OERA LINDA BOOK
(Return
to Daughters of Frya)
The Writings of Adelbrost and Apollonia
The Writings of Frethorik and Wiliow
THE WRITINGS OF FRETHORIK AND
WILIOW
I II III IV V
Chapter
I: My name is Frethorik, surnamed Oera
Linda, which means Over the Linda.
1.
In Liudwerd I was chosen as judge. Liudwerd is a new settlement within the fortification of
the burgh Liudgarda, of which the name has fallen
into disrepute. In my time much has happened. I had written a good deal about
it, but afterwards much more was related to me. I will write an account of both
one and the other after this book, to the honour of the good people and to the
disgrace of the bad.
2.
In my youth I heard complaints on all sides. The bad time was coming; the bad
time did come - Frya had forsaken us. She withheld
from us all her watch-femmes, because monstrous idolatrous images had been
found within our landmarks.
3.
I burnt with curiosity to see those images.
4.
In our neighbourhood an elder-femme tottered in and out of the houses, always
calling out about the bad times. I came to her; she stroked my chin; then I
became bold, and asked her if she would show me the bad times and the images.
She laughed good-naturedly, and took me to the burgh. An old man asked me if I
could read and write.
5.
I said, “No.”
6.
He replied, “Then you must first go and learn, otherwise it may not be shown to
you.”
7.
I went daily to the scribe and learnt.
8.
Eight years afterwards I heard that our burgh-femme had been unchaste, and that
some of the burghers had committed treason with the Magy,
and many people took their part. Everywhere disputes arose. There were children
rebelling against their parents; good people were secretly murdered. The
elder-femme who had brought everything to light was found dead in a ditch.
9.
My father, who was a judge, would have her avenged. He was murdered in the
night in his own house. Three years after that the Magy was master without any resistance. The Saxmannar had remained religious and upright. All the good
people fled to them. My mother died of it. Now I did like the others.
10.
The Magy prided himself upon his cunning, but Irtha made him know that she would not tolerate any Magy or idol on the holy bosom that had borne Frya. As a wild horse tosses his mane after he has thrown
his rider, so Irtha shook her forests and her
mountains. Rivers flowed over the land; the sea raged; mountains spouted fire
to the clouds, and what they vomited forth the clouds flung upon Irtha.
11.
At the beginning of the Arne Month Irtha bowed
towards the north, and sank down lower and lower. In the Wolfa
Month the low lands of Denamark and Fryasland were buried under the sea. The woods in which the
images were, were torn up and scattered by the wind.
12.
The following year the frost came in the Herde Month,
and laid Fryasland concealed under a sheet of ice. In
Sella Month there were storms of wind from the north,
driving mountains of ice and stones. When the spring-tides came Irtha raised herself up, the ice
melted; with the ebb the forests with the images drifted out to sea.
13.
In the Winne, or Minna
Month, every one who dared went home. I came with a femme to the burgh Liudgarda. How sad it looked there. The forests of the Lindawrda were almost all gone. Where Liudgarda
used to be was sea. The waves swept over the fortifications. Ice had destroyed
the tower, and the houses lay heaped over each other.
14.
On the slope of the dyke I found a stone on which the scribe had written his
name. That was a sign to me. The same thing had happened to other burghs as to
ours. In the upper lands they had been destroyed by Irtha,
in the lower lands by the water. Fryasburch, at Texland, was the only one found uninjured, but all the land
to the north was sunk under the sea, and has never been recovered.
15.
At the mouth of the Flymar, as we were told, thirty
salt swamps were found, consisting of the forest and the ground that had been
swept away. At Westflyland there were fifty. The
canal which had run across the land from Alderga was
filled up with sand and destroyed. The navigators and other travellers who were
at home had saved themselves, their goods, and their relations upon their
ships.
16.
But the black people at Lydasburch and Alkmarum had done the same; and as they went south they
saved many girls, and as no one came to claim them, they took them for their
wives. The people who came back all lived within the lines of the burgh, as
outside there was nothing but mud and marsh. The old houses were all smashed
together. People bought cattle and sheep from the upper lands, and in the great
houses where formerly the femmes were established cloth and felt were made for
a livelihood.
