Asatru Folk Assembly - The White Snake (Academy Storytime)

00:00:00.000 All right, so we're going to be reading The White Snake from Grimm's Fairy Tales.

00:00:28.220 a long time ago there lived a king whose wisdom was noised abroad in all the country nothing

00:00:37.700 remained long unknown to him and it was as if the knowledge of hidden things was brought to him

00:00:43.700 in the air however he had one curious custom every day at dinner after the table had been cleared

00:00:51.420 and everyone gone away the trusty servant had to bring in one other dish but it was covered up

00:00:58.520 and the servant himself did not know what was in it and no one else knew where the king waited

00:01:04.440 until he was quite alone before he uncovered it this had gone on a long time but at last there

00:01:12.320 came a day when the servant could restrain his curiosity no longer but as he was carrying the

00:01:17.880 dish away he took it into his own room as soon as he fastened the door securely he lifted the cover

00:01:24.620 and there he saw a white snake lying on the dish after seeing it he could not resist the desire to

00:01:32.560 taste it and so he cut off a small piece and put it in his mouth as soon as it touched his tongue

00:01:39.860 he heard outside his window a strange chorus of delicate voices he went and listened and found

00:01:46.800 that in it was the sparrows talking together and telling each other all they had seen in the fields

00:01:53.020 and woods the virtue of the snake had given him power to understand the speech of animals

00:01:59.260 now it happened one day that the queen lost her most splendid ring

00:02:04.160 and suspicion fell upon the trusty servant who had the general superintendents and he was accused

00:02:11.720 of stealing it the king summoned him to his presence and after many reproaches told him

00:02:18.080 that if by the next day he was not able to name the thief he should be considered guilty and

00:02:23.400 punished it was in vain that he protested his innocence he could get no better sentence

00:02:29.380 in his uneasiness and anxiety he went out into the courtyard and began to consider what he could do

00:02:36.540 in so great a necessity there sat the ducks by the running water and rested themselves

00:02:42.900 and plumed themselves with their flat bills and held a comfortable chat the servant stayed there

00:02:51.160 where he was and listened to them they told how they had waddled about all yesterday morning and

00:02:57.660 found good food and then one of them said pitifully something lies very heavy in my craw

00:03:04.300 it is the ring that was lying under the queen's window i swallowed it down in too great a hurry

00:03:11.500 then the servant seized her by the neck took her into the kitchen and said to the cook kill this

00:03:17.960 one she is quite ready for cooking yes said the cook weighing it in her hand there will be no 0.98

00:03:23.860 trouble of fattening this one it has been ready ever so long she then slid up its neck

00:03:31.380 and when it was opened the queen's ring was found in his craw the servant could now clearly prove

00:03:40.340 his innocence in order to make up for the injustice he had suffered the king permitted

00:03:45.100 him to ask some favor for himself and also promised him the place of greatest honor in

00:03:50.440 the royal household but the servant refused it and only asked for a horse and money for traveling

00:03:57.580 for he had a fancy to see the world and look about him a little

00:04:02.820 so his request was granted and he set out on his way and one day he came to a pool of water by

00:04:10.600 which he saw three fishes who had gotten entangled in the rushes and were panting for water although

00:04:17.940 fishes are usually considered dumb creatures he understood very well their lament that they were

00:04:24.260 to perish so miserably. And as he had a compassionate heart, he dismounted from his 0.85

00:04:29.760 horse and put the three fishes back again into the water. They quivered all over with joy,

00:04:36.200 stretched out their heads, and called to him, We will remember and reward thee,

00:04:40.820 because thou hast delivered us. He rode on, and after a while he heard a small voice come up from

00:04:47.780 the sand underneath his horse's feet. He listened and understood how an ant king was complaining.

