#proto worms

[ironcladfoundry]

For the MynameisByf ultimate lore video, I drew nearly every race from the lore of Destiny. So enjoy some headcanons.

The Precursors

The Lubraeans

The proto worms

The Krill

Kaharn Atol

The Ammonite

The Qugu

The Noesis

The Ahslid

The Ecumine

[thefirstknife]

One more thing. In the cutscene, when Eris starts chanting and "invokes the Worm gods," we hear her say three words:

"Akka... Xita... Sel..."

Obviously Akka and Xita are Worm gods. New Worm god just dropped??? We've never before heard the name "Sel." The only pattern I'm seeing in these being invoked is that Akka and Xita are dead. So maybe Sel is another, some forgotten Worm god that's died a long time ago. Or maybe it's just a word in the incantation, but that's a strange placement for it here with two other Worms.

[acmeoop]

Sweet Snack “A Tale of Two Kitties” (1942)

[prekladatelsky-orisek]

Great post overall but obligatory reminder that Finnish and Swedish are not related.

I keep being amused by how modern languages that are related to each other have elements that feel "archaic" compared to each other, just by having retained different features of their common ancestors. My psych clinic's coat rack had the sign "we are not responsible of any clothing/valuables left here" in both finnish and swedish, and I chuckled a little since the swedish "vi ansvar inte" is so similar word-for-word to saying "we answer not [for the thing]", like hehehhe medieval-ass phrasing language, before I recalled that hold on, the word for "to be responsible for" is the same damn word as "to answer/to reply" in finnish.

We answer not for your stolen coat or phone.

[vintagerpg]

Squares will tell you that the first punk rock band was the Sex Pistols, formed in 1975, but this is hardly a settled matter among punk enthusiasts, who will cite the Ramones, the Saints, Television, the New York Dolls, the Electric Eels, Death, the Stooges, MC5, the Sonics and sundry garage bands stretching ever-further back down the timeline as the true progenitors of the form. When you believe it all started with the Pistols and one of these other acts hits your ears, you can feel the ground shift under your feet. Barony (1990) is kind of like that for TTRPGS.

The folder contains three booklets. The core rules are called Conrad’s Fantasy, though I’ve no idea who Conrad is. In fact, I have a hell of a hard time reading these rules. They’re just…dense and amateurish, full of asides and often just plain unclear. Despite this, I can still see the outline of a completely different kind of “free-style” game for 1990, one focused on storytelling rather than dice rolling and laying out ideas decades ahead of their time. There are no hit points, for instance; rather, characters have a stack of keywords they lose as they take damage (very much like Goblinville, for instance). Skills are checked by rolling 2d8, but there are degrees of success. Weapons aren’t defined, but rather combat tests the way a character uses them. The magic system is free-form, similar to Ars Magica, where players pick a law of reality to break and, anticipating Mage, work to prevent Reality from blowing back on them. Two booklets are devoted to generating games — one for scenarios, the other encounters — using Tarot cards; a third system in the core book uses Tarot to resolve epic combat against dragons (and I can’t help but compare all this Tarot stuff to the recently released His Majesty the Worm).

The result is…curious. It’s strange to read because it seems like 21st century RPGs owe many of their idea to Barony. But like proto-punk, I am not sure that is actually the case — Barony is not often cited and proved damnably difficult to find. Rather, I think these things maybe work in cycles, and that similarly minded designers arrive at the same conclusions sometimes, even if those times are on different points in the timeline. It’s still an amazing read. Er, well, it would have been, at least, if they’d hired an editor.

[theyonagoda]

Let's give it up for early Cambrian-era proto-fish!!!!

They look like worms on a string.

[bogleech]

question about the arthropod ancestors, if they didn’t evolve to have the legs at the head yet then what did their mouths look like? do we know?

Yeah! Those basal soft tube proto-bugs include Anomalocaris, Opabinia, various less popular Cambrian sea worms, AND today's fully living observable velvet worms! A typical lobopod mouth is just a fleshy iris, with hardened protrusions inside to function as "teeth" when necessary

Melvyn yeo's velvet worm photos go viral a lot for how adorable they are but they're hiding a facial sphincter with knives in it:

It's the same kind of mouth a lot of other soft-bodied animals evolved, such as polychaete worms and gastropods

When you're mostly meat with no jointed skeletal structure, you can still bite things by evolving a straightforward round hole reinforcing some of the inner tissues until they become a beak or some nice fangs

[professional-jaywalker]

Vermin

a short essay about being bug hearted, and killing bugs.

I think one of the most cruel thing to love might be invertebrates. Insects. Arachnid. Worms. Pest. With any other animal, it is seen as unreasonable to want to eradicate. Some insects do manage to earn human's favors, bees (but only the useful ones), moths and butterflies (but only the cute ones), and if you're facing a true bug lover, beetles and dragonflies and perhaps even spiders and centipedes and scorpions. But not all, and it's still simply reasonable, to hate even seeing them.

I've loved bugs since I was a kid. I think it felt wrong not to, because people didn't like them, and people didn't like me. I don't think I've ever understood what in how they move felt less alive for people than a puppy. Still now I love bugs. I love mosquitos and I love botflies and I love hornets and tiny annoying ants that crawl through the windows and cockroaches and the wasp that stung me on the thumb when I accidentally grabbed a stick she was resting on when I was 9.

You cannot possibly live a human life without killing countless things. It's impossible. The most vegan, most peaceful human, refusing to walk on grass to not harm the grasshopper that didn't jump fast enough, will not be able to live a life without killing an insect even accidentally. It's something I have thought about a lot overall. I'm not vegan. I've thought about it. It would make sense, I don't see a lot of difference between my own flesh and the flesh I eat. But somehow it feels even more insulting, to be something that kills, and to pretend I don't. I eat insects, too. I wouldn't be able to tell you exactly how I feel about it all.

Maybe it makes me an hypocrite, to be so perturbed about the way people treat insects when I still eat meat. But it's, I think, in the end, the fracture between someone seeing a dead cow, and a dead fly. Most people wouldn't have the courage to kill a cow. They would feel guilt. In fact, a lot of people already hide the fact that meat is flesh and is, strictly speaking, part of a cadaver. People who refuse to eat a fish with the head. Pork, not pig. Beef, not cow. I hate that too. But insects ? People kill a fly without even thinking about it. It's annoying, then it's dead. A dead fly doesn't elicit guilt.

People expect me to be the same. Even knowing I love insects, it's seen as amusing that I acknowledge them as more than a mindless automaton, and, if I can, if it costs me nothing, avoid killing them. I have killed countless insects. I've had to, purposefully, many many many times. But it is, in fact, killing. I just want to be allowed to recognize that.

I work in a lab, on ants. We dissected more than a hundred, ovaries, poison gland, brains, understanding how they work, how differentiation happens and how they communicate it. Reconstructing brains to evaluate changes in different structures, measuring how many proto-egg each individual has post-dissection and correlation to dominance, reading articles and articles about theory.

These specific ants like shallow humid grooves for their nest. Today we tested a large foraging arena, brightly lit for the cameras, dry, wide, open, empty. Ants panic after being picked up even with the least harmful tools we have. When in an unfamiliar space, we've had them in the past run until they died of exhaustion, unable to find the entry of the nest to hide. Two of them were placed in the foraging arena to test the cameras, test if we could read the tags they have on their back. Again and again, they like to follow the walls, possibly because it feels less exposed. And again and again, they stop, groom each other, and calm down if they meet, huddled into each other.

I can't claim to know what's going on in ants brain, whether they feel things similarly to us. But it's hard not to project.

Ant tagged 16, and ant tagged 12, close, unmoving.

[insirisarts]

Poppy Avn Characters pt.1

Ok I have everything for the first three characters down so here we go :).

Please note that these guys were made for my fanfiction of the au "Science Time with Dr. Pine" Which has mostly been expanded on by @aroace-get-out-of-my-face. This is in no way meant to impose on them or disregard their ideas for the au, I'm just doing my best with what we have so far.

