A Norse myth about the seasons.
Long ago, when the wall around Asgard (the city of the gods) was not yet built, three Giant women came to live with the gods. Before their arrival the gods did not value gold, but once they saw the beautiful things the giant women were able to make from the gold, a shadow of foreboding fell over Asgard and greed crept into the hearts of the gods. At last, the three Giant women were banished from Asgard and the gods turned their thoughts from the hoarding of gold and focused instead on building their city.
Time passed and Loki - who is both god and giant, the doer of good and evil - brought wonderful things into Asgard. Attempting to impress the gods, he had the dwarves make beautiful gifts - two of which caught the attention of the goddess Freya: a wig of gold for Sif (Thor's wife) and a boar that shed light from its golden bristles as it flew for Frey (Freya's brother). And as she pined for these things, Freya thought of the Giant women and the wonderful things they made out of gold. But her husband Odur, more than any of the gods, despised the Giant women and yearned for the days before greed entered the city. So Freya resolved to steal away and find them without her husbands consent - convinced that Odur would not discover her betrayal.
One day Freya left their palace, leaving Odur playing with their little child Hnossa. She went down to Earth and consulted the Elves about where to find the Giant women. The Elves were afraid to tell her and sent her instead to the Dwarves in Svartheim.
"We will show you the way if you stay with us here," said one of the Dwarves.
"How long would you have me stay?" Freya asked them.
"Until the cocks in Svartheim crow. We want to know what the company of one of the Vanir is like."
Freya agreed. The Dwarves all had their way with her despite her protestations. They reminded her of her promise to stay. Freya paid a heavy price of misery before she was brought to the Giant women.
When they saw her, the first Giantess asked "What would you have from us?"
"Alas! Now that I have found you, I know that I should ask you for nought," Freya replied.
The third Giantess held up a necklace of gold most curiously fashioned.
"Oh! How bright it is! There is a shadow where you sit, women, but the necklace you hold makes brightness now. Oh, how I should joy to wear it!" said Freya.
"It is the necklace Brisingamen, and it is yours to wear" they told her.
They gave her the necklace and Freya returned to Asgard. When she looked upon her necklace, all misery went from her. It made her more lovely than any of the Vanir, and she was sure Odur would forgive her for the betrayal once he saw its beauty.
When Freya entered the city, all of the goddesses envied her, but she did not stop to speak with any of them. She went straight home to beg Odur's forgiveness, but when she arrived and called to him there was no answer. Hnossa, her child, was playing alone on the floor and when she saw the necklace she began to cry.
Freya searched for Odur but he was nowhere to be found. She sat full of sorrow until Frigga, wife of Odin the father of the gods, came to her.
"You are waiting for Odur but he has gone from Asgard."
Freya said nothing, but gave Hnossa to Frigga and mounted her car that was drawn by two cats, and journeyed down from Asgard to the Earth to search for her husband. Year in and year out she searched the Earth for Odur. At last she returned across Bifrost, the rainbow bridge that connects the Earth to Asgard. There she found Heimdall - the god who guards the bridge and thus knows the whereabouts of all of the gods - and inquired about her husband.
"Odur is in every place where the searcher has left; those who seek him will never find Odur," said Heimdall, the watcher for the gods.
Freya was devastated, but then she saw Hnossa, who had grown up to be so lovely that she brought cheerfulness to all the gods. So Freya returned to Asgard.
Freya continues to wear her bright necklace as a reminder of her betrayal and she will never stop searching for her husband.
