OERA LINDA BOOK
(Return
to Daughters of Frya)
The Writings of Adelbrost and Apollonia
The Writings of Frethorik and Wiliow
THE WRITINGS OF ADELBROST AND
APOLLONIA
I II III IV V VI VII
Chapter
I: My name is Adelbrost, the son of Apol and Adela.
1.
I was elected by my people as reeve over the Lindawrda.
Therefore I will continue this book in the same way as my mother has spoken it.
2.
After the Magy was killed and Fryasburch
was restored, a folk-mother had to be chosen. The folk-mother had not named her
successor, and her will was nowhere to be found. Seven months later a general
assembly was called at Grenega, because it was on the
boundary of Saxanamark. My mother was chosen, but she
would not be the folk-mother. She had saved my father’s life, in consequence of
which they had fallen in love with each other, and she wished to marry.
3.
Many people wished my mother to alter her decision, but she said:
4.
“A folk-mother ought to be as pure in her conscience as she appears outwardly,
and to have the same love for all her children. Now, as I love Apol better than anything else in the World, I cannot be
such a folk-mother.”
5.
Thus spoke and reasoned Adela, but all the other femmes wished to be the
folk-mother. Each state was in favour of its own femme, and would not yield.
Therefore none was chosen, and the country was without any restraint.
6.
From what follows you will understand Liudgert, the
king who had lately died, who had been chosen in the lifetime of the
folk-mother, and seemingly with the love and confidence of all the states.
7.
It was his turn to live at the great court of Dokhem,
and in the lifetime of the folk-mother great honour was done to him there, as
there were more messengers and knights there than had ever been seen there
before. But now he was lonely and forsaken, because every one was afraid that
he would set himself above the law, and rule them like the slave kings.
8.
Every official imagined that he did enough if he looked
after his own state, and did nor care for the others. With the burgh-femmes it
was still worse. Each of them depended upon her own judgment, and whenever a
reeve did anything without her, she raised distrust between him and his people.
If any case happened which concerned several states, and one femme had been
consulted, the rest all exclaimed that she had spoken only in the interest of
her own state.
9.
By such proceedings they brought disputes among the states, and so severed the
bond of union that the people of one state were jealous of those of the rest,
or at least considered them as strangers; the consequence of which was that the
Golar or Trowydar took
possession of our lands as far as the Skelda, and the
Magy as far as the Wrsara.
10.
How this happened my mother has explained, otherwise this book would not have
been written, although I have lost all hope that it
would be of any use. I do not write in the hope that I shall win back the land
or preserve it: in my opinion that is impossible. I write only for the future
generations, that they may all know in what way we were lost, and that each may
learn that every crime brings its punishment.
11.
My name is Apollonia. Two-and-thirty days after my
mother’s death my brother Adelbrost was found
murdered on the wharf, his skull fractured and his limbs torn asunder. My
father, who lay ill, died of fright. Then my younger brother, Apol, sailed from here to the west side of Skenland. There he built a burgh named Lindasburch,
in order there to avenge our wrong. Wr-alda accorded
him many years for that. He had five sons, who all caused fear to Magy, and brought fame to my brother.
12.
After the death of my mother and my brother, all the bravest of the land joined
together and made a covenant, called the Adelband. In
order to preserve us from injury, they brought me and my youngest brother, Adelhirt, to the burgh - me to the femmes, and him to the
warriors.
13.
When I was thirty years old I was chosen as burgh-femme, and my brother at
fifty was chosen reeve. From mother’s side my brother was the sixth, but from
father’s side the third. By right, therefore, his descendants could not put Oera Linda after their names, but they all wished to do it
in honour of their mother.
14.
In addition to this, there was given to us also a copy of The Book of Adela’s
Followers. That gave me the most pleasure, because it came into the World by my
mother’s wisdom. In the burgh I have found other writings also in praise of my
mother. All this I will write afterwards.
15.
These are the writings left by Brunno, who was the
scribe of this burgh:
16.
After the followers of Adela had made copies, each in his state, of what was
inscribed upon the walls of the burgh, they resolved
to choose a folk-mother. For this purpose a general assembly was called at this
farm.
17.
