Asatru Folk Assembly - February 14, 2024


The Fiddler of the Northern Lights (Academy Storytime)


Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

112.55428

Word count

1,892

Sentence count

104

Harmful content

Misogyny

1

sentences flagged


Summary

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

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
00:00:00.000 hi boys and girls and welcome to another story time with get the issue of mcnallan
00:00:25.120 Not long ago, I read you the story of the hat, a cute story, but a silly story about animals.
00:00:32.520 This one's going to be far more real. It could actually happen. Maybe. It's a mystery story,
00:00:39.140 an adventure story about a little boy and a very special person in his life who is his grandfather
00:00:44.360 and the adventure they have together. It takes place in the far north in the middle of winter.
00:00:50.780 In fact, I think it was probably January, as I will tell you why at the very end of the story.
00:00:57.480 My story is called The Fiddler of the Northern Lights by Leslie Bowman.
00:01:10.720 Take a look at those pictures. See the colors?
00:01:13.760 I read in the news today that there's a chance that some of you, those of you who live in the
00:01:22.760 north or up in Canada or up in Alaska, might actually see the Northern Lights tonight. It
00:01:29.420 won't look like the moon or the stars or clouds. It'll look like waves of color across the sky
00:01:36.200 moving gently and it is called the northern lights and this is what it
00:01:42.360 could look like our story begins
00:01:56.440 far to the north where wolves howl at the moon and the stars hang so low and
00:02:03.500 bright. It seems as if you could hop from one to the other like rocks in a stream.
00:02:09.020 The old folks say that strange and wondrous things sometimes happen.
00:02:25.580 The Pepin family lived in the north woods along the wild St. Maurice River. Mama,
00:02:31.660 Papa, Armand, Elise, and Henry, who was eight years old. So far, nothing strange or wondrous
00:02:37.900 had happened to Henry, but he knew something might because Grandpa Pepin had told him so.
00:02:45.420 Who do you think that is? There we go.
00:02:53.980 Henry loved the little cabin in the wild tumbling river that was never out of ear or out of mind,
00:03:00.940 but most of all he loved when grandpa pepin came whistling through the woods for a visit
00:03:05.980 the dark winter days didn't seem so long or so lonely when grandpa pepin was there
00:03:12.140 telling his stories of the north woods legends he'd heard as a boy of the great white owl the
00:03:19.740 le beau blanc or the terrible loop garu half man and half wolf there's the owl there's
00:03:29.900 some of grandpa's stories were scary and some were not but Henry knew them all by heart did
00:03:47.000 you know that rabbits come out to dance on moonlit nights Henry asked Armand when they were ice
00:03:52.400 fishing at the trout holes. Who told you that, our mom said. Grandpa Pepin. Grandpa
00:03:59.460 Pepin is just making that up, our mom said. Don't believe any of his stories.
00:04:05.600 There are the boys fishing through the ice.
00:04:11.960 You know what makes the Northern Lights dance? Henry asked Mama and Elise when
00:04:17.160 were carrying in armloads of wood. Mama and Elise didn't know. Magic, said Henry, and the fiddler.
00:04:26.200 Fiddler, Elise asked. When grandpa was a boy, Henry said, the old folk of the village told
00:04:32.520 of a fiddler who lives where the northern lights are born. And when he plays his fiddle,
00:04:38.680 He rouses lights from sleep and they dance to his music.
00:04:43.800 Oh, Henry, said Mama.
00:04:47.140 That's just some of Grandpa's stories.
00:05:02.640 Henry ran all the way to Grandpa's cabin.
00:05:05.020 The fiddler is real, isn't he, Grandpa?
00:05:07.820 Why, of course he is, Grandpa said, but most people never see him.
00:05:12.660 I wish I could see him, Henry said.
00:05:15.340 Couldn't we look for him sometime, just you and me?
00:05:21.040 Grandpa's thinking.
00:05:23.120 The next night, Grandpa brought skates he'd made from wood and barrel hoops.
00:05:29.300 We're going on an adventure, Grandpa said.
00:05:33.520 At night? Henry asked. Sure, said Grandpa. Night is the best time for adventure when
00:05:43.640 there's a touch of magic in the air. We're going, Grandpa. To look for the fiddler, said
00:05:51.480 grandpa. Take a look at this.
00:06:02.920 Henry and grandpa strapped the skates to their boots and swooped up the frozen
00:06:09.720 river. The forest and the sky seemed so large and dark like the mouth of the
00:06:15.320 terrible Luke Garoo, half man half wolf, ready to swallow them. Henry skated very
00:06:22.400 close to Grandpa. Have you ever seen the Fiddler? Henry asked. Not yet, said
00:06:29.100 Grandpa, but maybe we will tonight. The frozen river was black and smooth like a
00:06:34.920 mirror. Stars glittered in the ice. Henry skated from one to the other, following
00:06:42.120 the stars north you can actually see the stars in the sky too reflected in the
00:06:50.520 river the fiddler must be plucked the fiddler must be playing grandpa said see
00:07:05.360 the northern lights are beginning to dance the ice shown with the colors of
00:07:10.020 the sky, purple and red and green. Henry and Grandpa skated for miles on that
00:07:16.140 ribbon of sparkling dancing light. They're actually on the ice. The ice is
00:07:25.740 the color of the northern lights.
00:07:33.160 Take a look.
00:07:39.660 Henry had never been so far up the river.
00:07:42.420 Once or twice he thought he heard music, but he never saw the fiddler.
00:07:46.960 Finally Grandpa stopped.
00:07:49.540 Oh, I'll just rest for a few minutes, Grandpa said.
00:07:52.960 He sat down and closed his eyes.
00:07:55.740 he looks old Henry thought Henry watched the lights fade and the river became just
00:08:05.060 a river again black and smooth Henry felt tired too and a little sad the
