The Three Fates

      Adam of Bremen had traveled many miles, and was faint with thirst and hunger. His mouth was parched; he despaired that he should find any water soon. As he threw his plea up into the heavens, fate smiled down upon him, in the distance was a well. Adam hurried forth; landing on his knees, and drank from the well. As he scooped water desperately into his mouth, he was horrified to see at the bottom of the well, a great eye gazing up towards him. It was lidless never blinking at it watched; Adam could see the whole galaxy suspended in the milky white. This was Mimir’s Well, his father had warned him to never go near it, never to drink from it.

    “What could it hurt?” he thought to himself. Adam hurriedly scooped more water into his mouth to quench his thirst. Then he filled his canteen, to make sure he had enough water to finish his journey.  When Adam had gotten his fill, he continued on his way. Soon he came upon the Temple of Uppsala, and decided to rest. As he entered into the temple, he felt faint, stumbling forward, he passed out cold, lifeless.

     There was a bright flash before Adam’s eyes. He felt disoriented. What had happened? He stood shakily to his feet. Before him was a road like a beam of sunshine, it traveled for miles. On either side of the road was blackness, dotted with stars. Lighting flashed in the darkness; in the distance dark mountains were silhouetted. The air crackled with electricity. Adam followed the road, careful to stay away from the edge; he did not want to fall into the dark abyss below.

     At the end of the road stood three tall women on the cusp of a cliff. These were the Norn that his father had told him about as a child. They were draped in long silver cloaks. To the left stood Edda, she saw into the past, day’s bygone. In the middle stood Sigurd, she had the gift to look into the present and the immediate future. On the right stood Dvalin, she saw into the very distant future.

     “How did I get here?” Adam thought to himself confused. Reading his mind, Edda replied “You are here human, because you drank from the well of Mirmir, now you must hear what fate has in store for you. She proceeded to reach into the dark abyss, and pulled out three bright stars. In each star Adam could see scenes of his life being played out. Edda handed a star to each of her sisters.

     Edda suspended a star in front of her. Inside the stars luminous glow Adam saw a scene from the past. He was on the battlefield, at war. Adam has just killed for the first time in his life. “You have known violence,” Edda said, glancing up at Adam with piercing blue eyes “Taking another man’s life has left a mark on your soul, blood taints your hands, violence begets violence and blood begets blood,” she finished.

     In the star that was suspended before Sigurd, Adam saw his wife in the arms of another man, and then he saw a child. “Your wife has been unfaithful to you; she carries another man’s child,” Sigurd said simply, without feeling.

               
     Adam had the distinct feeling that Dvalin was watching him. She had no eyes in her head, only dark holes where they should be, and yet Adam felt her piercing glance strong as ever. The star suspended before her showed Adam as an old man. Alone, no family and no one to care for him in his old age. Children ran past, and threw stones at him as he lay hunched against a wall, freezing in a threadbare cloak. “You have turned away everyone you have ever loved, or anyone who was ever foolish enough to love you. You will die alone, and bitter,” said Dvalin watching Adam’s face closely.

Taking a deep breath, Adam asked “These are the things that will definitely come to pass in my life? I cannot change them?”

     “You cannot change the past,” Edda replied “Nor can you change the present, you have control of the future. If you do not change, the things Dvalin showed you will come to pass. Learn your lesson well human,” Edda said. Then she reached out and tapped Adam on the forehead, he felt a blinding searing pain. He stumbled backwards into the abyss.

      Adam awoke to someone shaking his shoulder. He was back in the Temple of Uppsala. He quickly got to his feet, shoving his way through the crowd that had gathered around him. Adam had to get home quickly; he knew what he had to do. Traveling at a quick pace, he made it home before nightfall. Adam searched for his wife, finally he found her, in bed with another man. In a rage Adam slaughtered her lover. He then turned and killed his wife.

     As Adam lay on the ground next to his dead wife’s body, mournful he stroked her lifeless face. Blood smeared her pale cheek. Why had the fates not warned him? In a large voice that emanated around the room, Edda said “Violence begets violence, and blood begets blood.”