Asatru Folk Assembly - Ullr's Gifts to Hunter

00:00:00.000 Ullr's Gifts to Hunters

00:00:07.000 Long ago, in the days before man received the gift of iron or runes, he hunted.

00:00:14.000 During the long cold winters, it was the heart of the tribe.

00:00:19.000 Long after the plants were gone, hunting provided food.

00:00:24.000 Long after Suna's warmth had gone, it provided furs for warmth.

00:00:30.640 The whole tribe hunted, together as the whole tribe ate together.

00:00:36.300 With nets, they captured the large game, with rocks and sticks that killed the small.

00:00:42.740 All was well.

00:00:45.000 Until the year the tribe almost died.

00:00:47.880 It was a harsh winter, cold enough that a sapling bin to set a snare would snap.

00:00:55.480 Cold enough that the people had to go far out on the ice to break through for water.

00:01:01.720 Cold enough that a child grew deathly ill.

00:01:06.140 A child's sickness swept through to the tribe, making everyone too weak to hunt, save one.

00:01:13.520 He was called Hunter, for he was the best at killing a rabbit with a thrown rock or stick.

00:01:19.800 He tended his tribe, waiting for the sickness to pass.

00:01:24.160 None died, but none regained their strength.

00:01:28.260 Then the stored food was gone, and the fever did not pass.

00:01:33.000 Hunter gathered his rabbit sticks and went out.

00:01:36.180 Snow was deep, and Hunter had to force his way through it.

00:01:40.540 The hares and rabbits who walk on the crust of the snow heard him and stayed out of his range.

00:01:47.260 Hunter wished that he too could walk on the snow, but he was not a rabbit and had to return home at the end of the day without food.

00:01:56.940 And his tribe grew weaker, and his daughter no longer answered when he talked to her.

00:02:02.520 The next day, he took the tribe's nets out to the trails the larger animals left in the snow.

00:02:09.700 He found two trees close on either side of the trail and placed the net across

00:02:15.460 it. Hunter then circled far around and when his flint tip spear waited beside

00:02:22.600 the trail. Deer rushed down the trail towards his net but stopped in front of

00:02:28.180 it. Hunter rushed towards them yelling and hoping to scare them into the net

00:02:33.400 but they ran around it. Hunter threw his spear but even at his closest he was far

00:02:39.040 out of range. Without others to cast the net, the deer could not be caught. Again,

00:02:46.640 Hunter returned home unsuccessful, and now many of his tribe no longer spoke,

00:02:51.940 and all were close to death. The next day, Hunter brought all the tribe's nets.

00:02:59.440 Hunter skillfully created a trap from them so that no matter which way the

00:03:04.280 deer ran, they would be ensnared. Hunter again circled far around, and with his flint-tipped

00:03:10.840 spear, Hunter waited. A bull moose ran down the path and beat poor of sight into the net.

00:03:19.820 Angered, it began tearing the precious nets to pieces. In horror, Hunter jumped forward and

00:03:26.620 thrust the spear into the moose. But a spear thrust will not kill a moose, and Hunter had

00:03:32.880 to climb a tree for his life. As Hunter sat in the tree, he felt a new type of cold. This one

00:03:41.560 starting from his heart and flowing out. Hunter had failed. He could not provide food for his tribe

00:03:49.080 and without food, all would die. Hunter wept for his people.

00:03:55.160 A movement in the snow caught Hunter's attention.

00:04:03.180 He watched in amazement at a tall man walking across the top of the deep snow carrying a bent stave.

00:04:11.420 Hunter had never seen a man such as this before, who seemed to shine brighter than the snow.

00:04:18.700 He looked at his feet and saw that he walked on nets stretched between sticks.

00:04:25.160 The man stopped before Hunter and reached up, touched his tears.

00:04:31.760 My people, said Hunter, they die.

00:04:36.400 They are starving, and I cannot feed them.

00:04:39.840 The brilliant man pointed across the field towards several deer,

00:04:43.860 who were poking their heads deep into snow to graze.

00:04:47.720 I have tried, Hunter said, but they are too wary for me to net alone,

00:04:53.680 Too wary for me to approach in the snow.

00:04:57.340 The man lifted his bow.

00:04:59.700 He pulled an arrow from his quiver and fitted it to the string.

00:05:03.640 How strange, thought Hunter.

00:05:07.360 Yet his heart raced with excitement.

00:05:09.560 With a snap, the bow sent an arrow across the field, dropping a deer.

00:05:16.580 Something else snapped in Hunter's mind, and he fell from the low branch.

00:05:22.240 Suddenly, he understood the bow, and how it sent the arrow further and faster than he could throw it.

00:05:29.640 Suddenly, he understood the snowshoes, and how they trapped the snow like a hunting net.

00:05:36.300 He got to his feet and looked around.

00:05:39.680 The man was gone, but his belongings remained.

00:05:44.180 Who are you? breathed Hunter.

00:05:47.320 A voice inside his head told him,

00:05:50.540 You will hear my name in the howl of the wolves.

00:05:54.460 And he shivered.

00:05:56.600 Hunter picked up the snowshoes and looked at them.

00:05:59.960 We can make these, he said, and tied them to his feet.

00:06:04.460 Hunter picked up the quiver of arrows and examined one.

00:06:07.700 We can make these, he said, and tied the wolfhide belts around his waist.

00:06:14.280 Hunter picked up the bow and drew the string.

00:06:17.100 We can make this, he said, and slung it across his chest.

00:06:23.240 Hunter then hurried to the deer, for he had many to feed in the coming days.

00:06:28.320 As he dragged it home, he heard wolves in the distance.

00:06:32.740 He listened to them calling to him, who is the first among them?

00:06:38.240 Ul, they called.

00:06:42.460 Ul, Hunter replied.

00:06:47.100 Amen.

Asatru Folk Assembly - September 07, 2024

Ullr's Gifts to Hunter

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