I did my best to copy the GF style. But in actual artwork I make, I'll probably go closer to my usual style.

The other three will hopefully be done tomorrow.

Character info under the read more, in order from left to right.

Name, Age, Place of Birth-

Eliane Lopes (Eli): 16, Brazil-

Mainly works as a puppeteer until they start doing more human acting, then she works as an older sister figure for the puppets that are children. For the adult puppets (i.e. Dr. Pine), she works as an assistant to connect watchers to the topic. Her mom comes on set sometimes early on to see what exactly her daughter does for work (and starts to bring lunch too when they worm their way into her heart), then eventually joins and plays a role in teaching how to begin learning new languages. She will eventually act as a primary parental figure. 

As Eli gets older, and comes into her own, she will take on a more active role as she gets more experience from the others (Stan also teaches her how to pick-pocket and lock-pick because of course he did). Kind of becomes a proto-Wendy/Soos, where she gets taken under Stans’ wing and they develop a familial relationship, her mom also kinda takes in Stan in the same way and also teaches him to cook.

After everything with Ford happens Eli is saltier for a bit since she and Stan had bonded, but she gets over it fairly fast and is happy Stan could reconnect with his family. She and her mom gossip about him though.

Her main puppet is a younger one named ‘Rosie’ which, at first (season 1), is a small hand puppet with finger-controlled hands. Her main body is made of soft orange felt cloth, she wears a repurposed pink dress for dolls and has a head of red ‘hair’ made of string. She also had a round red nose and big ol’ googly eyes. The new Rosie puppet (season 2 and onward) is heavier and fuller, she is still felt, but her eyes are also now the classic felt kind too. Her body is plumped up with more padding, and she now has sticks to move her arms rather than fingers. She has a proper custom dress, along with a few other outfits for different activities. Her hair is also now proper faux hair, pressed into wild curls with a mix of string throughout the scalp (like her puppeteer).

Rosie is sweet and meant to connect to the younger audience, being the primary focus of the camera. She talks very kindly, and often is the character to reiterate the ‘lesson of the day�� at the end of segments. Otherwise, the other puppets will do their thing during their segments. Her and Dr. Pine are often paired together since they have good chemistry, they have a sweet student and teacher relationship.

-----

David Mercury: 17, NYC-

He is also a puppeteer to begin with, but when live actors start happening, he is often an extra since he’s a little camera shy as a human actor. Usually he will help with sets, moving things around, setting up lights or helping with adding details to set pieces. He doesn’t really talk about his home life. He is a big fan of rock bands like QUEEN, AC/DC and KISS.

He has an interest in the cameras early on and will often stay after hours to ask how everything works to actually make a segment look good. Otherwise, he can be found around town late into the evening. After he becomes an adult, he also starts to learn how to operate the cameras and eventually goes to college for film while working on PA on the side. He eventually becomes PA’s main cameraman. He and Eli become good friends.

When the Ford stuff is figured out, he  works with Ford to make a mini documentary about Gravity Falls; it doesn’t get released until years later after Fords’ research is published since it was primarily a passion project. He composes all of the shots and makes all of the music for it too. He did outsource to a college friend for editing though.

His primary puppet is a skinny little tube of a guy named ‘Casey’, closer to a teen in terms of a puppet kid. At the start (season 1) He is made with bright blue textured cloth, with a long pale felt nose, googly eyes and staggered segments of cut black felt cloth ‘hair’, similarly his clothes are bits of felt cut into a sort-of T-shirt. The newer Casey puppet (season 2 and onward) gets the stuffed felt treatment too. He's still a skinny thing, he just has more shape and definition, along with custom clothes as well and short fake hair.

He acts as a way of establishing the ‘situation’ for the day that the lesson is centered around. Otherwise, he mainly acts as a third man to bounce interactions off of to make things feel more natural. He has a sort of plain nasally voice and has a bit of a sarcastic streak. He is often the focus of episodes about friends or social interactions. He is usually in the main Rosie segments where they act as a duo.

-----

John Richards: 24, New Mexico-

Started as the muscle and helped with the set building, since he is such a big guy, being an ex-football player. But when Tina the Tiny T-Rex gets introduced (season 2), he plays her since her costume is so heavy. Her lines are dubbed over in post by a later hire. He looks like a massive terrifying bear, but he is actually very sweet. He and Stan are buds and both work on PA until they both retire. Even then, they stay in contact despite living in different states.

He is the guy who tackles Ford when he attacks Dr. Pine, and thusly, he isn’t very fond of Ford until after he and Stan work out their stuff. Then it’s constant teasing by making Ford join in lesson segments about family when he is featured in the show. There are so many videos of Tina doing football stuff that it causes women's football to go on the rise for a while. He takes pride in this fact as he is the oldest of 3 and his two sisters look up to him a lot.

Tina is a T-Rex done sort of in the style of Barney the Dinosaur. She has a big head with long stocky legs and small arms that are mostly controlled by the hands around the ‘biceps’ of the costume. Coincidentally, she is also mostly scientifically accurate due to the plumage of ‘feathers’ (read: fake party feathers and string) on her back, joints and tail, which were used to hide the actor better. She is a plumb-ish color on her felt ‘scaled’ parts and dark blue-ish on her ‘feathers’.

She is excitable and sporty, encouraging play and healthy activity, always trying to inspire the others to try out some form of sport or physical movement. Otherwise, she will often be the one to ask questions about the ‘lesson of the day’ and address anything that the audience might get confused on.

[greatwyrmgold]

(raises hand) I think the Terrible Popular Worm Fandom would have a Nazi problem. Sorry if this clashes with the tone of other Terrible Popular Worm Fandom speculation.

Worm was written at a time where white people like me and Wildbow thought of neo-Nazis as Blues Brothers villains; they're bad people who want to commit unspeakable crimes against humanity, but they're too unpopular to be an actual threat. So Wildbow was kinda sloppy with Empire 88; on paper, there are points being made about white supremacy, but most of those were still half-formed when Kaiser got axed and E88's remnants quickly faded from narrative significance.

About nine months after Worm wrapped up, GamerGate knocked over the biggest domino that lead to neo-Nazis becoming an actual political threat, and one of the proto-alt-right's big targets was online fandoms. And the Parahumans fandom already has a notable minority who see Kaiser as a kinder, more honorable villain compared to the savage ABB and fillty Merchants.

If Worm was more popular, there would be more people in its fandom. There would therefore be more Nazi sympathizers and more apolitical teens, both of whom are useful targets for the alt-right. So they'd probably poke their way into /r/parahumans (and possibly other Worm fan communities) and do their radicalization pipeline thing. Make POC and queer people and so on feel unwelcome, spread reactionary rhetoric and memes, etc.

Two specific traits of Wildbow's become relevant at this point. First, he consistently tries to support everyone Nazis hate. He's often hilariously unsuccessful, but he tries. Second, he is perhaps too involved with his fan communities.

So once Wildbow realized his community had a Nazi problem, he would almost certainly try to do something about it. I have absolutely no confidence that it would be effective.

[victoriadallonfan]

VICTORIA NEVER COMPLAINS ABOUT BACK PAIN IN HER INTERNAL MONOLOGUE AND SHE NEVER MENTIONS HAVING A HARD TIME BUYING BRAS AND OTHER FLATTERING CLOTHES

You can tell who’s a fake fan by the fact that Peri forgets that not only does Victoria do exercises to strength her core and back, but Taylor notes personal forcefields are used for chest support!

In fact I have WoG and quotes from Guts and Glory (the proto Worm story that WB claims is canon adjacent) that point to further evidence of Pericardium not just being a fake fan, but not having actually read anything about Victoria at all!