00:08:11.980 fiddler must have just been one of grandpa's stories after all we should be
00:08:17.220 getting home grandpa said they'll be wondering where we are I'm sorry we
00:08:21.540 didn't find the fiddler
00:08:25.740 It was very late before they got back home. Mama gave them both some hot tea and a good
00:08:36.740 scolding. 0.60
00:08:37.740 You had us worried sick, Mama said. Where were you?
00:08:41.740 I'm sorry, Angeline, Papa said tiredly. We shouldn't have gone so far up the river.
00:08:47.740 We went to find the fiddler, Henry said.
00:08:50.740 Oh, Pa, Mama said to Grandpa, I never want to hear another one of your wild stories.
00:08:59.260 There was a knock at the door.
00:09:05.060 Mercy, said Mama.
00:09:07.900 Who else could be out so late on such a cold night?
00:09:12.960 So there they are, having their tea, and there is who's at the door.
00:09:21.300 A stranger stood in the darkness, his long white beard hung down to his waist, and his
00:09:28.000 blue eyes sparkled like stars, and under one arm he carried a long black box.
00:09:34.680 So, playing tonight, and I was hoping to warm myself by your fire.
00:09:44.680 Papa told him to come on in, and Mama fixed him some hot tea, too.
00:09:48.680 What were you playing, Henry asked.
00:09:51.680 My fiddle, the stranger said.
00:09:54.680 Would you like to hear it?
00:09:56.680 Henry and Grandpa smiled at each other.
00:10:00.680 We sure would, said Grandpa.
00:10:03.680 The stranger opened the box and picked up a black fiddle
00:10:07.900 that gleamed in the firelight.
00:10:18.800 We followed the lights up the river, Henry said.
00:10:21.560 Can you make them come out again tonight?
00:10:24.700 The fiddler lifted his fiddle to his chin
00:10:27.800 and he began to play.
00:10:31.260 Again, there he is.
00:10:33.680 Oh my, look at that.
00:10:45.740 The song that poured from the fiddle was as sweet and clear as a mountain stream.
00:10:51.700 As it flowed out into the night, filling up the dark spaces of the sky, the northern lights
00:10:58.480 began to dance.
00:11:01.100 began to gather around the cabin, neighbors coming from up and down the river. No one
00:11:07.280 and all the wild St. Maurice had ever heard such music, and all who listened knew that
00:11:14.200 they would never hear such music again. The bright lights leaped from the darkness, spinning
00:11:20.260 and twirling like dancers in their finest gowns, and when the neighbors saw how the lights
00:11:25.980 swayed to the music. They were frightened. Don't be afraid, the fiddler said. I shall
00:11:32.600 play my fiddle and you shall dance all night.
00:11:38.600 Soon people filled the cabin to bursting.
00:11:58.200 Chairs and stools were pushed aside to make a dancing floor.
00:12:02.200 The walls rattled with a thumping of feet and the fiddler's music, while the northern
00:12:06.960 lights burned overhead on and on he played all through the night until they
00:12:15.300 could dance no more look at those happy people enjoying the time together the
00:12:27.820 music slowed as sad and lonesome as a wolf howl and when it stopped the
00:12:34.680 lights took one last bow and then they were gone. The sun will soon be rising,
00:12:42.300 the fiddler said. The dance is over and I must be on my way. He turned toward the
00:12:48.360 north and Grandpa and Henry watched as he disappeared into the woods.
00:13:04.680 Off to bed with you, Mama said, hugging Henry, and then she hugged Grandpa too.
00:13:12.800 Ha, I'll never say another word about your wild stories, she said.
00:13:18.340 You know, Grandpa said, I didn't leave my wild stories either until now, and they all
00:13:24.300 laughed.
00:13:27.400 Henry never saw the fiddler again, and here they are at night.
00:13:35.640 but to this day when the northern lights are sweeping across the sky there are old folk
00:13:41.960 along the saint maurice river who say that when the wind is just right you can hear the sound of a
00:13:50.360 fiddle as for grandpa's other stories well henry still hasn't seen the rabbit's dance
00:14:03.480 but on moonlit nights he fills his pockets with carrots just in case and there are the rabbits
00:14:14.920 all right so everybody i want you to think about this if this was a january story it sure sounds
00:14:23.000 like thor bloat to me that is what we celebrate in january we come together sometimes in our homes
00:14:29.320 and sometimes at our hafs and we eat well and we we play games and we listen to music and we might
00:14:36.760 even dance like the people here in this story if you don't celebrate Thor bloat with your family
00:14:42.600 do it next year plan it next year so that you can have a night like those people who had the gift
00:14:49.720 of the fiddler who came out of the woods played the fiddle and gave them the northern lights if
00:14:56.280 you see the northern lights tonight listen for the fiddle you might just hear it in the wind
00:15:02.520 in the trees and as for the fiddler in our own story in our own lore with our god odin
00:15:10.440 odin is a shape changer he doesn't always have to look as if we see him with one eye he might
00:15:17.320 have two blue eyes he could have a long white beard he could be playing the fiddle because
00:15:21.960 odin can be where he wants and do what he wants and he might just come around to play the fiddle
00:15:28.840 and bring the northern lights overhead over your homes so you can enjoy january like they did in
00:15:36.760 this story the fiddler of the northern lights ask your parents about the northern lights there really
00:15:43.080 is a science reason for it but i love the magical reason for this nothing like having a fiddler
00:15:48.600 play music in the middle of winter thank you for listening to my story I hope you liked it
00:15:55.780 again it's one of my favorites I hope you remember it and tell your own children about
00:16:00.620 the fiddler the northern lights if you ever see them thanks and I'll see you soon bye
00:16:18.600 We'll be right back.