When Orvar-Oddr was a young man, his foster-father ordered him to attend a feast. There, a seeress and witch named Heid began to predict the future of each and every guest. Orvar-Oddr declared that she should not tell him his future – but she would not listen to him. She predicted that he would live longer than anyone else – a full 300 years! – and that he would travel from land to land, and always be the greatest warrior. But finally, she said, right in his own home town of Berurjod, his own horse Faxi would be the death of him.
Orvar-Oddr was enraged that she had foretold his tragic future, and struck her in his anger. Then, hoping to undo his fate, he killed Faxi and buried the horse deep in the ground where he figured it could never hurt him. Just to be sure, he resolved to leave the place where he was fated to die, and never return.
Off he sailed to lands near and far, fighting and adventuring. He sailed past sea-monsters so vast they seemed to be islands. He sailed to Sicily, and then to the Holy Land, and into Hunaland where he married and became a king.
But finally, after hundreds of years, he grew weary and homesick, and came back to Norway. He landed at Berurjod, ordered his men to reef the sail on his ship, and wandered over the farm near where he’d buried Faxi. “So much for the old prophecy!” he scoffed. But what’s this, here in the weathered soil? Could it be a skull, from a horse? He prodded it with his spear, then began to pick it up. Quickly, a serpent darted out of the skull and bit him! The prophecy had come true after all.
Paintings... Drawings... Jack o' Lanterns. 