In this thesis I-

[allwormdiet]

Your recent post on Arc 8 have got me wondering if the dice roll was, on a certain level, an artifact of a Worm that never was. Like a lot of web serials, Worm is a giant first draft, so a lot of early ideas and elements that would have been sanded off in later edits remain as discordant notes. @artbyblastweave has described how you can see the traces of a campier Worm with a more conventional kitchen-sink superhero setting in the early arcs. (There's a WoG out there where Wildbow discussed how the decision on whether to include magic or not in the setting was made late in the day, which would have completely altered the entire story.) Anyway, in another WoG WB described that in his initial conception Worm would be more of an ensemble piece. Taylor would have been one of multiple protagonists exploring different aspects of the setting. In that version of Worm, Taylor would have had a smaller part in the story, so she could have been killed off and replaced while the other protagonists continued their stories. However, WB probably realized pretty quickly that he'd hit paydirt with her character, so Worm quickly became the Taylor Hebert Show. While he may have always planned to roll the dice for the Leviathan arc, settling on a single protagonist would have changed what those rolls meant for the story. (I do want to emphasize that I am not making that dumb "Worm was only good by accident!" argument. I think WB just set out wanting to write a superhero story with a bunch of details up in the air, and when he hit on something good he leaned into it. Most stories start out like this; the nature of serialized web fiction just means we're more aware of the sausage-making process than we are for most published fiction that (mostly) tucks it out of sight.)

That's an interesting line of thought, honestly.

As someone who's dabbled in serialized fiction and had not nearly as much success, either in terms of popularity (hah) or in terms of actually finishing the fucking things (hah hah), it's an outrageously difficult format to work with because you set so much of it in stone as you go along and you might not realize until too late that you've changed your mind about something, and that gets a lot harder to work with the more of it is already published.

I know that there were prior versions of Worm where the protagonist was entirely different (iirc the main one of note was centered on Glory Girl and Panacea called Guts and Glory, but I think there was at least one point where Brian was considered for the protagonist), and that even the first version of Taylor's story was scrapped some time before making Worm (Myriad?)

It'd be easy to believe that there's some version of the story very early on where Taylor or a proto-Taylor bites the dust, you get that even with more major productions; Jesse Pinkman from Breaking Bad was gonna die in the first season and they changed that mid-filming. All I can really say is that I'm glad as fucking hell that Wildbow realized that Taylor was a bullseye protag choice.

Now if only he would stop putting her in all of these horrible situations

[ducktracy]

Do you think the best plot twist from a looney toons cartoons/movies was the ending from "Duck-Amuk", or is there a better plot twist then that?

what i wouldn't GIVE to be able to see Duck Amuck with fresh eyes again!! i love Duck Amuck a lot but it's unfortunately one of those Chuck Jones shorts where i've been exposed to it so much that the twist ending has no real surprise effect on me anymore. it's a great ending though, especially compared to something like Rabbit Rampage (i just forgot the title and sat there for 15 seconds going "what was it?? Rebel Rabbit? no! Rhapsody Rabbit? no!! r.. Redrawn Rabbit???" which probably speaks to.. something) whose ending is just completely illogical and lame. in the words of the immortal proto-Fudd, "I DON'T BELIEVE IT"

BUT! to answer your question. this is probably one i'll come back to because i was kicking myself that i missed. there's a lot of great twist endings out there, but one of my favorites is probably Hare Brush, in that it's revealed that Elmer has been acting like a rabbit through entire cartoon NOT because he's having a psychotic break, like the story establishes it as, but so he can get away with tax evasion. maybe hits harder having seen the entire cartoon but it's great, i love Arthur Q. Bryan's line read here

before i remembered this though i almost answered with the ending to Quentin Quail. it's not so much a twist ending so much as it is a "wtf" ending but there are few things funnier to me on this earth than the Baby Snooks caricature refusing to eat a worm--in which this cartoon is all about her poor father killing himself trying to get said worm for her to eat--because it looks too much like Frank Sinatra. took my breath away the first time i saw it. this is my exact sense of humor and i feel so vindicated that this 78 year old cartoon could jump across generations and appeal so personally to me specifically

[aicosu]

Pathologic headcanons? You mentioned having a lot of them

So fucking many I dont know where to start? Maybe with bigger ones? Then character ones?

The Town/Kin

- I actually played much of p2 first before playing 1 and then returning to finish 2. So I have a lot of attachment to the Kin, and Boddho and their pov.

-I think that Boddho is an empty nesting eldritch mother. That she either is like... Illuvatar from Silmarillion (from what my husbands told me) where she came or grew from earth and wanted to make specificslly humans, but made the worms and brides and shabnaks first at her version of the Valor, or their job is to prepare the world for her true children (humans). even as "excess materials" shabnaks excess bones, worms excess muscle, and brides excess blood. But she didnt expect them to grow out of their need for her. Steppe life does eventually evolve towards integrating with the settlement and she resents creations who can create towers to heaven without her. Hence plague. But again, boddho creates creatures who are individually sentient. Even some of the proto kin seem rebellious. So I imagine the plague too, is sentient with its own ideas and goals. Poor boddho seems a bit immature and frustrated that yes. Eventually, even the plague and kin will want to grow and elvove without her.

-or shes already dead. Love the dead boddho theory, thanks andrey stamatin. That maybe everyone who hears boddho is just hearing her talk from centuries ago cause shes to unfathomable and eldritch creature to speak to. Neat! I think it doesnt hold up in 2, since you see her (someones?) Heart beating but cool.

-i do think the proto humans have preferences but dont know what a preference even is. Theres obviously (in p2, i know p1 was more an obvious patriachal straightfoward thing) brides who prefer townsfolk and brides who prefer the steppe. There are worms who like the city people they make friends with, and shabnaks that feel fear but aspire to grow ans meet and learn langauge.

Daniil Dankovsky

-trans daniil just makes so much damn sense to me its stupid like its perfect. At first I thought maybe he was amab and experiencing gender envy at the women in the town, coming to a conclusion he's in denial of why he favors their company or feels a sort of kinship with. To me, women are to Daniil what children are to Artemy. His bound in 1 as the uptopians is eh to me, but yet anytime he is speaking with Lara or Yulia, even Aspity, there is a understanding, condescending, even familial, protective frustration he has thats so complicated.

-to me that works so well as his journey as afab. Only child. Born to a young dead mother and a military man who didnt want much to do with him.

-I imagine him pursuing college and medical school for a year before his father dies and he drops out to transition. Ive seen other fans of transkovsky say he invented hrt himself, but if I think about how medical was approached or even philosphized about in patho or the older days I think he approached it by killing singular nerves and doing invasive surgey. They werent super great at the hormone or brain level and its just more... danils style to think to himself "i will literally kill what i dont need or want" (and then wearing uterus trophies on his neck because he cant brag out loud)

-which leads me to my other headcanon that this secret invasive self experiments and his success at splicing himself gave him a bit of cancer or a debilitating "mystical" disease he refuses as mystical. While i do love daniil being pompous about defeating death just cause hes pompous, I also love the idea that he wants all his cake and flowers. He succeeded in defeating gender, birth, orientation, and now its making him die? How unfair. How horrible. No one will steal his time at finally being himself not even death.

-thanatica I see as a mask over that research, too. Cause he can not come out and show himself off to substantiate his achievements. The medical world would be too distracted by the social ques to care that, hey, I've stopped cell generation. I've propugated cells. I've made parts of a body grow that stopped in the womb. Its a breakthrough he cant discuss so hes hauling in dead bodies and reanimating skin with the same methods or stacing off tuberculosis with the same technique hes using to stave off his death disease and it give him all this internal, unvalidated, seething frustration that he cant just scream what a fucking genuis he is. (He does anyway but without that to back him up)

-I think he joins the military for a year or two and assumes the identity of a dankovsky son. And the military stupidly, weirdly, validates him in his identity but also hardens him the way war does. The way death does when you have soldiers dying on your medical table. Then goes back and finishes his degree before opening thanatica.

-i hc Daniil as a messy bisexual. I think pre transistion he was always attracted to women actually, and that also motivated him to a smaller degree of well, why not get married to a lovely lady. Why not be the head of my household. Why not conquer society and genetics and death and enjoy things I could not myself feel comfortable to portray, but want to covet.