By the advice of Adela, Tuntia was recommended. That
would have been arranged, only that my burgh-femme asked to speak: she had
always supposed that she would be chosen folk-mother, because she was at the
burgh from which folk-mothers had generally been chosen.
18.
When she was allowed to speak, she opened her false lips and said:
19.
“You all seem to place great value on Adela’s advice, but that shall not shut
my mouth. Who is Adela, and whence comes it that you respect her so highly? She
was what I am now, a burgh-femme of this place; is she, then, wiser and better
than I and all the others? Or is she more conversant with our laws and customs?
20.
“If that had been the case, she would have become folk-mother when she was
chosen; but instead of that, she preferred matrimony to a single life, watching
over herself and her people. She is certainly very clear-sighted, but my eyes
are far from being dim. I have observed that she is very much attached to her
husband, which is very praiseworthy; but I see,
likewise, that Tuntia is Apol’s
niece. Further I say nothing.”
21.
The principal people understood very well which way the wind blew with her; but
among the people there arose disputes, and as most of the people came from
here, they would not give the honour to Tuntia. The
conferences were ended, knives were drawn, and no folk-mother was chosen.
22.
Shortly afterwards one of our messengers killed his comrade. As he had been a
man of good character hitherto, my burgh-femme had permission to help him over
the frontier; but instead of helping him over to Twiskland,
she fled with him herself to Wrsara, and then to the Magy.
23.
The Magy, who wished to please his sons of Frya, appointed her burgh-femme of Godahisburch,
in Skenland; but she wished for more, and she told
him that if he could get Adela out of the way he might become master of the
whole of Fryasland. She said she hated Adela for
having prevented her from being chosen folk-mother. If he would promise her Texland, her messenger should serve as guide to his
warriors. All this was confessed by her messenger.
Chapter
II: The second writing.
1.
Fifteen months after the last general assembly, at the festival of the Winne Month, everybody gave himself up to pleasure and
merry-making, and no one thought of anything but diversion; but Wr-alda wished to teach us that watchfulness should never
be relaxed. In the midst of the festivities the fog came and enveloped every
place in darkness. Cheerfulness melted away, but watchfulness did not take its
place. The coastguard deserted their beacons, and no one was to be seen on any
of the paths.
2.
When the fog rose, the sun scarcely appeared among the clouds; but the people
all came out shouting with joy, and the young folks went about singing to their
bagpipes, filling the air with their melody. But while every one was
intoxicated with pleasure, treachery had landed with its horses and riders.
3.
As usual, darkness had favoured the wicked, and they had slipped in through the
paths of Linda Wald. Before Adela’s door twelve girls led twelve lambs, and
twelve boys led twelve calves. A young Saxman
bestrode a wild bull which he had caught and tamed. They were decked with all
kinds of flowers, and the linen tunics of the girls were fringed with gold from
the Rene.
4.
When Adela came out of her house, a shower of flowers fell on her head; they
all cheered loudly, and the fifes of the boys were heard over everything. Poor
Adela! Poor people! How short will be your joy! When the procession was out of
sight, a troop of Magyarar soldiers rushed up to
Adela’s house.
5.
Her father and her husband were sitting on the steps. The door was open, and
within stood Adelbrost her son. When he saw the
danger of his parents, he took his bow from the wall and shot the leader of the
pirates, who staggered and fell on the grass. The second and third met a
similar fate.
6.
In the meantime his parents had seized their weapons, and went slowly to Jon’s
house. They would soon have been taken, but Adela came. She had learned in the
burgh to use all kinds of weapons. She was seven feet high, and her sword was
the same length. She waved it three times over her head, and each time a knight
bit the dirt.
7.
Reinforcements came, and the pirates were made prisoners; but too late - an
arrow had penetrated her bosom! The treacherous Magy
had poisoned it, and she died of it.
Chapter
III: The elegy of the burgh-femme.
1.
Yes, departed friend, thousands are arrived, and more
are coming.
2.
They wish to hear the wisdom of Adela.
3.
Truly, she was a princess, for she had always been the leader.
4.
O sorrow, what can you do?
5.
Her short kilt of linen, and her tunic of wool, she spun and wove herself. How
could she add to her beauty? Not with pearls, for her teeth were more white; not with gold, for her tresses were more
brilliant; not with precious stones, for her eyes, though soft as those of a
lamb, were so lustrous that you could scarcely look into them.
