Asatru Folk Assembly - January 07, 2024


Odin Goes to Mimir's Well： His Sacrifice for Wisdom (Academy Storytime)


Episode Stats


Length

8 minutes

Words per minute

158.23

Word count

1,320

Sentence count

81

Harmful content

Hate speech

7

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

In this episode, I read from The Children of Odin: His Sacrifice for Wisdom by Padraic Kallam. It's a great book to introduce your kids to our faith, and I hope you enjoy it!

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hello, everyone. Happy Friday. Today, I'm Dean Stan of the Austro Folk Academy. Today,
00:00:29.040 I'm going to be reading out of The Children of Odin, Nordic Gods and Heroes by Padraic
00:00:34.740 Kallam. Perhaps you've heard our Witten Cliff Erickson recommend this book. It's a great
00:00:41.640 little book to introduce your kids to our faith. So today I'm going to be reading Odin
00:00:49.780 Goes to Mimir's Well, His Sacrifice for Wisdom. And as you can see, there's some pictures there
00:00:58.320 of the Allfather?
00:01:03.140 And so Odin, no longer riding on Sleitner, his eight-legged steed, no longer wearing
00:01:09.340 his golden armor and his eagle helmet, without even his spear in his hand, traveled through
00:01:15.480 Midgard, the world of men, and made his way towards Jotunheim, the realm of the giants.
00:01:21.740 No longer was he called Odin Allfather, but Vegtam, the Wanderer.
00:01:25.940 He wore a cloak of dark blue, and he carried a traveler's staff in his hands.
00:01:30.940 Now, as he went towards Memer's Well, which was near to Jotunheim, he came upon a giant riding on a great stag.
00:01:37.940 Odin seemed a man to men and a giant to giants.
00:01:42.940 He went beside the giant on the great stag, and the two talked together.
00:01:46.940 Who art thou, brother? Odin asked the giant.
00:01:49.940 the giant. I am Vathrudner, the wisest of the giants, said the one who was riding on the stag.
00:01:57.280 Odin knew him then. Vathrudner was indeed the wisest of the giants, and many went to strive
00:02:03.500 to gain wisdom from him. But those who went to him had to answer the riddles Vathrudner asked,
00:02:11.580 and if they failed to answer, the giant took their heads off. I am Vagtan, the wanderer,
00:02:17.040 Odin said, and I know who thou art, O Vafrudner. I would strive to learn something from thee.
00:02:23.700 The giant laughed, showing his teeth. Ho, ho, he said, I am ready for a game with thee.
00:02:30.440 Dost thou know the stakes? My head to thee, if I cannot answer any question thou wilt ask.
00:02:36.520 And if thou canst not answer any question that I may ask, then thy head goes to me. Ho, ho, ho,
00:02:43.700 and now let us begin. I am ready, Odin said. Then tell me, said Vathrudner, tell me the name of the
00:02:52.340 river that divides Asgard from Jotunheim. Ifling is the name of that river, said Odin. Ifling that
00:02:59.280 is dead cold yet never frozen. Thou hast answered rightly, O wanderer, said the giant. But thou
00:03:07.460 hast still to answer other questions. What are the names of the horses that day and night drive
00:03:12.660 across the sky. Skinfaxi and Hrimfaxi, Odin answered. Vathrudner was startled to hear one
00:03:21.180 say the names that were known only to the gods and to the wisest of the giants. There was only
00:03:26.920 one question now that he might ask before it came to the stranger's turn to ask him questions.
00:03:32.960 Tell me, said Vathrudner, what is the name of the plain on which the last battle will be fought?
00:03:39.780 The plane of Veigard, said Odin, the plane that is a hundred miles long and a hundred miles across.
00:03:46.380 It was now Odin's turn to ask Vathrudner questions.
00:03:51.180 What will be the last words that Odin will whisper into the ear of Baldr, his dear son, he asked.
00:03:57.100 Very startled was the giant Vathrudner at that question.
00:04:00.840 He sprang to the ground and looked at the stranger keenly.
00:04:04.140 Only Odin knows what his last words to Baldr will be, he said.
00:04:08.040 and only Odin would have asked that question. Thou art Odin, O wanderer, and thy question I
