Hero Tales

by James Baldwin

  IDUN AND HER APPLES

  THE STORY TOLD IN AEGIR'S HALL

  Idun is Bragi's wife. Very handsome is she; but the beauty of her faceis by no means greater than the goodness of her heart. Right attentiveis she to every duty, and her words and thoughts are always worthy andwise. A long time ago the good Asa-folk who dwell in heaven-toweringAsgard, knowing how trustworthy Idun was, gave into her keeping atreasure which they would not have placed in the hands of any otherperson. This treasure was a box of apples, and Idun kept the goldenkey safely fastened to her girdle. You ask me why these folk shouldprize a box of apples so highly? I will tell you.

  Old age, you know, spares none, not even Odin and his Asa-folk. Theyall grow old and gray; and, if there were no cure for age, they wouldbecome feeble, and toothless and blind, deaf, tottering, andweak-minded. The apples which Idun guarded so carefully were thepriceless boon of youth. Whenever the Asas felt old age coming on,they went to her, and she gave them of her fruit; and, when they hadtasted, they grew young and strong and handsome again. Once, however,they came near losing the apples,--or losing rather Idun and her goldenkey, without which no one could ever open the box.

  In those early days Odin delighted to come down now and then from hishigh home above the clouds, and to wander, disguised, among the woodsand mountains, and by the seashore, and in wild desert places. Fornothing pleases him more than to commune with Nature as she is found inthe loneliness of vast solitudes, or in the boisterous uproar of theelements. 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 barrenshores of the great frozen sea. In that country there was no game, andno fish were found in the cold waters; and the three wanderers, as theyhad brought no food with them, became very hungry. Late in theafternoon of the seventh day, they reached some pasture lands belongingto the giant Hymer, and saw a herd of the giants cattle browsing uponthe short grass which grew in the sheltered nooks among the hills.

  "Ah!" cried Loki; "after fasting for a week we shall now have food inabundance. Let us kill and eat."

  So saying, he hurled a sharp stone at the fattest of Hymer's cows, andkilled her; and the three quickly dressed the choicest pieces of fleshfor their supper. Then Loki gathered twigs and dry grass, and kindleda blazing fire; Hoenir filled the pot with water from melted ice; andOdin threw into it the bits of tender meat. But, make the fire as hotas they would, the water would not boil, and the flesh would not cook.

  All night long the supperless three sat hungry around the fire; and,every time they peeped into the kettle, the meat was as raw andgustless as before. Morning came, but no breakfast. And all day longLoki kept stirring the fire, and Odin and Hoenir waited hopefully butimpatiently. When the sun again went down, the flesh was stilluncooked, and their supper seemed no nearer ready than it was the nightbefore. As they were about yielding to despair, they heard a noiseoverhead; and, looking up, they saw a huge gray eagle sitting on thedead branch of an oak.

  "Ha, ha!" cried the bird. "You are pretty fellows indeed! To sithungry by the fire a night and a day, rather than eat raw flesh,becomes you well. Do but give me my share of it as it is, and Iwarrant you the rest shall boil, and you shall have a fat supper."

  "Agreed," answered Loki eagerly. "Come down and get your share."

  The eagle waited for no second asking. Down he swooped right over theblazing fire, and snatched not only the eagle's share, but also whatthe Lybians call the lion's share; that is, he grasped in his strongtalons the kettle, with all the meat in it, and, flapping his hugewings, slowly rose into the air, carrying his booty with him. Thethree Asas were astonished. Loki was filled with anger. He seized along pole, upon the end of which a sharp hook was fixed, and struck atthe treacherous bird. The hook stuck fast in the eagle's back, andLoki could not loose his hold of the other end of the pole. The greatbird soared high above the tree-tops, and over the hills, and carriedthe astonished mischief-maker with him.

  But it was no eagle. It was no bird that had thus outwitted the hungryAsas: it was the giant Old Winter, clothed in his eagle plumage. Overthe lonely woods, and the snow-crowned mountains, and the frozen sea,he flew, dragging the helpless Loki through tree-tops, and over jaggedrocks, scratching and bruising his body, and almost tearing his armsfrom his shoulders. At last he alighted on the craggy top of aniceberg, where the storm winds shrieked, and the air was filled withdriving snow. As soon as Loki could speak, he begged the cunning giantto carry him back to his comrades,---Odin and Hoenir.

  "On one condition only will I carry you back," answered Old Winter."Swear to me that you will betray into my hands Dame Idun and hergolden key."

  Loki asked no questions, but gladly gave the oath; and the giant flewback with him across the sea, and dropped him, torn and bleeding andlame, by the side of the fire, where Odin and Hoenir still lingered.And the three made all haste to leave that cheerless place, andreturned to Odin's glad home in Asgard.

  Some weeks after this, Loki, the Prince of Mischief-makers, went toBragi's house to see Idun. He found her busied with her householdcares, not thinking of a visit from anyone.

  "I have come, good dame," said he, "to taste your apples again; for Ifeel old age coming on apace."

  Idun was astonished.

  "You are not looking old," she answered. "There is not a single grayhair upon your head, and not a wrinkle on your brow. If it were notfor that scar upon your cheek, and the arm which you carry in a sling,you would look as stout and as well as I have ever seen you. Besides,I remember that it was only a year ago when you last tasted of myfruit. Is it possible that a single winter should make you old?"

  "A single winter has made me very lame and feeble at least," said Loki."I have been scarcely able to walk about since my return from theNorth. Another winter without a taste of your apples will be the deathof me."

  Then the kind-hearted Idun, when she saw that Loki was really lame,went to the box, and opened it with her golden key, and gave him one ofthe precious apples to taste. He took the fruit in his hand, bit it,and gave it back to the good dame. She put it in its place again,closed the lid, and locked it with her usual care.