17.
This happened in the year 1888 after the submersion of Atland.
18.
For two hundred and eighty-two years we had not had a folk-mother, and now,
when everything seemed lost, they set about choosing one. The lot fell upon Gosa, surnamed Makonta. She was
burgh-femme of Fryasburch, in Texland.
She had a clear head and strong sense, and was very good; and as her burgh was
the only one that had been spared, every one saw in that her call.
19.
Ten years after that the navigators came from Forana
and Lydasburch. They wished to drive the black men,
with their wives and children, out of the land. They wished to obtain the
opinion of the folk-mother upon the subject.
20.
She asked them, “Can you send them all back to their country? If so, then lose
no time, or they will find no relatives alive.”
21.
They said, “No.”
22.
Gosa replied, “They have eaten your bread and salt;
they have placed themselves entirely under your protection. You must consult
your own hearts. But I will give you one piece of advice. Keep them till you
are able to send them back, but keep them outside your burghs. Watch over their
morals, and educate them as if they were Frya’s sons.
Their women are the strongest here. Their blood will disappear like smoke, till
at last nothing but Frya’s blood will remain in their
descendants.”
23.
So they remained here.
24.
Now, I should wish that my descendants should observe in how far Gosa spoke the truth. When our land began to recover, there
came troops of poor Saxmannar men and women to the
neighbourhoods of Staveren and Alderga,
to search for gold and other treasures in the swampy lands. But the navigators
would not permit it, so they went and settled in the empty villages of the Westflyland in order to preserve their lives.
Chapter
II: now I will relate how the Gertmannar and many
followers of Hellenia came back.
1.
Two years after Gosa became the folk-mother there arrived a fleet at Flymar. The
people shouted, “Huzza!” They sailed to Staveren,
where they shouted again. Their flags were hoisted, and at night they shot
lighted arrows into the air. At daylight some of them rowed into the harbour in
a boat, shouting again, “Huzza!”
2.
When they landed a young fellow jumped upon the rampart. In his hand he held a
shield on which bread and salt were laid. After him came a grey-headed man, who
said:
3.
“We come from the Fere Krekaland
to preserve our customs. Now we wish you to be kind enough to give us as much
land as will enable us to live.”
4.
He told a long story, which I will hereafter relate more fully.
5.
The reeve did not know what to do. They sent messengers all round, also to me.
I went, and said, “Now that we have a folk-mother it behoves us to ask her
advice.”
6.
I went with them myself. The folk-mother, who already knew it all, said:
7.
“Let them come, they will help us to keep our lands, but do not let them remain
in one place, that they may not become too powerful over us.”
8.
We did as she said, which was quite to their liking. Friso remained with his people at Staveren,
which they made again into a port as well as they could. Wichhirte
went with his people eastwards to the Emude.
9.
Some of the descendants of Jon who imagined that they sprang from the Alderga people went there. A small number, who fancied that
their forefathers had come from the Siugon Elanda, went there and set themselves
down within the enclosure of the burgh of Walhallagara.
10.
Liudgert, the admiral of Wichhirte,
was my comrade, and afterwards my friend. Out of his diary I have taken the
following history.
11.
After we had been settled twelve times a hundred and twice twelve years in the
five waters, whilst our sea warriors were navigating all the seas they could
find, came Alexandre the king, with a powerful army
descending the river towards our villages. No one could withstand him; but we
navigators, who lived by the sea, put all our possessions on board ships and
took our departure.
12.
When Alexandre heard that such a large fleet had
escaped him, he became furious, and swore that he would burn all the villages
if we did not come back. Wichhirte was ill in bed.
When Alexandre heard that, he waited till he was
better. After that he came to him, speaking very kindly - but he deceived, as
he had done before.
13.