00:04:53.300 if only these men would keep off with their great awkward beasts here comes this stupid horse 1.00

00:05:00.060 treading down my people with his hard hoofs the man then turned his horse to the side path and 1.00

00:05:06.280 the ant king called out to him we will remember and reward thee the path led him through a wood

00:05:13.380 and there he saw father raven and mother raven standing by their nest and throwing their young

00:05:18.620 ones out off with you young gallows birds cried they we cannot stuff you anymore you are big

00:05:25.700 enough to fend for yourselves the poor young ravens lay on the ground fluttering and beating

00:05:31.300 the air with their pinions and crying we are poor helpless things we cannot fend for ourselves we

00:05:37.080 cannot even fly we can only die of hunger the kind young man dismounted killed his horse with

00:05:44.220 his dagger and left it to the young ravens for food they came hopping up feasted away at it and

00:05:52.660 cried we will remember and reward thee so now he had to use his own legs and when he had gone a

00:06:00.300 long way he came to a great town there was much noise and thronging in the streets and there came

00:06:06.280 a man on a horse who proclaimed that the king's daughter seeks a husband but he who wishes to

00:06:11.740 marry her must perform a difficult task and if he cannot carry it through successfully he must lose

00:06:18.300 his life many had already tried but had lost their lives in vain the young man when he saw

00:06:25.640 the king's daughter was so dazzled by her great beauty that he forgot all danger went to the king

00:06:30.880 and offered himself as a wooer then he was led to the seaside and a gold ring was thrown in the

00:06:38.380 water before his eyes. Then the king told him that he must fetch the ring up again from the

00:06:43.440 bottom of the sea, saying, If you come back without it, you shall be put under the waves again

00:06:48.660 and again until you are drowned. Everyone pitied the handsome young man, but they went and left

00:06:56.800 him alone by the sea. As he was standing on the shore and thinking of what he should do,

00:07:01.960 there came three fishes swimming by none other than those who he had set free the middle one

00:07:08.900 had a muscle in his mouth and he laid it on the strand at the young man's feet and when he took

00:07:15.300 it up he opened it there was a gold ring inside full of joy he carried it to the king and expected

00:07:21.940 the promised reward but the king's daughter proud of her high birth despised him and set him another

00:07:28.240 task to perform she went on to the garden and strewed about over the grass ten sacks full of

00:07:35.440 millet seed by the time the sun rises in the morning you must have picked up all these she

00:07:41.740 said and not a grain must be wanting the young man sat down in the garden and considered how it

00:07:49.580 was possible to do this task but he could contrive nothing and stayed there feeling very sorrowful

00:07:56.820 and expecting to be led to death at break of day but when the first beams of the sun fell in the

00:08:02.680 garden he saw that the ten sacks were all filled standing one by the other not even a grain was

00:08:08.960 missing the ant king had arrived in the night with his thousands of ants and the grateful creatures

00:08:14.080 had picked up all the millet seed and filled the sacks with great industry the king's daughter

00:08:19.920 came herself into the garden and saw with astonishment that the young man had performed

00:08:24.240 all that had been given him to do but she could not let her proud heart melt and said although

00:08:30.760 he has completed the two tasks he shall not be my bridegroom unless he brings me an apple from

00:08:35.740 the tree of life the young man did not know where the tree of life was to be found but he set out

00:08:42.780 and went on and on as long as his legs could carry him but he had no hope of finding it when he had

00:08:49.060 gone through the three kingdoms, he came one evening to a wood and seated himself under a

00:08:55.060 tree to go to sleep. But he had heard a rustling in the bows, and a golden apple fell into his

00:09:03.700 hand. Immediately three ravens flew around him, perched on his knee, and said, We are the three

00:09:09.620 young ravens that you delivered from starving. When we grew big and heard that you were seeking

00:09:14.380 the golden apple we flew over the sea to the end of the earth where the tree of life stands and we

00:09:20.020 fetched the apple full of joy the young man set off on his way home and brought the golden apple

00:09:27.020 to the king's beautiful daughter who was without any further excuse so they divided the apple of

00:09:33.340 life and ate it together and their hearts were filled with love and they lived in undisturbed

00:09:38.100 happiness to a great age

00:09:39.700 Thank you.

Asatru Folk Assembly - January 04, 2024

The White Snake (Academy Storytime)

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