6.
But why do I talk of beauty?
7.
Frya was certainly not more beautiful.
8.
Yes, my friends, Frya possessed seven perfections, of
which each of her daughters inherited one, or at most three. But even if she
had been ugly, she would still have been dear to us.
9.
Is she warlike? Listen, my friend. Adela was the only
daughter of our reeve. She stood seven feet high. Her wisdom exceeded her
stature, and her courage was equal to both together.
10.
Here is an instance. There was once a turf-ground on fire. Three children got
upon yonder gravestone. There was a furious wind. The people were all shouting,
and their mother was helpless. Then came Adela. She
cried:
11.
“What are you all standing still here for? Try to help them, and Wr-alda will give you strength.”
12.
Then she ran to the Krylwald and got some elder
branches, of which she made a bridge. The others then came to assist her, and
the children were saved.
13.
The children bring flowers to the place every year.
14.
There came once three Phonisiar sailors, who began to
ill-treat the children, when Adela, having heard their screams, beat the
scoundrels till they were insensible, and then, to prove to them what miserable
wretches they were, she tied them all three to a spindle.
15.
The foreign lords came to look after their people, and when they saw how
ridiculously they had been treated they were very angry, till they were told
what had happened.
16.
Upon that they bowed themselves before Adela, and kissed the hems of her short
kilt and tunic.
17.
But come, distant living friend. The birds of the forest fled before the
numerous visitors. Come, friend, and you shall hear her wisdom.
18.
By the gravestone of which mention has already been made her body is buried.
Upon the stone the following words are inscribed:
19.
“Tread softly, for here lies Adela.”
20.
The old legend which is written on the outside wall of the burgh tower is not
written in The Book of Adela’s Followers. Why this has been neglected I do not
know; but this book is my own, so I will put it in out of regard to my
relations.
Chapter
IV: The oldest doctrine.
1.
Hail to all the well-intentioned Children of Frya!
2.
Through you Irtha shall become holy.
3.
Learn and announce to the people that Wr-alda is the
ancient of ancients, for he created all things.
4.
Wr-alda is all in all, for he is eternal and
everlasting.
5.
Wr-alda is everywhere but invisible, and therefore is
called a spirit. All that we can see of him are the created beings who come to
life through him and go again, because from Wr-alda
all things proceed and return to him.
6.
Wr-alda is the beginning and the end.
7.
Wr-alda is the only mighty being, because from him
all strength comes, and returns to him. Therefore he alone is the creator, and
nothing exists without him.
8.
Wr-alda established eternal principles, upon which
the laws of creation were founded, and no good laws could stand on any other
foundation.
9.
But although everything is derived from Wr-alda, the
wickedness of men does not come from him. Wickedness comes from heaviness,
carelessness, and stupidity; therefore they may well be injurious to men, but
never to Wr-alda.
10. Wr-alda is wisdom, and
the laws that he has made are the books from which we learn, nor is any wisdom
to be found or gathered but in them.
11.
Men may see a great deal, but Wr-alda sees everything.
Men can learn a great deal, but Wr-alda knows
everything. Men can discover much, but to Wr-alda
everything is open. Mankind are male and female, but Wr-alda
created both. Mankind love and hate, but Wr-alda
alone is just. Therefore Wr-alda is good, and there
is no good without him.
12.
In the progress of time all creation alters and
changes, but goodness alone is unalterable; and since Wr-alda
is good, he cannot change. As he endures, he alone exists; everything else is
show.
Chapter
V: The second part of the oldest doctrine.
1.
Among Finda’s people there are false teachers, who,
by their over-inventiveness, have become so wicked that they make themselves
and their adherents believe that they are the best part of Wr-alda,
that their spirit is the best part of Wr-alda’s
spirit, and that Wr-alda can only think by the help
of their brains.
2.
That every creature is a part of Wr-alda’s eternal being, that they have stolen from us.
3.
But their false reasoning and ungovernable pride have brought them on the road
to ruin. If their spirit was Wr-alda’s spirit, then Wr-alda would be very stupid, instead of being sensible and
wise; for their spirit labours to create beautiful statues, which they
afterwards worship.
4.