Wichhirte answered, “O greatest of kings, we
navigators go everywhere; we have heard of your great deeds, therefore we are
full of respect for your arms, and still more for your wisdom; but we who are
free-born Frya’s Children, we may not become your
slaves; and even if I would, the others would sooner die, for so it is
commanded in our laws.”
14.
Alexandre said, “I do not desire to take your land or
make slaves of your people, I only wish to hire your services. That I will
swear by both our gods, so that no one may be dissatisfied.”
15.
When Alexandre shared bread and salt with him, Wichhirte had chosen the wisest part. He
lest his son fetch the ships. When they were all come back Alexandre hired them all. By means of them he wished to
transport his people to the Helige Gongga, which he had not been able to reach. Then he chose
among all his people and soldiers those who were accustomed to the sea.
16.
Wichhirte had fallen sick again,
therefore I went alone with Nearchus, sent by the
king.
17.
The voyage came to an end without any advantage, because the Joniar and the Phonisiar were
always quarrelling, so that Nearchus himself could
not keep them in order.
18.
In the meantime, the king had not sat still. He had let his soldiers cut down
trees and make planks, with which, with the help of our carpenters, he had
built ships.
19.
Now he would himself become a sea-king, and sail with his whole army up the Gongga; but the soldiers who came from the mountainous
countries were afraid of the sea. When they heard that they must sail, they set
fire to the timber yards, and so our whole village was laid in ashes. At first
we thought that this had been done by Alexandre’s
orders, and we were all ready to cast ourselves into the sea: but Alexandre was furious, and wished his own people to kill
the soldiers.
20.
However, Nearchus, who was not only his chief
officer, but also his friend, advised him not to do so. So he pretended to
believe that it had happened by accident, and said no more about it. He wished
now to return, but before going he made an inquiry who really
were the guilty ones. As soon as he ascertained it, he had them all
disarmed, and made them build a new village. His own people he kept under arms
to overawe the others, and to build a burgh.
21.
We were to take the women and children with us. When we arrived at the mouth of
the Euphrat, we might either choose a place to settle
there or come back. Our pay would be guaranteed to us the same in either case.
22.
Upon the new ships which had been saved from the fire he embarked the Joniar and the Krekalandar. He
himself went with the rest of his people along the coast, through the barren
wilderness; that is, through the land that Irtha had
heaved up out of the sea when she had raised up the
strait as soon as our forefathers had passed into the
23.
When we arrived at Ny Gertmannia
- Ny Gertmannia is the port
that we had made in order to take in water - we met Alexandre
with his army. Nearchus went ashore, and stayed three
days. Then we proceeded further on.
24.
When we came to the Euphrat, Nearchus
went ashore with the soldiers and a large body of people; but he soon returned,
and said:
25.
“The king requests you, for his sake, to go a voyage up the Rade
Sea; after that each shall receive as much gold as he can carry.”
26.
When we arrived there, he showed us where the strait had formerly been. There
he spent thirty-one days, always looking steadily towards the desert.
27.
At last there arrived a great troop of people, bringing with them two hundred
elephants, a thousand camels, a quantity of timber,
ropes, and all kinds of implements necessary to drag our fleet to the
28.
We were obliged to yield, and Nearchus knew so well
how to regulate everything, that before three months had elapsed our ships lay
in the
29.
After his death his kingdom was divided among his princes. They were each to
have preserved a share for his sons, but that was not their intention. Each
wished to keep his own share, and to get more. Then war arose, and we could not
return. Nearchus wished us to settle on the coast of
30.
Then he brought us to the new
31.
He went once to the state of
32.
Afterwards, Demetrius attacked Hrodus, and we
transported thither his soldiers and provisions. When we made our last voyage
to Hrodus, the war was finished. Demetrius had sailed
to Athenia. When we came into the harbour, the whole
village was in deep mourning. Friso, who was king
over the fleet, had a son and a daughter so remarkably fair, as if they had
just come out of Fryasland, and more beautiful than
any one could picture to himself.
33.
