Fiction: "Earl Went Hunting"

First published in Idunna 76, Summer, 2008^*

dpaxson asked me for some fiction for the "Kinder Corner" children's feature in this issue of Idunna. After last issue's Ostara feature, I thought I'd write something with a more YA (Young Adult) appeal.

The bones of this story can be found in the Rígsþula of the Elder Edda, stanzas 25-35, as is appropriate to the issue's theme of "Heimdall". It is not necessary to have read the poem to make sense of the story, save for one detail: once upon a time, a gentleman named Ríg came calling to the home of a married childless couple, landed nobles with some few holdings. He slept "between" them for three nights, and nine months later the wife, named Mother, had a son named Earl.

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