-you know and he gets to busy to actually finally indulge in that and then gets to town on ghorkan and meets artemy burakh and is like, wait, no, stop, this isnt the plan dammit.

-but I do think also that's complicated when it comes to sex and love. I can identify aapects or a gradient of a sexuality to him. Not necessarily demisexual, but his identity and his mind can get in the way of desires or even, that it takes a specific amount of vulnerability that he avoids. So maybe it's trauma or his being on the spectrum. So in his journey of self-discovery, maybe he's been a lot of whatever "labels." I think so much of labels and identity play into his vast acknlowdgement of philosophy too. Why talk about sex at all if we arent also talking about society and death and culture and etc (que daniil stopping his one night stand mid sentence to lecture about the differences of breeding expectations in different economic structures or population.)

-I ship daniil with Burakh mostly, (stamatins and block too at times) but I also ship him with the Marble Nest bride at the stillwater, who I guess is like a projected OC of mine. (Shes a special model, one of the only ones wearing jewelry and also one of the only kin whose sweet to daniil? She also seems critical of her own culture "weddings are a sad thing for us". I have a million headcanons and ideas for them two, who I think he names her Theralydice (thera for theraputrix the assitants to aescluipis or healers, therayl for feral or wild, and dice for custome or law as well as a common form for femininenames) Something heretically latin and inappropriate and artemy shakes him stupid for naming a bride at all- "but how will I refer to the only reasonable one burakh") but I wont bore you with all that crack.

OTHER:

Sorry this has already gotten so long so ill just list random other stuff.

-I think burakh is a man of little words not cause he's shy or reserved but because hes very smart about his town. He knows that information and gossip spread like wildfire. And stating his ideas, thoughts, plans, TO ANYONE so plainly (as dankovsky does) means in another twenty minutes 6 other people might find out and stop him. It's in his best interest to act stupid and complacent. It's the best idea to shrug at young vlad and go "idk maybe" because saying yes or no would maybe mean making an enemy.

-I think there are two eldritch horros now one. Aside from boddho i think the mistresses are hearing something else out there in the ether. Same as those whispers to peter about building the polyhedron. Boddho from this planet or not, something in that void is wanting to come in and use her or the earths power to its own end. Town on Ghorkon seems like an open battery everyone wants to suck dry. And while the kains can talk a big talk about plans for nina or simon, I wouldnt be suprised if someone or something kicked their souls out and took over for itself.

-I 1000 percent think Aspity is the first outbreak in human form if that wasn't already established. But I also dont think clara is. But I do love the idea that it's possible to do. In the same way, maybe annaAngell occupies Willows body? Hmm.

-also all yes to everyone is just actually dolls, but then wheres the fun in hc-ing the world lore???

[mossinformed]

The protonema is an algae-like stage that follows right after the spore germinates. The worm phase if you will. Proto= first, nema=thread

[deinemuddalutscht]

Frau Holle

This essay is seven thousand words long and English is not my native language so please forgive me if there are grammatical or spelling mistakes in the text. I have also moved some passages arround so let's hope that I didn't accidentally leave doublets in this text

Most likely "Holle" (meaning "the Benevolent") was originally an epithet for the Germanic goddess Frigg. Following Christianization, this name became distinct, partly due to prohibitions against invoking pagan goddesses, which were now considered evil beings. Similarly, Perchta (meaning "the Shining One") in the southern German and Alpine regions may have derived from another name for Frigg, influenced by specific local Noric traditions. Related  figures to Frigg/Perchta/Holle could also be Frau Harke or Harre. The name of Frau Holle's appears most frequently in the ereas arround  Hesse, Thuringia, and Lower Franconia Further south, she is called Berchta/Perchta, while in the north, she is referred to as Frau Frerk (after Frigg/Frea/Frija) or Frau Wode, Frau Gode, named after Friggs husband: the god Odin. (The Old Norse theonym Odin and the high-german/dutch Wode/Woden/Gode are all derived from the  Proto-Germanic masculine theonym „Wōðanaz“)

 Frau Holle is also identified with the goddess Holda or Hulda, potentially another Germanic name for Frigg.

It is also possible that she is connected tot he Germanic death goddess Hel. Frau Holle is also associated with the fertility goddess Freyja. People who are familiar with Norse mythology will probably have heard the theory that Freyja and Frigg may have been one and the same goddess, but we don't have enough sources to determine this. And if Frigg and Freyja are derived from the same figure then it is still unclear whether this was just a later devolepment in the scandinavian countries while the continental Germanic Freyja/Frigg remained a single entity. Since the Continental Germanic tribes  were Christianized earlier than the Scandinavians, we have even fewer sources on Continental Germanic mythology than on Norse Germanic mythology. The few Roman sources about the religion of Germania, for example, do not reveal anything about the existence of Loki, so it could be that Loki is a late addition to the phantheon, that he only gained importance later or that he only appeared in North Germanic mythology. Even if North Germanic and Continental Germanic mythology come from the same proto-mythology, both probably had different local deities and perceived their  shared deities differently. In any case, the existence of Frau Holle indicates that Frigg/freyja held a more important position in Continental Germanic mythology than in Norse Germanic mythology. The continental Germanic Freyja/Frigg was equated with the Roman goddess Dianah, which is why it can be assumed that the continental Germanic Frigg was not only thought of as the wife of Odin but was also regarded as a young single goddess. Frau Holle is nowhere mentioned with a husband, but unlike Dianah, she is never explicitly associated with the concept of virginity. Frau Holle dosent have a husband but she isnt a virgin either. She is connected with the domestic duties of a house wife but in an supernatrual, ruler-of-the-universe-kind-of-way.  Connections to Odin still exists though: during the Rauhnächte frigg is said to ridewith Wotan through the clouds, symbolizing winter storms and  Frau Holle is sometimes said tob e the supreme leader oft he wild hunt

Written traces of Frau Holle can be followed back at least 1,000 years, with the earliest mention in the decrees of Bishop Burchard of Worms, written between 1008 and 1012. However, her roots go much further, stating, The evidence strongly suggests that Frau Holle is not a ghostly figure or a vegetation spirit but the regional embodiment of an ancient Earth Goddess. One of these manuscript documents, the 'Summa fratris Rudolfi de confessionis discretione', written between 1235 and 1250 by a Cistercian monk named Rudolf, is particularly interesting in terms of its content, as it refers to the myth of setting the table for Frau Holle in the Rauhnächten collected by Paetow.

The manuscript states:

“Certain women, in order to become happy and be successful in worldly matters, indulge in god-hating fantasies: On Christmas night, they set the table for the Queen of Heaven - whom the people call Frau Holle - so that she may help them.”

This statement points to a cult of Holle that still existed in the early 13th century, although it was viewed with suspicion and condemned by the church. As early as the beginning of the 11th century she appears to have been known as the leader of women, and of female nocturnal spirits, which "in common parlance are called Hulden from Holda". These women would leave their houses in spirit, going "out through closed doors in the silence of the night, leaving their sleeping husbands behind". They would travel vast distances through the sky, to great feasts, or to battles amongst the clouds. A 16th century fable recorded by Erasmus Alberus speaks of "an army of women" with sickles in hand sent by Frau Hulda. Thomas Reinesius in the 17th century speaks of Werra of the Voigtland and her "crowd of maenads."

In ancient times, the Germanic Chatti (or "Hessians") may have offered pagan sacrifices to their beloved goddess atop the mountain Hoher Meißner, as suggested by archaeological findings of gold coins from the first century AD.

Holle’s connection to the three worlds (Underworld, Upperworld, and Earthly realm) also suggests a role as a Germanic shamanic goddess, making the fairy tale read as an ecstatic initiation rite. Through the well (axis mundi), the initiates symbolically embark on a spiritual journey. In addition to literary accounts, folk customs associated with Frau Holle, bearing archaic features and shamanic elements, continue to the present day. For instance, in southern Germany during the Perchtenlauf (or Holle Run), wild men and women parade to drive out winter spirits and summon spring; their animal costumes with fur and horns recall Paleolithic cave paintings of shamans, clad in animal skins, performing ritual dances in honor of the numinous Mother of Animals.