The fame of this went all over Krekaland, and came to
the ears of Demetrius. Demetrius was vile and immoral, and thought he could do
as he pleased. He carried off the daughter. The mother did not dare await the
return of her Joi - the navigators’ wives call their
husbands Joi or Swethirte.
The men call their wives Trast and Fro or Frow, that
is, “Delight” and “Frolic”. That is on account of the pleasure they bring.
34.
As she dared no wait for her husband’s return, she went with her son to
Demetrius, and implored him to send back her daughter; but when Demetrius saw
the son he had him taken to his palace, and did to him as he had done to his
sister. He sent a bag of gold to the mother, which she flung into the sea. When
she came home she was out of her mind, and ran about the streets calling out:
35.
“Have you seen my children? Woe is me! Let me find a place to hide in, for my
husband will kill me because I have lost his children.”
36.
When Demetrius heard that Friso had come home, he
sent messengers to him to say that he had taken his children to raise them to
high rank, and to reward him for his services. But Friso
was proud and passionate, and sent a messenger with a letter to his children,
in which he recommended them to accept the will of
Demetrius, as he wished to promote their happiness; but the messenger had
another letter with poison, which he ordered them to take.
37.
It said, “Your bodies have been defiled against your will. That you are not to
blame for; but if your souls are not pure, you will never come into Walhalla.
Your spirits will haunt Irtha in darkness. Like the
bats and owls, you will hide yourselves in the daytime in holes, and in the
night will come and shriek and cry about our graves, while Frya
must turn her head away from you.”
38.
The children did as their father had commanded. The messenger had their bodies
thrown into the sea, and it was reported that they had fled.
39.
Now Friso wished to go with all his people to Fryasland, where he had been formerly, but most of them
would not go. So Friso set fire to the village and
all the royal storehouses; then no one could remain there, and all were glad to
be out of it. We left everything behind us except wives and children, but we
had an ample stock of provisions and warlike implements.
40.
Friso was not yet satisfied. When we came to the old
harbour, he went off with his stout soldiers and threw fire into all the ships
that he could reach with his arrows. Six days later we saw the war-fleet of
Demetrius coming down upon us. Friso ordered us to
keep back the small ships in a broad line, and to put the large ships with the
women and children in front.
41.
Further, he ordered us to take the crossbows that were in the fore part and fix
them on the sterns of the ships, because, said he:
42.
“We must fight a retreating battle. No man must presume to pursue a single
enemy - that is my order.”
43.
While we were busy about this, all at once the wind came ahead, to the great
alarm of the cowards and the women, because we had no slaves except those who
had voluntarily followed us. Therefore we could not escape the enemy by rowing.
44.
But Wr-alda knew well why he did this; and Friso, who understood it, immediately
had the fire-arrows placed on the crossbows. At the same time he gave the order
that no one should shoot before he did, and that we should all aim at the
centre ship.
45.
He said, “If we succeeded in this, the others would all go to its assistance,
and then everybody might shoot as he best was able.”
46.
When we were at a cable and a half distance from them the Phonisiar
began to shoot, but Friso did not reply till the
first arrow fell six fathoms from his ship. Then he fired, and the rest
followed. It was like a shower of fire; and as our arrows went with the wind,
they all remained alight and reached the third line. Everybody shouted and
cheered, but the screams of our opponents were so loud that our hearts shrank.
47.
When Friso thought that it was sufficient he called
us off, and we sped away; but after two days of slow sailing another fleet of
thirty ships came in sight and gained upon us. Friso
cleared for action again, but the others sent forward a small rowing-boat with
messengers, who asked permission to sail with us.
48.
They were Joniar, and had been compelled by Demetrius
to go to the old harbour; there they had heard of the battle, and girding on
their stout swords, had followed us.
49.
Friso, who had sailed a good deal with the Joniar, said, “Yes.”
50.
But Wichhirte, our king, said, “No. The Joniar are worshippers of false gods; I myself have heard
them call upon them.”
51.
