The Friendships of Women
THE FRIENDSHIPS OF WOMEN BY WILLIAM ROUNSEVILLE ALGER. A GENTLE BUSINESS AND BECOMING THE ACTION OF GOOD WOMEN. Shakespeare. BOSTON: ROBERTS BROTHERS. 1868. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867 by WILLIAM ROUNSEVILLE ALGER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. CAMBRIDGE: STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON. TO
IDUN AND HER APPLES
THE STORY TOLD IN AEGIR'S HALL
Idun is Bragi's wife. Very handsome is she; but the beauty of her face
is by no means greater than the goodness of her heart. Right attentive
is she to every duty, and her words and thoughts are always worthy and
wise. A long time ago the good Asa-folk who dwell in heaven-towering
Asgard, knowing how trustworthy Idun was, gave into her keeping a
treasure which they would not have placed in the hands of any other
person. This treasure was a box of apples, and Idun kept the golden
key safely fastened to her girdle. You ask me why these folk should
prize a box of apples so highly? I will tell you.
Old age, you know, spares none, not even Odin and his Asa-folk. They
all grow old and gray; and, if there were no cure for age, they would
become feeble, and toothless and blind, deaf, tottering, and
weak-minded. The apples which Idun guarded so carefully were the
priceless boon of youth. Whenever the Asas felt old age coming on,
they went to her, and she gave them of her fruit; and, when they had
tasted, they grew young and strong and handsome again. Once, however,
they came near losing the apples,--or losing rather Idun and her golden
key, without which no one could ever open the box.
In those early days Odin delighted to come down now and then from his
THE FRIENDSHIPS OF WOMEN BY WILLIAM ROUNSEVILLE ALGER. A GENTLE BUSINESS AND BECOMING THE ACTION OF GOOD WOMEN. Shakespeare. BOSTON: ROBERTS BROTHERS. 1868. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867 by WILLIAM ROUNSEVILLE ALGER, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Massachusetts. CAMBRIDGE: STEREOTYPED AND PRINTED BY JOHN WILSON AND SON. TO