The Frost Giants and Sunbeam Fairies

Snuggle up with the fairy tale of old Switzerland, where the kingdom of Frost Giants once reigned over a frozen land. That is, until the Sunbeam Fairies, with their unmatched bravery and the sun's radiant power, embark on a mission to reclaim it and breathe life into a once barren landscape. So, snuggle up in your blankets and have sweet dreams. 

The music in this episode is Daydreaming by Hannah Lindgren. 

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Dreamful is produced and hosted by Jordan Blair. Edited by Katie Sokolovska. Theme song by Joshua Snodgrass. Cover art by Jordan Blair. ©️ Dreamful LLC

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Welcome to Dreamful Podcast.
Bedtime stories for slumber.
I would like to start thisepisode by thanking our newest
supporters Debbie Martinez,David Nunn, Frances West and
Laura Cowell.
Thank you all so much and Ihope you have the sweetest of

(00:43):
dreams.
You all so much, and I hope youhave the sweetest of dreams.
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They have restored a few ofthem, but there's still a couple
missing, and so we're workingtogether.
But I have been reading yourcomments on Spotify and also the
text messages that I've beenreceiving, and I've been feeling

(01:04):
so much love and support fromall of you.
So thank you so much.
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become a Buzzsprout supporter orsubscribe on Supercast.
If you listen on Spotify, yoursupport and donations go toward

(01:24):
things like music licensing andequipment and software and, of
course, paying my beautiful,wonderful, amazing editor, Katie
, For this episode.
I will be reading a lovelySwiss fairy tale that tells of
an ancient battle of frost andfire.
This is the Frost Giants andthe Sunbeam Fairies.

(01:46):
So snuggle up in your blanketsand have sweet dreams.

Speaker 2 (02:06):
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (02:35):
Switzerland was not always a flowery playground,
rich in splendid hotels, wherethe border's bills catch the
spirit of the place and becomemountain climbers.
For ages it was a sort of NorthPole, set in the middle of
Europe, frozen in tight and fast, with mountains of snow and

(03:01):
rivers of ice, where no animalscould live In this age.
Everything was white.
There were no animals, men,women or children, no flowers,
no birds, no fish, no farms, novineyards.

(03:21):
No farms, no vineyards, onlydreadful cold All year round,
and for millions of years.
Then the frost giants ruled aland forever white, with snow
that never melted, and theirking sat on the top of a solid

(03:43):
mountain of ice.
These frost giants would notallow anything alive to come
near them.
They made it law that whateverhad eyes or nose, feet or hands,
paws or wings should beinstantly frozen to death and
their solid carcasses packedaway in a refrigerator.

(04:04):
A million years old, the queenof the fairies that lived down
in the warm meadows felt sorrythat so fine a place should have
nothing in it that was alive orhad any color red, pink, blue
or yellow, violet or green.

(04:31):
She believed that the landcould be conquered from the
frost giants and made a countryin which boys and girls could
play and pick flowers.
It might indeed take severalmillions of years to melt the
ice and cover the ground withflowery meadows.
But what was that?
Because fairies never careanything about days, months or

(04:52):
years.
They never grow old and do notuse almanacs.
Because, not dwelling in bodieslike ours and never having
lived like us mortals, they arenot dwelling in bodies like ours
and, never having lived like usmortals, they do not get sick
or have any funerals orcemeteries.

(05:13):
They are saved all expenses ofbeing buried, for they do not
have any graves.
There are no doctors orundertakers in fairyland, even
though the immortal flowersbloom everywhere.
It seems that because some arewiser than others, that they may
be called old or mothers, auntsor grandmothers.

(05:46):
To carry out her purpose, thefairy queen made a friend of the
sun and asked his help.
This Old Sol, as the fairiescalled him, was very glad to
give, because he had rescuedother parts of the world from
the ice kings and made manylands bright and beautiful.
He thought that the monarch ofthe frost world and his white

(06:08):
giants had reigned long enoughin Switzerland.
Besides, old Sol wanted to showthat he had not yet done his
best work.
It is true that he had madeother lands look lovely,
changing them from barren rocksand sand to fruitful fields,

(06:29):
groves and gardens rich in wheatand corn, fruit trees and berry
bushes, besides peaches andapples and pears, roses and
lilies.
Old Sol declared that with theaid of the fairies, he would

(06:49):
make Switzerland the mostbeautiful of all countries, so
that many people from foreignlands would come see it.
He would scoop out lakes,channel out rivers, smooth the
face of the country and make itlovely with pastures.
Channel out rivers, smooth theface of the country and make it

(07:11):
lovely with pastures.
Yes, if the fairies wouldpromise to put enough clothes on
their favorites and wrap themup in downy garments with lots
of fur and wool for overcoats.
He would help the prettiestflowers to climb up to the high
mountains.
Then he would promise tofurnish heat enough so they
could keep them warm and alive.