Friso said, “That comes from their intercourse with
the real Krekalandar. I have often done it myself,
and yet I am as pious a Child of Frya man as any of
you.”
52.
Friso was the man to take us to Fryasland, therefore the Joniar went with us. It seems that this was pleasing to Wr-alda, for before three months were past we coasted along
Brittania, and three days later we could shout,
“Huzza!”
Chapter
III: This writing has been given to me about Northland or Skenland.
1.
When our land was submerged I was in Skenland. It was
very bad there. There were great lakes which rose from Irtha
like bubbles, then burst asunder, and from the rents flowed a
stuff like red-hot iron. The tops of high mountains fell and destroyed
whole forests and villages. I myself saw one mountain torn from another and
fall straight down. When I afterwards went to see the place there was a lake
there.
2.
When Irtha was composed there came
a duke of Lindasburch with his people, and one femme
who cried everywhere:
3.
“Magy is the cause of all the misery that we have
suffered.”
4.
They continued their progress, and their hosts increased. The Magy fled, and his corpse was found where he had killed
himself.
5.
Then the Finnar were driven to one place where they
might live. There were some of mixed blood who were
allowed to stay, but most of them went with the Finnar.
6.
The duke was chosen as king. The temples which had remained whole were
destroyed. Since that time the good Northlandar come
often to Texland for the advice of the folk-mother;
still we cannot consider them real Children of Frya.
7.
In Denamark it has certainly happened as with us. The
navigators, who call themselves famous sea-warriors, went on board their ships,
and afterwards went back again.
Chapter
IV: Hail!
1.
Whenever the carrier has completed a period, then posterity shall understand
that the faults and misdeeds that the Brokmannar have
brought with them belonged to their forefathers; therefore I will watch, and
will describe as much of their manners as I have seen.
2.
The Gertmannar I can readily pass by. I have not had
much to do with them, but as far as I have seen they have mostly retained their
language and customs.
3.
I cannot say that of the others. Those who descend from the Krekalandar
speak a bad language, and have not much to boast of in their manners. Many have
brown eyes and hair. They are envious and impudent, and cowardly from
superstition. When they speak, they put the words first that ought to come
last. For old they say “at”, for salt, “sat”, and for man, “ma” - too many to
mention. They also use abbreviations of names, which have no meaning.
4.
The Joniar speak better, but they drop the “H”, and
put it where it ought not to be. When they make a statue of a dead person they
believe that the spirit of the departed enters into it; therefore they have
hidden their statues of Frya, Fasta,
Medea, Thiania, Hellenia, and many others. When a child is born, all the
relatives come together and pray to Frya to send her
femmes to bless the child. When they have prayed, they must neither move nor
speak.
5.
If the child begins to cry, and continues some time, it is a bad sign, and they
suspect that the mother has committed adultery. I have seen very bad things
come from that. If the child sleeps, that is a good sign - Frya’s
femmes are come. If it laughs in its sleep, the femmes have promised it
happiness.
6.
Moreover they falsely believe that spirits, witches, sorcerers, dwarfs, and
elves, are descended from the Finnar.
7.
Herewith I will finish, and I think I have written more than any of my
forefathers - Frethorik.
8.
Frethorik, my husband, lived to the age of
sixty-three. Since one hundred and eight years he is the first of his family
who died a peaceable death; all the others died by violence, because they all
fought with their own people, and with foreigners for right and duty.
9.
My name is Wiliow. I am the femme who came home with
him from Saxanamark. In the course of conversation it
came out that we were both of Adela’s family - thus our affection commenced,
and we became man and wife. He left me with five children, two sons and three
daughters. Konered was my eldest son, Hachgana my second. My eldest daughter is called Adela, my
second Frulik, and my youngest Nocht.
When I went to Saxanamark I preserved three books -
The Book of Songs, The Book of Narratives, and The Hellenia
Book.
10.