00:04:14.200 cannot answer. Then said Odin, if thou wouldst keep thy head, answer me this. What price will
00:04:21.240 Mimir ask for a draught from the well of wisdom that he guards? He will ask thy right eye as a 0.94
00:04:29.180 price, O Odin, said Vathrudner. Will he ask no less a price than that, said Odin? He will ask
00:04:36.540 no less a price. Many have come to him for a draught from the Well of Wisdom, but no one yet
00:04:41.800 has given the price, Mimir asks. I have answered thy questions, O Odin. Now give up thy claim to
00:04:47.940 my head, and let me go on my way. I give up my claim to thy head, said Odin. Then Vathrudner,
00:04:54.580 the wisest of the giants, went on his way, riding on his great stag. It was a terrible price that
00:05:02.020 Mimir would ask for a drop from the Well of Wisdom, and very troubled was Odin Allfather
00:05:06.620 when it was revealed to him. His right eye, for all time to be without the sight of his right eye.
00:05:13.820 Almost he would have turned back to Asgard, giving up his quest for wisdom.
00:05:18.280 He went on, turning neither to Asgard nor to Mimir's Well, and when he went towards the south,
00:05:24.460 he saw Muspelheim, where stood Surtur with the flaming sword, a terrible figure. He would one
00:05:30.300 day joined the giants in their war against the gods. And when he turned north, he heard the
00:05:35.440 roaring of the cauldron to their Gelmer, as it poured itself out of Niflheim, the place of 0.79
00:05:41.300 darkness and dread. And Odin knew that the world must not be left between Surtur, who would destroy 0.99
00:05:47.140 it with fire, and Niflheim, that would gather it back into darkness and nothingness. He, the eldest 0.69
00:05:54.700 of the gods, would have to win the wisdom that would help save the world. And so, with his face
00:06:00.820 stern in front of his loss and pain, Odin Allfather turned and went towards Mimir's well.
00:06:06.820 It was under the great root of Yggdrasil, the root that grew out of Jotunheim. And there sat
00:06:13.060 Mimir, the guardian of the well of wisdom, with his deep eyes bent upon the deep water.
00:06:19.000 And Mimir, who had drunk every day from the well of wisdom, knew who it was that stood before him.
00:06:24.700 Hail Odin! Eldest of the gods, he said. Then Odin made reverence to Mimir, the wisest of the world's beings.
00:06:32.700 I would drink from your well, Mimir, he said. 0.89
00:06:35.700 There is a price to be paid. All who have come here to drink have shrunk from paying that price. Will you, eldest of the gods, pay it? 0.99
00:06:47.700 I will not shrink from the price that has to be paid, Mimir, said Odin Allfather.
00:06:52.700 Then drink, said Mimir. He filled up a great horn with water from the well and gave it to Odin.
00:06:59.020 Odin took the horn in both his hands and drank and drank, and as he drank, all the future became clear to him.
00:07:06.100 He saw all the sorrows and troubles that would fall upon men and gods, but he saw too why the sorrows and troubles had to fall,
00:07:14.180 and he saw how they might be born so that gods and men, by being noble in the days of sorrow and trouble,
00:07:20.760 would leave in the world a force that one day, a day that was far off indeed, would destroy the
00:07:26.780 evil that brought terror and sorrow and despair into the world. Then when he had drunk out of
00:07:32.800 that great horn that Mimir had given him, he put his hand to his face and he plucked out his right
00:07:37.780 eye. Terrible was the pain that Odin Allfather endured, but he made no groan nor moan. He bowed
00:07:44.540 his head and put his cloak before his face. 0.96
00:07:47.260 As Mimir took the eye and let it sink deep, deep into the water of the Well of Wisdom,
00:07:52.860 and there the eye of Odin stayed, shining up through the water, a sign to all who came
00:07:58.400 to that place of the price that the father of the gods had paid for his wisdom.
00:08:05.920 And that is the story of Odin Goes to Mimir's Well, his sacrifice for wisdom out of the
00:08:12.680 Children of Odin.
00:08:14.540 Pretty good book. Great introduction for kids to the faith.