During the christianasation, direct mention of Frigg or Diana became less acceptable. Thus, the common folk began referring to her obliquely as Hulda, Holde, or Holle.

In the eyes of the Church, she soon became a “she-devil.”

And so the radiant wife of Wotan faded from prominence, surviving only in the shadows of superstition. And since Frau Holle was associated with womanhood, she soon became a witch goddesses.Grimm describes Holle as an ancient sorceress and witch-goddess, noting that witches travel in Holle’s company and ‘Holle Riding’ in Upper Hesse and the Westerwald is synonymous with a witches' ride.”However, she was never as demonized as Frau Perchta bacame in the Alpine regions.

Her center of worship was/is a mountain  massif Hoher Meissner. The entrance to her world ist he so called Frau See,a pond in Hoher Meißner. Around 1850, a shepherd found two Roman-era gold coins (1st century BC) near the Holle Pond. Excavations in 1937 unearthed medieval and earlier ceramic shards close to the pond, possibly indicating that offerings to Frau Holle took place there.  According to legend, the Frau Holle Pond is bottomless. One tale describes a miner attempting to measure the depth of the “Holle See” with a plumb line, yet even after 65 fathoms (about 104 to 156 meters), he could not reach the bottom.. In this mystical place, there is said to be a silver castle surrounded by a garden full of flowers, fruits, and vegetables, which Frau Holle generously gifts, especially to women and girls.

Another story tells of Frau Holle appearing at noon as a beautiful young woman bathing in the center of the pond. She is said to sometimes play tricks on travelers or hunters, occasionally even seducing them.

 In earlier times, young women especially would bathe in the Frau Holle pond on the Hoher Meißner, believing it would enhance their fertility. The water was also believed to have healing properties. Local schoolgirls would peer into the pond and, upon seeing their reflection, exclaim, “These are Frau Holle’s children.” —a custom still practiced in the 1930s. It was said that the tips of unborn children’s hair are in the reeds In the 19th century, boys and girls would gather at night near the Holle Hole by Schlitz, dancing and singing a song from which only the first stanza has survived:

“Miameide – stands on the heath – Wears a little green skirt. Three lovely maidens sit with her. One looks ahead, another into the wind. The woman by the spring has many, many children.”

This song likely has pre-Christian origins, though its precise meaning is lost. The last two lines may hint at Frau Holle’s role as a bringer of children. This may explain the tradition of young women bathing in the pond to enhance their fertility. The "White Wall" is a steep limestone slope, facing directly westward and exposed to the west wind. It represents the "autumn side" of the mountain and is therefore associated with myths of decline and death.

In the western part of the Meißner, there were likely sites dedicated to the veneration of the dead, while in the east, the symbolic direction of life, were places dedicated to birth and rebirth. The ancestral spirits who entered the mountain in the west were believed to re-emerge as children’s souls at Frau Holle’s pond, returning from the goddess’s subterranean world.

It’s also said that “Sunday children” (those born on Sundays) can sometimes hear a bright ringing near the pond, possibly inspired by the presence of midwife toads, also known as bell toads, due to their ringing calls.

One of the most significant Frau Holle sites on the Meißner is the "Kitzkammer," which, according to legend, houses Frau Holle's cats. In spring, these cats are said to transform into young women, priestesses of the goddess Holle, who then emerge from this site to join Frau Holle in guiding the natural cycles of growth, life, and decay. Located on the southwest slope of the Meißner, the Kitzkammer is a cave framed by basalt columns, though it is no longer accessible. It lies at the top of a wild gorge near a small mountain brook and has long been the subject of many myths about Frau Holle. Frau Holle's cats are enchanted girls and women who have run away from the village and stayed with Frau Holle. According to the myth, Frau Holle's cats sometimes bring lost wanderers back onto the right path.

The Kitzkammer lies on the edge of a ravine where streams rush down. The striking feature of this place is its exposed, black basalt rock, which forms beautiful, regular columns. However, these columns lie horizontally rather than rising vertically and end in a smooth wall, within which the Kitzkammer opens as a strange cave. The cave used to be larger, but basalt columns have since collapsed inside. This extraordinary place not only draws many visitors today but also stirred the imagination of early peoples who came here. Legends say that Frau Holle’s cats once lived here. 'Kitzen' are female cats, sacred animals often associated with the goddess in her myths. People who treat these cats kindly gain the favor of the goddess. Another legend tells of a shepherd boy who encountered a tall White Lady at the Kitzkammer holding a large set of golden keys, which she offered him. These keys are of great significance: they mark Frau Holle not only as a household steward but as the keeper of the world’s domains. Many similar White Ladies appear in folklore, using their magical keys to reveal hidden treasures within the earth—a connection to the underworld. Yet Frau Holle’s role goes further: in spring, she opens the cloud gate for the sun, and in autumn, she closes it again, establishing her as a ruler of the heavens. With her golden keys, she also unlocks the subterranean paradise within her mountain, the Ever-Green Garden, marking her as a Queen of the Underworld.

Further down from the Kalbe towards the south, on the Hausener Hute, stands the "Frau-Hollen-Stuhl" (Frau Holle’s Chair), a two-part basalt block resembling a chair.

It is said that Frau Holle sits on this chair on beautiful summer days, combing her golden hair. The chair is also believed to have healing powers, able to drive away illness. The act of combing golden hair is a common mythological metaphor, also found in the legends of the Lorelei along the Rhine and Verena in Switzerland, both of whom use a golden comb. In ancient beliefs, women’s hair was seen as erotically attractive, and the act of combing it symbolized an irresistible call to the beloved.

these goddesses are not golden-haired because they are blondes, but as a symbol of sunlight. Combing the golden hair is said to summon the sun, as the high summer sun is mythologically considered the groom of the Earth at the time of the summer solstice. Therefore, the Frau-Hollen-Stuhl may have been an ancient seat of the goddess in the form of a Holle priestess, a place she took to celebrate the sacred marriage ceremony, known as hieros gamos, with her consort. In matriarchal seasonal festivals, the southern directions are linked to the magical ceremony of the sacred marriage, which was celebrated in summer between heaven and earth.

The observance that, from Frau Holle’s Chair, one can see the sun rise at the time of the summer solstice, with the sun appearing in the northeast above the Meißner and over a place called Morgengabe, adds significance to this spot. In this context, Morgengabe, meaning ‘morning gift,’ is fitting, as it traditionally denotes a wedding gift. Here, however, the goddess seems to offer the gift to her beloved rather than the other way around. This could suggest that as the sun rises over the Meißner at the summer solstice, the blossoming abundance of flowers and herbs turns towards the sun, as if offering itself to its light. Notably, Frau Holle was also considered a protector of newlyweds. Below this spot lies a small lake, now transformed into a moor from which black water flows. This former lake may have symbolized the goddess’s womb, opening here to love and offering itself to her consort.

The Kalbe was once a pasture where Frau Holle, a legendary figure of German folklore, allowed enchanted calves to graze. Today, it has become a lake formed from an old open-pit mine on the Hohe Meißner. Another place on the Hohe Meißner dedicated to Frau Holle is the cave called Hählenstein. Young wives would bathe in the cave’s pool on May Day night or Christmas Eve if they wished for a child. Girls hoped for a granted wish from Frau Holle when they placed flowers on the "sacrifice stone." It was believed that washing in the cave’s water in silence between eleven and twelve on Easter night preserved beauty. This water was considered miraculous, and many legends surround this site.