Finda’s people are a wicked people, for although they
presumptuously pretend among themselves that they are gods, they proclaim the unconsecrated false gods, and declare everywhere that these
idols created Wr-alda and all that therein is -
greedy idols, full of envy and anger, who desire to be served and honoured by
the people, and who exact bloody sacrifices and rich offerings; but these
presumptuous and false men, who call themselves servants of the gods and
priests, receive and collect everything in the name of the idols that have no
real existence, for their own benefit.
5.
They do all this with an easy conscience, as they think themselves gods not
answerable to any one. If there are some who discover their tricks and expose
them, they hand them over to the executioners to be burnt for their calumnies,
with solemn ceremonies in honour of the false gods; but really in order to save
themselves.
6.
In order that our children may be protected against their idolatrous doctrine,
the duty of the femmes is to make them learn by heart the following:
7.
“Wr-alda existed before all things, and will endure
after all things. Wr-alda is also eternal and
everlasting, therefore nothing exists without him. From Wr-alda’s
life sprang time and all living things, and his life takes away time and every
other thing.”
8.
These things must be made clear and manifest in every way, so that they can be
made clear and comprehensible to all. When we have learned thus much, then we
say further:
9.
“In what regards our existence, we are a part of Wr-alda’s
everlasting being, like the existence of all created beings; but as regards our
form, our qualities, our spirit, and all our thoughts, these do not belong to
the being.”
10.
All these are passing things which appear through Wr-alda’s
life, and which appear through his wisdom, and not otherwise; but whereas his
life is continually progressing, nothing can remain stationary,
therefore all created things change their locality, their form, and their
thoughts.
11.
So neither Irtha nor any other created object can
say, “I am” but rather, “I was”. So no man can say, “I think” but rather, “I
thought”.
12.
The boy is greater and different from the child; he has different desires,
inclinations, and thoughts. The man and father feels and thinks differently
from the boy, the old man just the same. Everybody knows that.
13.
Besides, everybody knows and must acknowledge that he is now changing, that he
changes every minute even while he says, “I am”, and that his thoughts change
even while he says, “I think”.
14.
Instead, then, of imitating Finda’s wicked people,
and saying, “I am the best part of Wr-alda, and
through us alone he can think.”
15.
We proclaim everywhere where it is necessary, “We, Frya’s
Children, exist through Wr-alda’s life - in the
beginning mean and base, but always advancing towards perfection without ever
attaining the excellence of Wr-alda himself.”
16.
Our spirit is not Wr-alda’s spirit,
it is merely a shadow of it.
17.
When Wr-alda created us, he lent us his wisdom,
brains, organs, memory, and many other good qualities. By this means we are
able to contemplate his creatures and his laws; by this means we can learn and
can speak of them always, and only for our own benefit. If Wr-alda
had given us no organs, we should have known nothing, and been more irrational
than a piece of sea-weed driven up and down by the ebb and flood.
Chapter
VI: This is written on parchment; speech and answer to other femmes as an
example.
1.
An unsociable, avaricious man came to complain to Trast,
who was the femme of Stavia. He said a thunderstorm
had destroyed his house. He had prayed to Wr-alda,
but Wr-alda had given him no help.
2.
Trast asked, “Are you a true Child of Frya?”
3.
The man replied, “From father and forefathers.”
4.
Then she said, “I will sow something in your conscience, in confidence that it
will take root, grow, and bear fruit.
5.
“When Frya was born, our mother stood naked and bare,
unprotected from the rays of the sun. She could ask no one, and there was no
one who could give her any help.
6.
“Then Wr-alda wrought in her conscience inclination
and love, anxiety and fright. She looked round her, and her inclination chose
the best. She sought a hiding-place under the sheltering lime-trees, but the
rain came, and the difficulty was that she got wet. She had seen how the water
ran down the pendent leaves; so she made a roof of leaves fastened with sticks,
but the wind blew the rain under it.
7.
“She observed that the stem would afford protection. She then built a wall of
sods, first on one side, and then all round. The wind grew stronger and blew
away the roof, but she made no complaint of Wr-alda.
She made a roof of rushes, and put stones upon it. Having found how hard it is
to toil alone, she showed her children how and why she had done it. They acted
and thought as she did.
8.