I write this in order that people may not think they were by Apollonia. I have a good deal of annoyance about this, and
therefore now wish to have the honour of it. I also did more. When Gosa Makonta died, whose goodness
and clear-sightedness have become a proverb, I went alone to Texland to copy the writings that she had left; and when
the last will of Frana was found, and the writings
left by Adela or Hellenia, I did that again.
11.
These are the writings of Hellenia. I have put them
first because they are the oldest.
Chapter
V: Hail to all true Children of Frya!
1.
In olden times, the slave people knew nothing of liberty. They were brought
under the yoke like oxen. They were driven into the bowels of Irtha to dig metals, and had to build houses of stone as
dwelling places for princes and priests. Of all that they did nothing came to
themselves, everything must serve to enrich and make more powerful the priests
and the princes, and to satisfy them.
2.
Under this treatment they grew grey and old before their time, and died without
any enjoyment; although Irtha produces abundantly for
the good of all her children. But our runaways and exiles came through Twiskland to their boundaries, and our navigators came to
the harbours. From them they heard of liberty, of justice, and laws, without
which men cannot exist. This was all absorbed by the unhappy people like dew
into an arid soil.
3.
When they fully understood this, the most courageous among them began to clank
their chains, which grieved the princes. The princes are proud and warlike;
there is therefore some virtue in their hearts. They consulted together and
bestowed some of their superfluity; but the cowardly hypocritical priests could
not suffer this.
4.
Among their false gods they had created also wicked cruel monsters. Pestilence
broke out in the country; and they said that the gods were angry with the
domineering of the wicked. Then the boldest of the people were strangled in
their chains. Irtha drank their blood, and that blood
produced corn and fruits that inspired with wisdom those who ate them.
5.
In the year 1600 after Atland was submerged,
something happened which nobody had reckoned upon. In the heart of Finda’s land, upon a mountain, lies a plain called Kasamyr, that is, “Extraordinary”. There was a child born
whose mother was the daughter of a king, and whose father was a high-priest. In
order to hide the shame they were obliged to renounce their own blood.
Therefore it was taken out of the state to poor people.
6.
As the boy grew up, nothing was concealed from him, so he did all in his power
to acquire wisdom. His intellect was so great that he understood everything
that he saw or heard. The people regarded him with respect, and the priests
were afraid of his questions. When he was of full age he went to his parents.
They had to listen to some hard language; and to get rid of him they gave him a
quantity of jewels, but they dared not openly acknowledge him.
7.
Overcome with sorrow at the false shame of his parents, he wandered about.
While travelling he fell in with a navigator from Fryasland
who was serving as a slave, and who taught him our manners and customs. He bought
the freedom of the slave, and they remained friends till death. Wherever he
went he taught the people not to tolerate rich men or priests, and that they
must guard themselves against false shame, which everywhere did harm to love
and charity.
8.
He said, “Irtha bestows her treasures on those who
scratch her skin; so all are obliged to dig, and plough, and sow if they wish
to reap, but no one is obliged to do anything for another unless it be out of
goodwill.”
9.
He taught that men should not seek in her bowels for gold, or silver, or
precious stones, which occasion envy and destroy love.
10.
He said, “To embellish your wives and daughters, the river offers her pure
stream. No man is able to make everybody equally rich and happy, but it is the
duty of all men to make each other as equally rich and as happy as possible.
Men should not despise any knowledge; but justice is the greatest knowledge
that time can teach, because she wards off offences and promotes love.”
11.
His first name was Jesus, but the priests, who hated him, called him Fo, that is, “False”; the people
called him Krisen, that is, “Shepherd”; and his
friend who was a Child of Frya called him Buda,
because he had in his head a treasure of wisdom, and in his heart a treasure of
love.
12.
At last he was obliged to flee from the wrath of the priests; but wherever he
went his teaching had preceded him, whilst his enemies followed him like his
shadow. When Jesus had thus travelled for twelve years he died; but his friends
preserved his teaching, and spread it wherever they found listeners.
13.
What do you think the priests did then? That I must tell you, and you must give
your best attention to it. Moreover, you must keep guard against their acts and
their tricks with all the strength that Wr-alda has
given you. While the doctrine of Jesus was thus spreading over Irtha, the false priests went to the land of his birth to
make his death known.