(07:32):
He would make it so pleasantfor them that they would never
get homesick.
In spite of the frost giants,the storms and winds, the
tempest and the icy breath ofthe giants, these flowers would
bloom and nod and laugh and defyall enemies when the fairies

(08:03):
were called together and told bytheir queen that the sun would
be their friend and help themevery day and never tire of his
good work.
You ought to have seen howhappy they were.
They all clapped their hands,and every one big, and wanted to

(08:24):
be brave and go out to fightthe frost giants.
It was wonderful how the prettyfairies were perfectly willing
to be changed intohumble-looking plants that never
could grow very tall but liequite flat on the ground and
have deep roots and crannies.

(08:45):
They would have to live withoutmuch society or excitement and
spend their lives in clefts andhollows.
What was hardest to bear wasthat most of them would have to
live like nuns, for in the caseof many of them their beauty

(09:05):
would never be appreciated oreven seen.
Some were even glad to becomeplain metal grasses.
When one plump fairy was toldshe would become an alpine poet
and must carry her babies on herback, she gladly consented.
And must carry her babies onher back.
She gladly consented.

(09:29):
Some of the big fairies askedto be changed into trees, oak,
maple, spruce, pine or birch.
This was hard for those who hadbeen regular.
Chatterboxes would now be onlyable to sound the breeze or
whisper in the winds, and theycould only roar in a gale or

(09:51):
tempest, some even begged, to beallowed to take on the form of
the old-fashioned aurora, themost ancient of all the Swiss
trees, of all the Swiss trees.
It was astonishing to note howready these pretty fairies were
to put off their lovelygossamer-like robes, lay aside

(10:15):
their wings and wear such plainclothes as some of them must who
volunteer to be meadow and rockplants.
But then the idea of fightingthe frost giants and rescuing
the land from ice and snow hadfilled them all with enthusiasm.
It was like patriotism amongmortals.

(10:39):
So the queen of the fairies andher wise counselors enrolled
and equipped an army of herfairies would agree to be turned
into plants for the long waragainst the frost giants.
Of all these, old Sol was to begeneral.

(11:03):
Heaps of fur and flannel, wooland velvet.
Of all these old soul was to begeneral.
Heaps of fur and flannel, wooland velvet and hair and down
were stored up to make thickunderclothes and stamped

(11:25):
overcoats to keep warm and allsorts of wiry stuff for toes to
grip tight and keep hold of therocks.
Then, with plenty of richpaints and dyes to color their
cheeks, the fairy queen summonedthe volunteers to come forth,
as each name was called, and afairy stepped out.
The queen waved her wand.
First she pointed it upward towhere the stars were playing

(11:48):
hide-and-seek among the snowypeaks.
Then, touching each kneelingfairy, she tapped with her
star-tipped wand upon the neck,eyes, nose, ears, lovely yellow
or raven, black or shiningauburn hair, limbs, hands and

(12:09):
feet and wings disappeared in agolden mist.
When one looked again, therewas where each fairy had kneeled
down a flower.
Never was the like seen beforein all the wonderful floral
world, either as to the kind orblossom or the shape of the

(12:32):
stalk, leaves or petals of theplants.
Some hardly looked like flowersat all, while others were
recognized at once as cousins orsisters of old friends, but so
dressed up as if for an arcticjourney as scarcely to be

(12:54):
recognized.
Here was one creaturedazzlingly splendid in colors,
while alongside of her was alittle lady robed entirely in
colors, while alongside of herwas a little lady robed entirely
in white, as if she were to bethe bride of Jack Frost and

(13:15):
marry him in a country where thetint of ermine and ptarmigan
bird was the only one in fashion.
The lowliness of some of thesenewborn flowers was perhaps the
most astonishing thing aboutthem, even when in bloom they
were not over an inch in height,while their neighbors down in
the valley were all nearly astall as yardsticks.

(13:37):
Although when the fairies wereturned into trees and were at
first hardly higher than aneedle and not one of them had a
body as thick as a thimble theyat once began whispering, for
it was hard to give up the oldhabit of talking every minute Of

(14:00):
one pretty creature shaped likea bluebell with scalloped edges
.
It was noticed that she shut upher mouth and did not say a
word At this.
One wise old fairy looked up atthe sky and said One wise old
fairy looked up at the sky andsaid it is certainly going to

(14:23):
rain Thereupon, since flowerswere so cheap.
This one they called the poorman's weatherglass, another but
had a curiously shaped blossomthey named Lady Slipper.
While these thus far mentionedwere mostly valley or pasture

(14:44):
flowers and not expected to livevery far up the mountain slopes
, several others volunteered tolead what some called the
Forlorn Hope, but they were toofull of pep for that and took
the name of the Advanced Guard.
These were specially equippedfor fighting the cold.

