"The Milky Way stretched hoar above them in the north. Higher gleamed the Great Bear, which men here knew as the Wain of the Sky Father." (p. 539)
I seem to have missed this reference to the Milky Way before. Of course, the Milky Way can be seen in space, on Earth, in the past, present or future.
The reference to the Wain connects this story with the concluding section of "The Sorrow of Odin the Goth." Ermanaric, committing suicide, sees the Wain and something white - a cloud or Swanhild following the Wanderer? Another Pagan perception of nature.
2 comments:
That makes it plain how the Valkyrie myth is a natural outgrowth of evolving conceptions of Wotan/Odin.
Paul!
And of course, these days, the Wain is most often either associated with Charlemagne or simply called the "Great Bear" or "Big Dipper."
Ad astra! Sean
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