One liner Wednesday: “I’ll try.”
I’LL TRY to keep my shit together as I watch the speedy unraveling of an increasingly shaky world, and ready myself to gaze down through the roots of Yggdrasil at the three Norns, muttering at their weaving, while Ratatoskir with his gleaming eyes, trills laughter through his sharp teeth and throws nuts at my head.                     

Prompt:  EMPHASIS
Since I have no great power over the unraveling mentioned above, yes, I’d like to have a word with the three fates, and that warlike gossiper traditionally depicted as an obnoxious red squirrel in both Eddas, who in the present time may sometimes assume the microphone of mass media. Eagle above and Snake (Nidhogg) below foolishly rely on the pranks and misinformation conveyed by Ratatoskir.

I’d like to ask the Norns about that as well; why don’t those two, snake and eagle, meet in the middle of Yggdrasil, and just chill there on the branches, and communicate at the source? Were they once married or something?

Why not meet face to face, instead of relying on the machinations of a russet-hued tree rat? A rat who, incidentally, slips away once Ragnarok gets rolling. We never really know where he’s slipped off to, but I imagine him reclining on a sandy beach somewhere at the edge of the world, sipping some kind of fruity drink with an umbrella sticking out of it, watching the world annihilate itself. And snickering.

But the prompt for today is EMPHASIS, so I guess that means the emphasis has to be on the choices I make, what values I support in daily actions, small things that may add up to something big, especially if we all try to use our powers for good and not evil. Which, I’m sorry to say, is what most of us think we’re doing. Again, Norns? A little help here? What we’re all doing doesn’t seem to be very efficient. Just sayin’…

The stories do say that after almost everything (a few Gods remain) is destroyed, Lif and Liftrasir transform from a couple of trees, to the first humans. But maybe that was an add-on? In any case, I think we’re in for a bitter decline. Comfort and caring and, dare we hope, small courage will be needed before the norns finish their present weave, then shake it all like a big Etch-a-Sketch and start over.

© Liz Husebye Hartmann (2025)

Just Jot January Day 22-23– Prompts: 22nd: I’LL TRY and 23^rd: EMPHASIS from Dar. Be sure to visit their blog to read or just say hi!  See what other folks have done with the prompt, or add your own!

https://lindaghill.com/2025/01/22/one-liner-wednesday-jusjojan25-the-22nd-ill-try/   and 
https://lindaghill.com/2025/01/23/daily-prompt-jusjojan-the-23rd-2025/