(15:08):
These were the Edelweiss, theAlpine Rose and the Octopatella
and the octopatella.
They were made so frost-proofby fur and thick clothes that
they can laugh in the very facesof the frost giants and dare
them to do their worst in tryingtheir best to freeze them out

(15:32):
Of the one that seemed done upentirely in white flannel and
that kept its blooms in a bunchlike a rosette Everybody knows,
for it was the Edelweiss, proudof her name, Millions of fairies

(15:54):
gathered together on thehillslopes to see the procession
start and did not mind waitinga thousand years or so.
They hung on bushes, sat on topof rocks and boulders and on the
tree branches or stood hoveredwherever they could get either a

(16:14):
peep or a good view of thefairy flower army wherever they
could get either a peep or agood view of the fairy flower
army and was to march up to theheights and wrestle with the
giants.
Some wondered how the battlewould go and if the war would
ever end.
Could they possibly march upthe mountain sides and hold

(16:36):
their own Amid the blasts ofwinter winter and amid the
eternal snow and ice?
And when the land now coveredup, not a sign of field or
pasture or road or any spaceclear of snow was then visible.
There was nothing but ice, manymiles thick and looming so far

(17:02):
up in the air as to seem, atnight, to touch the stars, the
jagged rocks splintered by thelightning and the mountainsides
clothed with glaciers like armorand which were billions of tons
in weight, seemed veryforbidding.

(17:24):
Just give us a few millionyears and we'll surely win,
cried the fairy queen who wasproud of her beautiful army,
cried the fairy queen who wasproud of her beautiful army and
who, with them all, knew orcared nothing for what we call
time.

(17:46):
Fairies never cry, but some feltas if they might weep to see so
many pretty flowers killed, asthey feared they would be.
Even the idea of the chills andshivers they would have to
suffer, as some of the timidones feel creepy, even.

(18:07):
Suppose they could survive iceand frost and the cold breath of
the strong winds that mightuproot them.
How could they resist theavalanches that might overwhelm
and crush them If whole forestsof giant trees were often
leveled like eggshells andflattened like flounders?

(18:29):
Why these rolling terrors aretorn up by landslides, or ground
gravel by falling rocks?
Torn up by landslides or groundgravel by falling rocks, how
could tiny and tender flowershope to escape?
But the fairy queen knew thepower of her friend, the sun,

(18:52):
and the tenacity andperseverance of her flower
children.
So, laughing at suchforebodingsings, she bathed the
lovely flowers and little treesbegan their march.
Their orders to advance weresteadily forward and upward.
They were to hold the groundgained inch by inch.
They must even try again andagain to split the rocks and be

(19:17):
willing to suffer cold, wet windand not be out of sorts or show
bad temper when it rained toomuch or the clouds hid the sun.
They must take advantage ofevery nook crevice, crack and
cranny, of every nook crevice,crack and cranny when, after

(19:44):
their first victories, the cowsand goats should come and the
birds make their nests and menand women arrive and the boys
and girls play.
These fairies, thus changedinto flowers, were not to object
to have their stalks eaten upby the cattle, or their seeds to

(20:05):
be swallowed by the birds ortheir blossoms to be plucked by
the children, even when theyshould come to their best bloom
and seem too pretty to betouched.
They were to welcome the cowsand goats To all these
directions.
The new plants, trees andflowers nodded their heads and

(20:30):
the war began.
The older fairies went back tothe vineyards, groves, forests,
dales and meadows in the lowerlands of sunshine, of mild
climate and of fair weather.
And the battle was on.

(20:56):
Several millions of yearsslipped away and some of the
fairies in the warm countrieshad almost forgot their cousins
in the high alps.
Then it happened that somethousands of them made up a
party to go and visit what theyhad once left long ago as a
polar region of thick ice whereno land was visible.

(21:19):
What a change and how lovely.
When they reached Switzerlandand looked over the landscape,
they could not at first believetheir own eyes.
True, it was midsummer whenthey arrived, but as far as the

(21:44):
eye could reach they beheldvalleys and meadows spangled
with flowers, from which floatedthe sound or echoes of tinkling
bells, where contented cows andgoats were browsing on the
sweet, perfumed air.
Where wafted the aromatic odorsof the delicious herbage

(22:08):
freshly cropped by the cattle.
Pretty houses on the flat spaceswere perched on the hill.
Slopes told of happy homes.
Children were playing games orpicking flowers.
Church spires pointed towardsheaven.

(22:28):
In one village, a great longparade of sleek cows, their
well-groomed coats shining inthe sun, and one with a milking
stool between her horns wasmoving up where the grass was
most luscious.
Donkeys and horses laden withcheese and garden produce were

(22:53):
moving in lengthened lines tothe markets.
Here and there, castles,chalets, bridges, church spires
and thickly clustered housestold of villages, towns and
cities.
For man was now in possessionand all the world rejoiced.

(23:17):
It was like an heiressreceiving her fortune for human
beings, thus to enter into theenjoyment of the lovely
landscape no-transcript.