Southeast of Hessisch Lichtenau, in the village of Hollstein, three stones stand in a row. Known as the “Hollensteine” or “Frau Holle Stones,” the tallest is about five meters high, with the middle stone reaching about three meters. A medieval, weathered lion's head, carved into the southeastern rock face, stands at roughly 25 cm in height. While it’s unclear if the stones once served as a sacred site for Frau Holle, lions and cats were known to be associated with her or the goddess Diana. They may also indicate the presence of "Hollen," elves in Northern Hessian lore, who served Frau Holle. Note that elves are also part of germanic Mythology.

According to one legend, Frau Holle had stones stuck in her shoe as she took a giant step away from the Meißner and emptied them here. Leading the "wild hunt," Frau Holle and the Germanic god Wotan/Odin were believed to lead the souls of the year’s deceased through the “Bathhouse of Frau Holle,” under the waters of Frau Holle’s pond during the twelve nights from Christmas to Epiphany, returning them to be reborn. This completes the cycle from dawn (the east, sunrise, birth) to dusk (the west, sunset, death) and back to the dawn of life.

The “Bathhouse” lies in the west of the Meißner, appearing as a simple, somewhat marshy meadow beneath the “White Wall,” a limestone cliff. This meadow, unmarked due to its location within a nature reserve, preserves its mystique.

Between Eschwege and Wehretal-Langenhain lies the natural monument known as Blaue Kuppe. When Frau Holle once walked here, something in her shoe irritated her. She shook out a stone, and this stone became the hill now called Blaue Kuppe.

Then, there is the spring known as Queneborn. “Quene” is thought to be an old word meaning “gracious lady” (akin to "queen"), suggesting a connection to Frau Holle. Locals say the water from this spring, located by Grundmühle between Söhrewald-Eiterhagen and Hessisch Lichtenau-Quentel, is healing.

There is also a moor on the high Meißner called Weiberhemdmoor where Frau Holle taught women domestic chores.

Lastly, there are the Hirschberg and Honighof legends. A story tells that, when the glassmaker Essias Gunkel was in great need, he met an old woman at Hirschberg between Wickenrode and Großalmerode while gathering firewood. She showed him brown stones along the path, saying, “Take these.” Frau Holle’s gift turned out to be lignite, which people then collected or mined at Hirschberg. Honighof, once a wealthy but harsh farmer’s estate, has its own tale:

Honighof lay in a blessed valley, rich with volcanic ash deposits from Hirschberg, yielding abundant harvests. The honey farmer there was the wealthiest in the region, so much so that people joked, "Each cow bears two calves, each stalk two ears, and even if his pigs ran over sausages, he’d hardly mind."

But as he grew richer, his heart hardened. In harsh years, those in need turned to him for loans, only to hear him coldly say, "Those who have, have earned it; only bad blood squanders its wealth!” When the needy came again, he’d order his sons to “release the dogs on the riffraff!” His daughter, the only compassionate soul left after her mother’s passing, often wept over her family’s cruelty.

One spring day, while she was peeling potatoes alone, a poor old woman approached, struggling with a crutch and stretching out a frail, begging hand. The girl quickly cut a thick slice of bread, added a sausage, and gave it to the woman. “God bless you!” the woman murmured as the farmer and his sons entered. Furious, the farmer struck his daughter and, releasing his bloodhound, commanded it to attack the old woman, shouting, “Get away, the guides will bite!” Yet, the dog whimpered and crouched fearfully.

At that moment, the old woman vanished in a swirl of smoke that rose to the sky. Dark clouds cast a shadow like a coffin over the valley, lightning flashed, and thunder roared as if the very mountain might split. A bolt ignited the Honighof, and within minutes, the estate and the greedy farmer were consumed by flames.

When neighbors arrived with buckets and ladders to fight the fire, they found only smoldering rubble. Everything had burned – crops, animals, and people – except for the farmer's daughter, lying peacefully beneath a pear tree. Beside her stood a stern, white-robed woman with her arms protectively outstretched over the girl. As the villagers approached, the figure dissolved into mist. They knew it was Frau Holle’s judgment upon the Honighof.

The place was abandoned, with no one willing to rebuild on the cursed site. The daughter alone survived, moving to a nearby village where she married and led a blessed life. The people said that whatever she touched thrived, for she had stayed true to her heart until her happy end.

Another tradition in northern Hesse, especially around the Meißner region, occurs on New Year’s Eve. Children place a pot or bowl outside the door, and by New Year’s morning, the well-behaved find a small gift beneath the upturned pot.

In the Thuringian village of Schnett, in the Masserberg area, the end of the Rauhnächte (the “Rough Nights” following Christmas) is marked by the Hullefraansnacht, or “Night of Frau Holle,” in which she appears in the form of the Stöhere

There wer als otherSites of worship for Frau Holle beside the Hoher Meißner.. For instance, the spring sanctuary at Amorsbrunn in Amorbach, Lower Franconia, is likely a Frau Holle shrine, known for centuries as a place where women come to seek fertility. In line with Frau Holle’s mythology as a guardian of pools from which children’s souls emerge, women have long gathered here to collect water and bathe ritually. Empress Maria Theresa herself once traveled from Vienna to sponsor prayers for the fertility of the Habsburg family at this site. To this day, visitors collect water from a basin behind the church, which has been routed from the spring since a chapel was built over it in the 8th century. Most likely to christianize the pagan cult arround it.

Frau Holle was also worshiped in Marienberg in Würzburg. Frau Holle is referenced in the Würzburg legend of Saint Kilian, where she  appears under the Roman name Diana. A ceiling fresco of Diana in the garden hall of the Würzburg Residence recalls her mention in the Kilian legend. Frau Holle was associated with several sacred mountains in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, often called “Frauenberge” (Women’s Mountains), the most famous of which is the Hoher Meißner

The most popular story about Frau Holle originates from the Grimm Brothers' fairy tale. The story goes as follows: A widow favors her unattractive, lazy daughter over her beautiful, hard-working stepdaughter. The stepdaughter has to sit by the well and spin until her fingers bleed, while the other daughter idles at home. While cleaning, the stepdaughter accidentally drops her blood-stained spindle into the well. The stepmother insists she retrieve it, so the girl jumps into the well and awakens in a meadow. She then helps by pulling baked bread from an oven and shaking ripe apples from a tree, both of which speak to her. She serves the old Frau Holle, diligently shaking her bedding, which brings snow to the world. Though she has a good life with Frau Holle, she eventually wishes to return home out of homesickness. Frau Holle leads her to a gate, where gold falls upon her, and she receives the spindle back. At home, she recounts how she gained her wealth. The widow, hearing this, sends her own daughter to Frau Holle. However, this daughter ignores the requests of the bread, apple tree, and Frau Holle herself. When Frau Holle leads her to the same gate, tar falls on her as a lasting mark of her choices.

The fairy tale first appeared in the 1812 edition of Children’s and Household Tales, as collected from the tales of Dorothea Wild. In the second edition, a rooster was added as inspired by Georg August Friedrich Goldmann. Wilhelm Grimm encountered this motif during his travels in Westphalia. Clemens Brentano read an early version by Jacob Grimm, inspiring him to write The Tale of the Marmot.

In the first 1812 print, the mother was not yet a stepmother, and the heroine merely fetched water from the well, bending too low, without a bloody spindle. By the second edition, the story closely resembles the later seventh edition, complete with the crowing rooster. In the sixth edition, it’s described how the heroine uses a bread paddle to retrieve the bread and piles up the apples. Her growing homesickness is also expressed in phrases like, "I have a longing for home…," to which Frau Holle responds approvingly, "It pleases me that you long to go home again…". This phrase was later modified to "you are right…". The recurring phrase "boiled and roasted" appears from the first edition onward

Grimm’s notes trace the origin of the story to "Hesse and Westphalia" and include a “third tale from the Schwalm area,” resembling Hansel and Gretel: A beautiful girl and a rude girl spin by a well, and when the beautiful girl’s distaff falls in, she follows it. Below, she encounters a pear tree, a calf, an oven, and a pancake house where a red old woman awaits, calling her “the child of heaven and wind.” The girl, after helping the woman, steals a gold dress and flees. On her return, a rooster calls, “Our golden girl is back!” The rude girl attempts the same but is betrayed by the things she neglects, and the woman soils her dress. Another version, from the Paderborn region, involves a similar storyline, where a girl is rewarded by cooperating with the elements and animals but punished otherwise.

