Winter Passed

Often, chapters in "Star Of the Sea," as in The King Of Ys, begin with a change of the seasons but here is the opening sentence of a paragraph from within the body of the chapter that is a mini-biography of Veleda:

"Winter passed, rain, snow, cavernous darknesses, the night of fear before the sun turned back and the day of feast that followed, lightening skies, thaw, newborn lambs, budding boughs." (Time Patrol, p. 585)

As I commented on an opening sentence in "The Sorrow Of Odin The Goth" (on p. 362), this one describes two seasons, winter and spring. We should remember that the day of feast was preceded by a night of fear. How could people know that this time the sun would not continue to sink lower each day?

The paragraph in "Star Of The Sea" continues:

"Spring brought leaves and northbound wings; Niaerdh rode about the land..." (p. 585)

The goddess rode about the land? Her concealed image was pulled in a wagon:

"...you saw the car of Niaerdh go by, covered that none might behold her..." (p. 582)

But, to most people then, what was the difference between the image of the goddess and the goddess?

The paragraph ends:

"The Sun Car rolled ever higher and slower, green swelled, thunderstorms flashed and banged above the heath, rainbows glimmered far out to sea." (ibid.)

Thus:

the Sun, like Niaerdh, rides in a "Car";
Donar passes above the heath(ens);
and -

"'I will come to you on the rainbow,' Niaerdh plighted.
"So it was. So it is." (p. 469)