Thor Speaks! by Vicky Alvear Shecter
Author:Vicky Alvear Shecter
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Boyds Mills Press
THE REALM OF THE GODS
WAIT, YOU WON’T STEP on our rainbow bridge because your science teacher says rainbows are nothing more than light refracting off water droplets?
Oh, please! Everyone knows rainbows are real and full of sparkling magic—especially our rainbow bridge, Bifrost. How else do you think we gods travel back and forth between Midgard and Asgard? And some people call me dumb. Honestly.
But, if you insist, you can stay on the chariot. I myself like to walk on Bifrost because, seriously, who wouldn’t like to hop amongst the colors? My favorite rainbow color is red, because it reminds me of blood in battle. No . . . no, my favorite color is actually yellow, because it makes me think of mead. And with mead usually comes good food. It takes a lot of grub to keep my muscles impressively big, you know.
Anyway, that guy standing at the end of the bridge is Heimdall, the guardian. Be careful when you look at him—if he smiles at you, he’ll blind you with his golden teeth.
Heimdall’s job is to make sure no giants enter our realm. We hate giants, remember? It’s a good thing you mortals are so tiny—he’ll never mistake you for one of those enormous trolls, so you’re safe from him trying to stomp you like a bug.
Blowing that ginormous horn he holds in his hand is how Heimdall will signal Ragnarök, the end of times. Hopefully, he won’t be using it anytime soon.
As Heimdall allows us through, you will see that we’ve entered a land of wild forests and endless green growth. We’ve landed in Vanaheim, home of the Vanir, gods of nature and fertility. They live up here with us Aesir gods in their own section of Asgard. We once fought against the Vanir and made peace by spitting into a vat together and creating Kvasir (remember him?).
Look, here come two of the most famous gods of the Vanir—Frey and his sister Freya. As the gods of fertility and growth, Frey and Freya emanate warm sunlight and the smell of green earth.
Two cats pull Freya’s chariot. Cats! These are no ordinary house kitties, either. They are the strong, sleek, wild cats native to Scandinavia. Freya is also the goddess of both love and war. Love poetry was often dedicated to her.
As for the war part, Freya took half the fallen on the battlefield, while the Valkyries—she-warriors on horses—took the other half to Odin. Everyone knows Odin keeps those warriors in fighting shape for Ragnarök, but no one knows what Freya does with them. And everybody is either too wowed by her beauty or too scared of her power to ask!
Meanwhile, a golden pig pulls her brother Frey’s chariot. The same dwarves that made my hammer made his porcine puller. Frey is in charge of the dwarves and elves—which must be the reason why they also gave him the ship that folds into his pocket and the magic sword that fights on its own, which really makes no sense to me.
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