In the second edition, the Grimms addressed the common family conflicts of their time, particularly as many women died in childbirth, leaving stepfamilies in competition. Thus, the bad mother figure in Grimm’s tales often becomes a stepmother after the second edition. The spindle represents feminine diligence, while gold symbolizes worth and reward, contrasted here with tar for punishment. Tales of the good and bad girl were widely popular, like in The Tale of the Two Little Cakes by Giambattista Basile in Pentameron IV, 7. Similar tales can also be found in Ludwig Bechstein’s German Fairy Tale Book, with The Garden in the Well and The Golden Fawn as well as Grimm’s tale The Blue Light, and Theodor Storm’s The Rain Trude set in the underworld.

The precise origin of this tale remains uncertain as several regions claim Frau Holle resides in one of their mountains, such as Hohe Meißner, near Kassel, and Hörselberg near Eisenach. In mythological terms, the story seems to use older themes, such as jumping into a well as a journey into another world. Frau Holle, also known as Hulda or Perchta, represents "Mother Earth," whose myth is woven with elements of life and death. Some readers find that the lush meadow recalls near-death experiences. According to Ortrud Stumpfe, Frau Holle tests one’s capacity for loving intelligence, embodying nature’s judgment.

Hedwig von Beit interprets the "Tar Mary" as an image of shadow – representing either unconsciousness or calculated self-interest. Similar contrasts are found in Grimm’s tales 89, 107, and 126, where the shadow side is represented by two figures. The heroine encounters her feminine archetype while spinning, baking bread, and shaking apples from a tree. The well represents the unconscious, with the grain linking back to the Great Mother figure seen in ancient mysteries like those at Eleusis.

Wolf-Dieter Storl suggests that the goddess herself is a spinner, spinning the threads of life and reality. In the story, she gives the girl back the spindle, symbolizing the restoration of her life’s purpose. The rooster is a sacred bird, the apples signify vitality, and the oven symbolizes the feminine womb.

In addition to the well-known fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm, there are many other legends about Frau Holle, some even found in Grimm's German Legends. The Grimms share additional tales about Frau Holle, telling us that pn the Hessian Mountain Meißner, several landmarks—like the "Devil's Holes," the "Battle Lawn," and particularly the "Frau Holle Pond"—bear names that hint at their ancient origins. This pond, located on the edge of a moorland, has a current diameter of only 40–50 feet. The entire meadow is surrounded by a partially submerged stone embankment, and horses have occasionally drowned there.

The people tell various tales, both good and bad, about Frau Holle. Women who enter her well are said to become healthy and fertile. Newborn children are said to originate from her well, from which she carries them out. Flowers, fruit, cakes, and other delights that grow in her unparalleled garden are shared with those who meet her and gain her favor. Frau Holle is known to be meticulous and values good housekeeping; when it snows on earth, it’s because she’s shaking out her bedding, causing the snowflakes to fall. She punishes lazy spinners by soiling their distaff, tangling their yarn, or even setting their flax ablaze. But for diligent maidens, she gifts spindles and even spins for them overnight, so their spools are full by morning. She pulls blankets off lazy girls, leaving them bare on cold stone, but rewards hardworking ones who bring clean buckets of water for the kitchen in the morning with silver coins. She likes to lure children into her pond, transforming good ones into "lucky children" and bad ones into changelings. Each year she roams the land, bringing fertility to the fields, but also frightening people when she leads the "Wild Hunt" through the forest. Sometimes she appears as a beautiful, white-clad woman in or above the pond; other times, she’s invisible, and only the sound of bells and a dark rumble can be heard from the depths.

During Christmas, Frau Holle begins her rounds, and young women wrap fresh flax around their spindles, leaving them out overnight. If Frau Holle sees them, she rejoices, saying:

"For every hair,

a prosperous year."

She continues this practice until the Epiphany, January 6, when she must return to the Horselberg. Should she find flax on a spindle then, she frowns and declares:

"For every hair,

a troublesome year."

So, the evening before, all young women carefully remove any remaining flax from their spindles to avoid ill fortune. It’s best, however, if they can finish their work before then. On the Meißner Mountain in Hesse lies a large pool or lake, often murky, called "Frau Holle’s Bath." According to old stories, Frau Holle can sometimes be seen bathing there around noon, only to disappear afterward. The mountains and moors around the area are filled with spirits, and travelers and hunters are often led astray or harmed by them.

The Grimms tell us two additional stories about Frau Holle. One is called "Frau Holle and Faithful Eckart." In Thuringia, there is a village named Schwarza. Around Christmastime, Frau Holle passed through, led by Faithful Eckart, who warned people to step aside so no harm would befall them. Two farm boys were carrying beer from a tavern when the procession appeared, taking up the whole road. The boys moved aside with their jugs. Soon, women from the procession took the jugs and drank from them. The boys kept silent out of fear, worried about facing their families empty-handed. Finally, Faithful Eckart came to them and said, "God advised you to stay silent, or you would have lost your heads. Go home quickly and speak of this to no one, and your jugs will always be full of beer." The boys obeyed and kept their word for three days, but eventually, they couldn't resist telling their parents. After that, the jugs ran dry. Others say it didn’t happen at Christmas, but at another time.

The second story involves Frau Holle's encounter with a farmer. Once, Frau Holle was traveling when she met a farmer with an axe. She asked him to block her cart’s wheels. The man did as she asked, and when the task was complete, she told him, "Gather the wood chips as a tip." Thinking the chips were worthless, he took only a few for the trouble. When he returned home and reached into his sack, he found they had turned into gold. He hurried back to retrieve the rest, but it was too late—nothing remained.

There are also other old fairy tales and legends about Frau Holle, such as the story of the girl called Little Earthworm: a young girl who loved all the animals in the forest and could never bear to be cross with even a spider. Her favorite toys were the flowers and butterflies, the gnats and beetles, lizards, and frogs. She even built little summer huts for the earthworms and stroked their backs without any hint of disgust. When spring brought out the flowers and the birds sang from the branches, this was her favorite time. In the mornings, she would take her shepherd’s pouch, drive her father’s cows to the large forest meadow, and stay in the woods all day until evening, playing with every creature and insect. This is why she was called "Little Earthworm" by all the neighbors.

One morning, as she led the cows ahead of her and the little dog followed behind, an old woman stepped into her path. The woman was poorly dressed, chattering her toothless jaws with cold and shivering so pitifully that it touched the girl’s heart. In her innocence, Little Earthworm took off her woolen jacket and wrapped it around the old woman’s frail shoulders. The woman simply nodded and murmured, “What one does, one does well!” and hobbled back into the bushes.

Now, Little Earthworm had to go for days wearing only her thin shirt, and her mother scolded her in the evening. Her parents had little to spare, and they couldn’t afford new clothes, so she had to wear an old, worn-out jacket from the previous year that was already bursting at the seams.

But then the days grew warm and sunlit, and after playing in the brook with pebbles and water spiders, she took a bath. The cool water felt so soft and comforting against her skin, flowing along as it made its way to the rivers and lakes of the lowlands. When the girl finished, dried off, and was about to slip into her clothes, she couldn’t find her old things anywhere. Instead, behind a bush lay the most beautiful and delicate items: a fine shirt, a colorful bodice, a little skirt, a stitched cap, and even a pair of delightful summer shoes, which surprised her most of all since country children usually went barefoot in the summer.

She tried on each piece: first the shirt, then the skirt with the bodice, the cheerful cap, and finally slipped her feet into the dainty shoes. She clapped her hands in delight and called out:

“Oh, so many pretty clothes! Where is the giver? Where is the tailor?”

Just then, an old woman emerged from the bushes and said, “What one does, one does well. Little Earthworm, don’t you recognize me?”

