Asatru Folk Assembly - February 14, 2024


The Fiddler of the Northern Lights (Academy Storytime)


Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

112.55

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 .

A mystery story about a boy and his grandfather and the adventure they have together in the middle of winter in the far north. The story is called The Fiddler of the Northern Lights by Leslie Bowman and written by an 8 year old boy named Henry.

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.