14.
They said they were his friends, and they pretended to show great sorrow by
tearing their clothes and shaving their heads.
15.
They went to live in caves in the mountains, but in them they had hid all their
treasures, and they made in them images of Jesus. They gave these statues to
simple people, and at last they said that Jesus was a god, that he had declared
this himself to them, and that all those who followed his doctrine should enter
his kingdom hereafter, where all was joy and happiness.
16.
Because they knew that he was opposed to the rich, they announced everywhere
that poverty, suffering, and humility were the door by which to enter into his
kingdom, and that those who had suffered the most on Irtha
should enjoy the greatest happiness there.
17.
Although they knew that Jesus had taught that men should regulate and control
their passions, they taught that men should stifle their passions, and that the
perfection of humanity consisted in being as unfeeling as the cold stones.
18.
In order to make the people believe that they did as they preached, they
pretended to outward poverty; and that they had overcome all sensual feelings,
they took no wives. But if any young girl had made a false step, it was quickly
forgiven.
19.
They said, “The weak are to be assisted, and to save their souls men must give
largely to the temple.”
20.
Acting in this way, they had wives and children without households, and were
rich without working; but the people grew poorer and more miserable than they
had ever been before.
21.
This doctrine, which requires the priests to possess no further knowledge than
to speak deceitfully, and to pretend to be pious while acting unjustly, spreads
from east to west, and will come to our land also.
22.
But when the priests fancy that they have entirely extinguished the light of Frya and Jesus, then shall all classes of men rise up who
have quietly preserved the truth among themselves, and have hidden it from the
priests. They shall be of princely blood of priests, slave blood, and Frya’s blood. They will make their light visible, so that
all men shall see the truth; they shall cry woe to the acts of the princes and
the priests.
23.
The princes who love the truth and justice shall separate themselves from the
priests; blood shall flow, but from it the people will gather new strength. Finda’s people shall contribute their industry to the
common good, Lyda’s people their strength, and we our
wisdom. Then the false priests shall be swept away from Irtha.
Wr-alda’s spirit shall be invoked everywhere and
always; the laws that Wr-alda in the beginning
instilled into our consciences shall alone be listened to.
24.
There shall be neither princes, nor masters, nor rulers, except those chosen by
the general voice. Then Frya shall rejoice, and Irtha will only bestow her gifts on those who work. All
this shall begin in the year 4000 after the submersion of Atland,
and a thousand years later there shall exist no longer either priest or
oppression.
25.
Dela,
surnamed Hellenia - Watch!
26.
Thus runs Frana’s last will:
27.
All noble Children of Frya - Hail!
28.
In the name of Wr-alda, of Frya,
and of freedom, I greet you; and pray you if I die before I have named a
successor, then I recommend to you Tuntia, who is
burgh-femme in the burgh of Medeasblik; till now she
is the best.
29.
This Gosa has left behind her:
30.
Hail to all men!
31.
I have named no folk-mother, because I knew none, and because it is better for
you to have no folk-mother than to have one you cannot trust.
32.
One bad time is passed by, but there is still another coming. Irtha has not given it birth, and Wr-alda
has not decreed it. It comes from the east, out of the bosom of the priests.
33.
It will breed so much mischief that Irtha will not be
able to drink the blood of her slain children. It will spread darkness over the
minds of men like storm-clouds over the sunlight. Everywhere craft and deception
shall contend with freedom and justice. Freedom and justice shall be overcome,
and we with them.
34.
But this success will work out its own loss. Our descendants shall teach their
people and their slaves the meaning of three words; they are: “Universal Law”,
“Freedom”, and “Justice”. At first they shall shine, then struggle with
darkness, until every man’s head and heart has become bright and clear. Then
shall oppression be driven from Irtha, like the
thunder-clouds by the storm-wind, and all deceit will cease to have any more
power.
35.
Gosa.
Frya