“Ah!” cried Little Earthworm, happy and astonished. “You’re the dear old woman with the torn skirt. And now you look so grand!”

“Yes, yes, that’s how the world turns,” the old woman laughed. “Rich one day, poor the next. Do you have a heart’s wish, dear child? Maybe I can grant it too.”

But what would such a simple-hearted little soul wish for? She knew nothing of the riches of the earth and was happy enough with her forest companions. But then she remembered the big beetle and asked, “If you can, please bring back the golden beetle that once played with me and then disappeared forever.”

“Yes, yes,” the old woman said mysteriously, “the golden beetle is always so busy. But he shall make the time. Farewell now, Little Earthworm.” With that, she hobbled off toward the forest.

The girl, standing there in her finery, listened and soon heard a hum coming from the woods. She saw her golden friend flutter toward her, coaxed him to her hand, and he landed trustingly on her palm. He was beautiful and heavy, with eyes as wise as her little dog’s. When she spoke to him, he nodded his antennae and rubbed his front legs thoughtfully, as if he understood every word of her wishes. She played with him from flower to flower all day long, and the next morning, he returned, and they remained together in their friendship. The golden beetle even brought along ladybugs, which fluttered about, swaying in the warm breezes, and Little Earthworm watched them fly high over the oak trees. “Oh,” she exclaimed, “flying, flying, that would be my greatest joy!”

“You can, you can,” murmured the golden beetle, and suddenly a little cart came floating through the air, finely carved from ivory and drawn by ladybugs in silken harnesses.

“If you wish, you can!” encouraged her companion. She climbed in, and gently they rose, over the bushes and trees, drifting through the high air; the little boat flew from one side of the forest to the other, and Little Earthworm was thrilled, laughing and clapping her hands. Then they slowly descended to the meadow below. What a beautiful journey!

From then on, each day brought a new flight, and the golden beetle would sit up front, flicking his whip and politely guiding the girl over the trees so that she could peer into the birds’ nests. Little Earthworm grew up and was now fifteen. But she still herded the cows and played with every creature. However, the golden beetle came to the meadow less and less often. One May day, with its golden sunbeams and sweet birdsong, Little Earthworm felt a sadness come over her, though she didn’t know why. It seemed as if she had to bid farewell to all her loved ones, and her heart overflowed with emotion. She sang many sorrowful songs and farewell ballads to herself, wiping her eyes on her apron.

Suddenly, she heard the familiar hum, and the golden beetle was already beside her, his flying carriage in tow, and he encouraged her warmly, “Climb in, climb in, and you can ride across the Rhine.” She felt her old joy return and climbed in; the golden beetle took up the reins, flicked the whip, and off they flew into the blue sky. Around the forest once, but then further and further, until it became a wild ride, with winds tugging at her clothes, her hair whipping in the breeze, as they sped over hills and valleys, rivers, and mountains at a breathtaking pace. “Stop, slow down!” she cried, “turn back!” But the golden beetle flicked his whip again, and the ladybugs flew even faster, until the wind tore the breath from her lips. She lost consciousness, and when she awoke, she was lying in a lonely valley. Steep cliffs stood around her like armored knights, and everything felt strange. She lamented her lost home, her parents, and siblings, none of whom knew where she was now.

Through her tears, she finally saw a cozy little cottage in the distance. She slowly rose, dried her eyes, and walked toward it. A little dog ran out, barking happily; a rooster crowed his best song, and the geese honked and gaggled. But at the door sat an old woman, spinning and singing an old, forgotten tune.

As she approached, the old woman tied a knot in her thread, looked up, and called, “Little Earthworm, where have you come from?”

Then the young girl recognized the kind old woman and was overjoyed to find herself among friends. "Oh, Auntie," she cried through her tears, "Golden Beetle, that deceitful rogue, left me here, and now I’m completely lost with no idea how to get home!"

"Don’t be sad," the old woman replied. "Now you are safe with me." She took the girl’s hand and led her into the house. "Come, eat, and rest from your journey, for you've traveled nearly a hundred miles. I brought you to this valley to save you from a terrible fate. Back home, the cruel enemy rages, and wild hordes would bring you terrible harm. Stay with me, work diligently, and be patient, and I will ensure you return home in due time."

And so, for the time being, the girl remained in Frau Holle's house and learned all the household chores. In the mornings, she was up at dawn by the oven. Whenever she ran eagerly to the well, she always found a silver penny in the freshly polished bucket. She stoked the fire and set the soup pot on the flames, leading the villagers to say, "Frau Holle is making her morning soup; look how the smoke rises over the mountains."

Later, she would start kneading the dough for the daily bread. She had to stoke the fire intensely until flames shot from the oven. And again, the farmers said, “Frau Holle is having a baking day; the whole sky glows red!”

Whenever Frau Holle traveled the earth to check on the good and the wicked, she returned covered in dust. After such journeys, the girl would wash her traveling cloak in the golden spring. And when it poured rain down on earth, the elders would say, "It’s Frau Holle’s washing day; it rains but once." When the washing was done, the girl would hang the cloak to dry and bleach over the blooming rosebush that grew evergreen in the garden. Then Frau Holle would open the sky to let the sun shine forth in all its brilliance, so her cloak could dry and whiten. And parents would tell their children, "Frau Holle is drying her clothes today." The youngest would sing up to her:

"Dear Lady, open the door, let the dear sun come out, keep the rain inside, let the snow be consumed. The angels sit behind the well, waiting for the dear sun to swell."

For the little ones knew well that Frau Holle held them dearest of all, as she also nurtured the unborn in her spring.

As the nights grew long, and autumn came, Earthworm began learning to spin a smooth thread. She spun it clear as hair and wove the finest, most delicate webs. The sun’s wind would carry these webs over the earth, so they could whiten in the last rays. Then the seasoned earth-dwellers would say, "Now it’s Old Wives' Summer. Frau Holle spins smooth threads in the wind, and winter will soon be upon us." And they enjoyed the last warm days.

Then, around Christmastime, Earthworm had to fluff Frau Holle’s bedding. She did this with such joyful enthusiasm that the feathers flew across the sky. Meanwhile, children sat cozily inside, pressing their noses against the windows, exclaiming, "It’s snowing, it’s snowing, Frau Holle is shaking out her beds!"

When the young maiden had learned all the skills needed to become a proper housewife, five years had passed. On the anniversary of her arrival, Frau Holle came, took her by the hand, and said, "Now the time is fulfilled. The war is over, your service is complete, and I may no longer keep you here. Gather your things and prepare, for tomorrow we depart."

So Earthworm went to her attic room and wept bitterly, for parting from her foster mother weighed heavily on her good heart.

On a fresh May morning, a flower-painted carriage pulled up, and Frau Holle brought the girl all the linen she had woven and spun over the five winters, along with generous gifts for her parents. Frau Holle joined her in the carriage, and the horses sped like a storm across the land. Meadows, forests, villages, and people whizzed by, and by evening, they arrived in a neighboring village close to her home. Frau Holle embraced the maiden, kissed her, and placed a full pouch in her lap: “Use this to buy yourself a small farm, dear one, and may peace be under your roof!” With that, the horses turned swiftly to make their way back.

Earthworm rented a farmer’s cart and traveled into the homecoming evening. Her heart pounded as she saw the familiar woods again. But where had her village gone? She didn’t recognize it.

“Oh well,” grumbled the farmer, urging the horses into a trot, "War has ravaged it. Not a stone was left upon another. Here and there a house stands again. But it’ll be long before it’s all as it once was.”

Earthworm dared not ask more. Her breath caught as they passed the sad ruins of her family’s home. "The farmer rebuilt it,” her companion said, “he lives next to the new stable.” And there, she recognized her mother at the door, rushed into her embrace, and her father came too, and there was no end to their joy and questions.

So she was home again, shared her gifts, and everyone was overjoyed.

Then Earthworm realized how Frau Holle had protected her from harm, thanked the good spirits for her rescue, and became a benefactor to her entire family.