“This is the way in which we became possessed of houses and porches, a street,
and lime-trees to protect us from the rays of the sun. At last we have built a
burgh, and all the rest. If your house is not strong enough, then you must try
and make another.”
9.
He said, “My house was strong enough, but the flood and the wind destroyed it.”
10.
Trast asked, “Where did your house stand?”
11.
He answered, “On the bank of the Rene.”
12.
Trast asked, “Did it stand on a knoll or in a
village?”
13.
The man said, “No; my house stood alone on the bank. I built it alone, but I
could not alone make a hillock.”
14.
Trast answered, “I knew it; the femmes told me. All your life you have avoided your neighbours, fearing that you
might have to give or do something for them; but one cannot get on in Wr-alda that way, for Wr-alda,
who is kind, turns away from the niggardly.
15.
“Fasta has advised us, and it is engraved in stone
over all our doors.
16.
“If you are selfish, distrustful towards your neighbours, teach your
neighbours, help your neighbours, and they will return the same to you. If this
advice is not good enough for you, I can give you no better.”
17.
The man blushed for shame, and slunk away.
1.
My burgh lies near the north end of the Liudgarda.
The tower has six sides, and is ninety feet high, flat-roofed, with a small
house upon it out of which they look at the stars. On each side of the tower is
a house three hundred feet long, and twenty-one feet broad, and twenty-one feet
high, besides the roof, which is round. All this is built of hard-baked bricks,
and outside there is nothing else. The burgh is surrounded by a dyke, with a
moat thirty-six feet broad and twenty-one feet deep.
2.
If one looks down from the tower, he sees the form of the yule.
In the ground among the houses on the south side all kinds of native and
foreign herbs grow, of which the femmes must study the qualities. Among the
houses on the north side there are only fields. The three houses on the north
are full of corn and other necessaries; the two houses on the south are for the
femmes to live in and keep school. The most southern house is the dwelling of
the burgh-femme.
3.
In the tower hangs the lamp. The walls of the tower are decorated with precious
stones. On the south wall the
4.
Against the dyke, near the house of the burgh-femme, stand the oven and the
mill, worked by four oxen. Outside the burgh wall is the place where the
burghers and the warriors live. The fortification outside is an hour long - not
a navigator’s hour, but an hour of the sun, of which twenty-four go to a day.
Inside it is a plain five feet below the top. On it are three hundred crossbows
covered with wood and leather.
5.
Besides the houses of the inhabitants, there are along the inside of the dyke
thirty-six refuge-houses for the people who live in the neighbourhood. The
field serves for a camp and for a meadow. On the south side of the outer
fortification is the Liudgarda, enclosed by the great
Linda Wald. Its shape is three-cornered, with the widest part outside, so that
the sun may shine in it, for there are a great number of foreign trees and
flowers brought by the navigators.
6.
All the other burghs are the same shape as ours, only not so large; but the
largest of all is that of Texland. The tower of the Fryasburch is so high that it rends the sky, and all the
rest is in proportion to the tower.
7.
In our burgh this is the arrangement:
8.
Seven young femmes attend to the lamp, giving thricefold
thanks to Wr-alda’s spirit; each watch is three
hours, in which they must bend their knees six hundred times. In the rest of
their time they do housework, learn, and sleep. When they have watched for
seven years they are discharged; then they may go among the people as
elder-femmes, to look after their morals and to give advice. The elder-femmes
must give thricefold thanks to Wr-alda’s
spirit for six hours each day. When the femmes have served three years, they
may sometimes accompany the elder-femmes.
9.
The scribe must teach the femmes to read, to write, and to reckon. The elders,
or burghers, must teach them justice and duty, morals, botany, and medicine,
history, traditions, and singing, besides all that may be necessary for them to
give advice. The burgh-femme must teach them how to set to work when they go
among the people.
10.
Before a burgh-femme can take office, she must travel through the land a whole
year. Three grey-headed burghers and three elder-femmes must go with her.
11.
This was the way that I did. My journey was along the Rene - on this side up,
and on the other side down. The higher I went, the poorer the people seemed to
be. Everywhere about the Rene the people dug holes, and the sand that was got
out was poured with water over fleeces to get the gold, but the girls did not
wear golden crowns of it. Formerly they were more numerous, but since we lost Skenland they have gone up to the mountains. There they dig
ore and make silver.
