Chapter Text
It is the year of 1253 by human record keeping and the war with the jǫtnar had ended more than four hundred years ago. King Eric and his wife are preparing for a large feast, for the whole kingdom of Miðgarðr is celebrating the birth and christening of the crown princess. Long had the king and the queen been wishing for a child but year after year had gone by and it had started to look like they would never be blessed with a baby of their own.
But then one day when the queen had wandered the garden with her handmaidens, she found a delicate green snake sunning on a large stone. It had been decorated with a whirling pattern down its body and when the snake blinked its eyes open they had been dark red.
“Good morning my queen.” The snake greeted her. It’s hissing voice oddly cool like the first frost.
“Good morning.” The queen had never before met a snake capable of speech but the small serpent had stretched out and then coiled up again, as if it was greatly enjoying the sun shining on its scaly body and its small size as well as its unthreatening manner had put her at ease.
“You look sad my queen. Why are your thoughts heavy and burdened?” The snake looked her in the eyes, never once blinking.
“It is true, I am sad. For long have my husband and I been longing for a child, but we are denied the pleasure of a son or a daughter.” The queen sat down next to the stone and took a heavy breath. “I would sacrifice everything to conceive a child.”
The snake uncurled and slowly slithered closer to the human queen. “Your heart is heavy with sadness and your thoughts are weary with disappointment. Listen my queen, if you will grant me a wish, I will grant you one as well.”
The queen wondered what kind of wish the snake would want her to grant and she also wondered what a small snake would be able to do to help her. But she was desperate and so she decided to hear the serpent out. “You have my word as queen of Miðgarðr that I will grant you whatever wish you have if you are able to help me conceive a child.”
At that the snake had stricken out and bitten her in her thigh. With a shout the queen jumped up and away from the snake that had once more curled up on the stone, watching her with red eyes.
“When you lie with your husband tonight you will conceive a child. It will be a daughter and she will be your pride and joy.” The snake slithered from the stone and towards the bushes. “My wish is to be invited to the christening of the young princess and to be allowed to award her with a gift.”
Without waiting for the queen’s reply the serpent had disappeared, leaving a frightened and confused queen behind. She never told the handmaidens or her husband about what transpired that afternoon and that night when she had prepared for bed she noticed a green whirling symbol where the snake had bitten her. No matter how hard she tried to wash it off it would stay there.
That night when the king and the queen had shared their marital bed, the queen conceived a child. The news about the king finally being gifted with a son or a daughter brought great joy to the kingdom and when the little baby girl was born after nine long months, the king and the queen found her to be the most beautiful child ever to be born.
So this is how the celebration came about. The kings and queens of every realm have been invited and all through the town a festival takes place. The crib with the little baby inside is placed at the foot of the throne’s dais and every noble and royal walks up to it taking a look at the heiress of Miðgarðr.
Odin and Frigga, the king and queen of Ásgarðr arrive with their son, Prince Thor. The crown prince is at the age of five hundred years, young and rarely accompanying his father on visits to other kingdoms. The Æsir are an immortal race and the Allfather has made sure to keep up relations with every king of Miðgarðr. The Ásgarðrian royal family is stopping next to the crib and Frigga, smiles kindly down upon the baby inside.
“She is very lovely.” The kind words have the human queen smile proudly and King Odin commends her beauty as well, she blushes faintly.
Only prince Thor doesn’t compliment the child. He looks into the crib and frowns with confusion. “She’s a babe.”
“Aye that she is.” The queen of Ásgarðr leads her son away and then the Allfather steps away and the next well-wishers step up to the cradle. The procession of nobles that are visiting to see the princess is incredibly long and so the well-wishing lasts well into the afternoon. The royal siblings of Vanaheim are one of the last to be welcomed to the celebration but before Freyr and Freya are able to walk up to the baby, a small green snake slithers past them up to the crib.
The guests shy away from the serpent and the king asks for his sword to kill the threat to his new-born daughter. It is the queen who stops him and walks up to the unusual guest. She looks down at the small green snake and smiles cautiously at it. “Welcome friend snake, I’m glad to find you here at the celebration of my daughter’s birth.”
“Welcome queen.” The snake curls up, only its head rising into the air to get a better look at the human queen. “I kept my promise, now it’s time to keep yours. Will you let me give your daughter a gift?”
The queen feels hesitant. It is true that she got what she wished for but a magical snake is not someone she wants too close to her daughter. The serpent seems to realise her thoughts and it hisses angrily.
“You are an oath breaker and a greedy human.” With every word it spits forth the snake stretches and grows until it splits open and a man stands in front of her. He had blue skin and red eyes; his head is adorned with long black hair and black horns. “Hear this queen, your daughter will be beautiful and wise and she will be gentle and just, everyone will love her. But on the eve of her twentieth birthday she will cut her finger on a book and die from it.”
Before anyone can stop the stranger he fades from sight and is gone. Everyone in the throne room stares at the space where the horned blue seiðmaðr had cursed the young princess and the only thing that can be heard are the wailing of the mother who realises that her dear child is doomed to an early death.
“My queen.” Freya, the princess, reaches out to the distraught queen of Miðgarðr. “Please, let me help.”
“Can you undo the curse?” The king has joined his wife, embracing her and trying to calm her down. “Can you stop all of it happening?”
“That is not possible, for it is a contract that has to be fulfilled.” The Allfather watches the human king and queen before stepping up next to the Vanir princess. “I will lend you my help with weakening the curse.”
Together the two immortals cast a spell to protect the human princess from death. “Listen well, for when the princess cuts her finger she will not die but she falls into a deep sleep from which only a True Love’s Kiss can awaken her.”
The seiðr swirls around the crib and seeps into it, into the baby sleeping inside. The king and the queen take their daughter and send everyone away asking for forgiveness of the hasty end of the celebration but no-one thinks ill of them for wanting to find their composure after the shocking incident.
Even though they know that their daughter will not die, the king still orders all books to be collected and burned for he will not risk any chance of the curse coming true. And so the kingdom of Miðgarðr came to stop writing their tales and findings on paper but to use chalk boards instead.