus,

And was considered as an enchantress who lured mortals into her realm,

Where she detained them forever,

Steeping their senses in all manner of sensual pleasures.

The most famous of her victims was Tanhysa,

Who,

After he had lived under her spell for a season,

Experienced a revulsion of fueling,

Which loosened her bounds over her spirit and induced anxious thoughts concerning his soul.

He escaped from her power and hastened to Rome to confess his sins and seek absolution.

But when the Pope heard of his association with one of the pagan goddesses,

Whom the priests taught were nothing but demons,

He declared that the knight could no more hope for pardon than to see his staff bear buds and bloom.

Crushed with grief at this pronouncement,

Tanhysa fled,

And despite the entreaties of his faithful friend Eckhart,

No great time elapsed ere he returned to the Horselberg,

Where he vanished within the cave.

He had no sooner disappeared,

However,

Than the Pope's messengers arrived,

Proclaiming that he was pardoned,

For the withered staff had miraculously bloomed,

Thus proving to all that there was no sin to heinous to be pardoned,

Providing repitance were sincere.

Hulda was also the owner of a magic fountain called Quickborn,

Which rivaled the Fame Fountain of Youth,

And of a chariot in which he rode from place to place when she inspected her domain.

This vehicle,

Having once suffered damage,

The goddess bade a wheelwright repair it,

And when he had finished,

Told him to keep some chips as his pay.

The man was indignant at such a meager reward and kept only a very few of the number,

But to his surprise he found these on the morrow changed to gold.

The Saxon goddess Eastre,

Or Ostara,

Goddess of spring,

Whose name has survived in the English as the word Easter,

Is also identical with Frigga,

For she too is considered goddess of the earth,

Or rather of nature's resurrection after the long death of winter.

This gracious goddess was so dearly loved by the old Teutons that even after Christianity had been introduced,

They retained so pleasant a recollection of her that they refused to have her degraded by the rank of a demon.

Like many of their other divinities and transfer her name to the great Christian feast.

It had long been customary to celebrate this day by the exchange of presents of colored eggs,

For the egg is the type of beginning of life.

So the early Christians continued to observe this rule,

Declaring however that the egg is also symbolical of the resurrection.

In various parts of Germany,

Stone altars can still be seen which are known as Easter stones,

Because they were dedicated to the fair goddess Ostara.

They were crowned with flowers by the young people who danced gaily around them by the light of great bonfires,

A species of popular games practiced until the middle of the present century,

In spite of the priest denunciations and of the repeatedly published edicts against them.

In other parts of Germany,

Trigga,

Holda or Ostara is known by the name of Prechtta,

Bertha or the white lady.

She is best known under this title in Turinia,

Where she was supposed to dwell in a hollow mountain,

Keeping watch over the heimchen,

Souls of unborn children and of those who died unbaptized.

Here Bertha watched over agriculture,

Caring for the plants,

Which her infant trip watered carefully,

For each babe was supposed to carry a little jar for that express purpose.

While the goddess was duly respected and her retreat unmolested,

She remained where she was,

But tradition relates that she once left the country with her infant train dragging her plough and settled elsewhere to continue to her kind ministrations.

Bertha is the legendary ancestress of several noble families and she is supposed to be the same as the industrious queen of the same name,

The mythical mother of Charlemagne,

Whose era has become proverbial.

When speaking of the golden age in France and Germany,

It is customary to say in the days when Bertha spun.

As this Bertha is supposed to have developed a very large and flat foot,

From continually pressing the treadle of her wheel she is often represented in medieval art as a woman with a splay foot and hence known as la reine de Pédacles.

As ancestress of the Imperial House of Germany,

The white lady is supposed to appear in the palace before a death or misfortune in the family and this superstition is still so rife in Germany that newspapers in 1884 contain the official report of a sentinel who declared that he had seen her flit past him in one of the palace corridors.

As Bertha was renowned for her spinning,

She naturally was regarded as a special patroness of the branch of female industry and was said to flit through the streets of every village at nightfall during the twelve nights between Christmas and January 6,

Peering into every window to inspect the spinning of the household.

The maidens,

Whose work had been carefully performed,

Were rewarded by a present of one of her own golden threads or this staff full of extra fine flax,

But wherever a kelly spinner was found her wheel was broken,

A flax soiled,

And if she had failed to honor the goddess by eating plenty of the cakes baked at that period of the year she was cruelly punished.

In Mecklenburg,

This same goddess is known as Hraugode or Vode,

The female form of Votan or Odin,

And her appearance is always considered the harbinger of great prosperity.

She is also supposed to be a great huntress and to lead the wild hunt,

Mounted upon a white horse,

Her attendance being changed into hounds and all manner of wild beasts.

In the Netherlands she was called Fraude,

From her the Milky Way is known by the Dutch as Fraudensstraat,

While in parts of northern Germany she was called Nertus,

Mother Earth.

A sacred car was kept on an island,

Presumably Rügen,

Where the priest guarded it carefully until she appeared to take a yearly journey throughout her realm to bless the land.

The goddess,

Her face completely hidden by a thick veil,

Then sat in this car which was drawn by two cows,

And she was respectfully escorted by her priests.

When she passed,

The people did homage by seizing all warfare and laying aside their weapons.

They donned festivates and began no quarrel until the goddess had again retired to her sanctuary.

Then both car and goddess were bathed in a secret lake,

The Schwarze See in Rügen,

Which swallowed up the slaves who had assisted at the bathing,

And once more the priests resumed their watch over the sanctuary in grove of Nertus or Rügen to await her next appearance.

In Scandinavia this goddess was also known as Hildra and boasted of a train of attendant woodnips who sometimes sought the society of mortals to enjoy a dance upon the village green.

They could always be detected,

However,

By the tip of a cow's tail which trailed from beneath their long snow-white garments.

These Hildra folk were the special protectors of the cattle on the mountain sides and were said to surprise the lonely traveler times by the marvelous beauty of the melodies they sang to beguile the hours at their tasks.

Thank you so much for listening,

If you're still awake that is.

I will meet you next time when we will be talking about Thor the god of thunder.

Until then,

Good night and get a good rest as you listen to the sounds of the winter in the universe of the North's gods.

Good night and get a good rest as you listen to the sounds of the winter in the.

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Reviews

I’m writing this the morning after listening. Thank you for the sleep aid!

I love your stories!! Can you do Greek mythology??

Great story! I did doze off. Thank you for telling the story of Frigga.

Really interesting and enjoyable!

Bernard is my favourite story guy! I love hearing about Norse mythology and he inspired me to watch the amazing Vikings series. Cant wait to hear about Thor 😊