  "Your apples are not so good as they used to be," said Loki, making avery wry face. "Why don't you fill your box with fresh fruit?"

  Idun was amazed. Her apples were supposed to be always fresh,--fresherby far than any that grow nowadays. None of the Asas had ever beforecomplained about them; and she told Loki so.

  "Very well," said he. "I see you do not believe me, and that you meanto feed us on your sour, withered apples, when we might as well havegolden fruit. If you were not so bent on having your own way, I couldtell you where you might fill your box with the choicest of apples,such as Odin loves. I saw them in the forest over yonder, hanging ripeon the trees. But women will always have their own way; and you musthave yours, even though you do feed us on withered apples."

  So saying, and without waiting to hear an answer, he limped out at thedoor, and was soon gone from sight.

  Idun thought long and anxiously upon the words which Loki had spoken;and, the more she thought, the more she felt troubled. If her husband,the wise Bragi, had been at home, what would she not have given? Hewould have understood the mischief-maker's cunning. But he had gone ona long journey to the South, singing in Nature's choir and paintingNature's landscapes, and she would not see him again until the returnof spring. At length she opened the box, and looked at the fruit. Theapples were certainly fair and round: she could not see a wrinkle or ablemish on any of them; their color was the same golden-red,--like thesky at dawn of a summer's day; yet she thought there must be somethingwrong about them. She took up one of the apples, and tasted it. Shefancied that it really was sour, and she hastily put it back, andlocked the box again.

  "He said that he had seen better apples than these growing in thewoods," said she to herself. "I half believe that he told the truth,although everybody knows that he is not always
trustworthy. I think Ishall go to the forest and see for myself, at any rate."

  So she donned her cloak and hood, and, with a basket on her arm, leftthe house, and walked rapidly away, along the road which led to theforest. It was much farther than she had thought, and the sun wasalmost down when she reached the edge of the wood. But no apple treeswere there. Tall oaks stretched their bare arms up toward the sky, asif praying for help. There were thorn trees and brambles everywhere;but there was no fruit, neither were there any flowers, nor even greenleaves. The Frost-giants had been there.

  Idun was about to turn her footsteps homeward, when she heard a wildshriek in the tree-tops over her head; and, before she could look up,she felt herself seized in the eagle talons of Old Winter. Struggle asshe would, she could not free herself. High up, over wood and stream,the giant carried her; and then he flew swiftly away with her, towardhis home in the chill Northland; and, when morning came, poor Idunfound herself in an ice-walled castle in the cheerless country of thegiants. But she was glad to know that the precious box was safelylocked at home, and that the golden key was still at her girdle.

  Time passed; and I fear that Idun would have been forgotten by all,save her husband Bragi, had not the Asas begun to feel the need of herapples. Day after day they came to Idun's house, hoping to find thegood dame and her golden key at home; and each day they went away somehours older than when they had come. No one had seen the missing Idunsince the day when Loki had visited her, and none could guess what hadbecome of her. The heads of all the folk grew white with age; deepfurrows were ploughed in their faces; their eyes grew dim, and theirhearing failed; their hands trembled; their limbs became palsied; theirfeet tottered; and all feared that Old Age would bring Death in histrain.

  Then Bragi and Thor questioned Loki very sharply; and when he felt thathe, too, was growing old and feeble, he regretted the mischief he haddone, and told them how he had decoyed Idun into Old Winter's clutches.The Asas were very angry; and Thor threatened to crush Loki with hishammer, if he did not at once bring Idun safe home again.

  So Loki borrowed the falcon plumage of Freyja, the queen of love, andwith it flew to the country of the giants. When he reached OldWinter's castle, he found the good dame Idun shut up in the prisontower and bound with fetters of ice; but the giant himself was on thefrozen sea, herding Old Hymer's cows, the cold icebergs. Loki quicklybroke the bonds that held Idun, and led her out of her prison house;and then he shut her up in a magic nut-shell which he held between hisclaws, and flew with the speed of the wind back toward the Southlandand the home of the Asas. But Old Winter coming home, and learningwhat had been done, donned his eagle plumage and followed swiftly inpursuit.

  Bragi and Thor, anxiously gazing into the sky, saw Loki, in Freyja'sfalcon plumage, speeding homeward, with the nut-shell in his talons,and Old Winter, in his eagle plumage, dashing after in sharp pursuit.Quickly they gathered chips and slender twigs, and placed them highupon the castle wall; and, when Loki with his precious burden had flownpast, they touched fire to the dry heap, and the flames blazed up tothe sky, and caught Old Winter's plumage, as, close behind the falcon,he blindly pressed. And his wings were scorched in the flames; and hefell helpless to the ground, and was slain within the castle gates.Loki slackened his speed; and, when he reached Bragi's house, hedropped the nut-shell softly before the door. As it touched theground, it gently opened, and Idun, radiant with smiles, and clothed ingay attire, stepped forth, and greeted her husband and his waitingfriends. The heavenly music of Bragi's long-silent harp welcomed herhome; and she took the golden key from her girdle, and unlocked thebox, and gave of her apples to the aged company; and, when they hadtasted, their youth was renewed.

  It is thus with the seasons and their varied changes. The gifts ofSpring are youth and jollity, and renewed strength; and the music orair and water and all things, living and lifeless, follow in her train.The desolating Winter plots to steal her from the earth, and theSummer-heat deserts and betrays her. Then the music of Nature ishushed, and all creatures pine in sorrow for her absence, and the worldseems dying of white Old Age. But at length the Summer-heat repents,and frees her from her prison house; the icy fetters with which OldWinter bound her are melted in the beams of the returning sun, and theearth is young again.