12.
Above the Rene among the mountains I have seen Marsatar.
The Marsatar are people who live on the lakes. Their
houses are built upon piles, for protection from the wild beasts and wicked
people. There are wolves, bears, and horrible lions. Then come the Swetsar, the nearest to the frontiers of the Heinde Krekalandar, the followers
of Kalta and the savage Twisklandar,
all greedy for robbery and booty.
13.
The Marsatar gain their livelihood by fishing and
hunting. The skins are sewn together by the women, and prepared with birch
bark. The small skins are as soft as a woman’s skin. The burgh-femme at Fryasburch told us that they were good, simple people; but
if I had not heard her speak of them first, I should have thought that they
were not Frya’s people, they looked so impudent.
14.
Their wool and herbs are bought by the Rene people, and taken to foreign
countries by the ship captains. Along the other side of the Rene it was just
the same as at Lydasburch. There was a great river or
lake, and upon this lake also there were people living upon piles. But they
were not Frya’s people; they were black and brown men
who had been employed as rowers to bring home the men who had been making
foreign voyages, and they had to stay there till the fleet went back.
15.
At last we came to Alderga. At the head of the south
harbour lies the Waraburch, built of stone, in which
all kinds of clothes, weapons, shells, and horns are kept, which were brought
by the navigators from distant lands. A quarter of an hour’s distance from
there is Alderga, a great river surrounded by houses,
sheds, and gardens, all richly decorated. In the river lay a great fleet ready,
with banners of all sorts of colours.
16.
On Frya’s Day the shields were hung on board
likewise. Some shone like the sun. The shields of the sea-king and the admiral
were bordered with gold. From the river a canal was dug going past the burgh Forana, with a narrow outlet to the sea. This was the
egress of the fleet; the Fly was the ingress. On both sides of the river are
fine houses built, painted in bright colours. The gardens are all surrounded by
green hedges.
17.
I saw there women wearing felt tunics, as if it were writing felt. Just as at Staveren, the girls wore golden crowns on their heads, and
rings on their arms and ankles.
18.
To the south of Forana lies Alkmarum.
Alkmarum is a lake or river in which there is an
island. On this island the black and brown people must remain,
the same as at Lydasburch.
19.
The burgh-femme of Forana told me that the burghers
go every day to teach them what real freedom is, and how it behoves men to live
in order to obtain the blessing of Wr-alda’s spirit.
If there was any one who was willing to listen and could comprehend, he was
kept there till he was fully taught. That was done in order to instruct the
distant people, and to make friends everywhere.
20.
I had been before in the Saxanamark, at the burgh Mannagardaforda. There I saw more poverty than I could
discover wealth here.
21.
She told me that whenever at the Saxanamark a young
man courts a young girl, the girl asks:
22.
“Can you keep your house free from the banished Trisklanders?
Have you ever killed any of them? How many cattle have you already caught, and
how many bear and wolfskins have you brought to
market?”
23.
And from this it comes that the Saxmannar have left
the cultivation of the soil to the women, that not one in a hundred can read or
write; from this it comes, too, that no one has a motto on his shield, but only
a misshapen form of some animal that he has killed; and lastly, from this comes
also that they are very war-like, but sometimes as stupid as the beasts that
they catch, and as poor as the Twisklandar with whom
they go to war.
24.
Irtha and the sea were made for Frya’s
people. All our rivers run into the sea. The Lyda’s
people and the Finda’s people will exterminate each
other, and we must people the empty countries. In movement and sailing is our
prosperity.
25.
If you wish the highlanders to share our riches and wisdom, I will give you a
piece of advice.
26.
Let the girls, when they are asked to marry, before
they agree, ask their lovers:
27.
“What parts of the World have you travelled in? What can you tell your children
about distant lands and distant people?”
28.
If they do this, then the young warriors will come to us; they will become
wiser and richer, and we shall have no occasion to deal with those nasty
people.
29.
The youngest of the femmes who were with me came from the Saxanamark.
When we came back she asked leave to go home. Afterwards she became burgh-femme
there, and that is the reason why in these days so many of our navigators are Saxmannar.
30.
The end of Apollonia’s book.
Frya
