Chapter 2 - jan

"One of my Great-great-great-great grandmothers was called Helga as well. She lived a very hard life. Her mother was very beautiful woman, but also very thin. Helga was born at the spring, and she had her mother with her for three seasons, before she died in the winter. Helga was left with no one to nurse her. Her father had to wait until their neighbor, that was pregnant, will give birth to her child so that she called feed both of them. In the mean time he tried everything - mashed forest fruits, goat milk with sugar, anything - but the child just grew weaker and weaker every day.

Desperate from hearing the baby crying, her voice is fading from day to day - he did something terrible. He covered the baby with many blankets, left all his weapons at home, and went to the forest nearby. Soon thick dark branches covered the sky above his head, and the forest filled him with a sweet scent of wet earth and moist air. Deeper and deeper into the forest he moved, until he saw a circle of stones before him, gleaming from the ice covered earth. He place the baby over there, and prayed to the Huldra to help him. The Huldra was a powerful female spirit who rolled the forest. She would seduce men, sleep with them and make them go insane or hollow, only alive enough to stare.

But if the Huldra had such great powers, surly she will be able to help his poor child.

Sure enough, The Huldra show up. She was the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. Her face were perfect, round like the moon, with lips in the color of blood and eyes purple like of no other human. Her long white hair touched the frozen earth, sweeping snow. Her body was tall, strong and young, her breasts full and heavy, her buttocks soft and round. Between her wide strong hips he could see the tail of a cow, dangling.

"Have you called my name, my lover?" she whispered in a seductive voice.

The man was at once full of inhuman lust, but then his eyes fell on his baby.

"I give you my body, oh great Huldra, but please nurse my daughter. Make sure she'll stay alive."

No man has ever dared to ask the Huldra for something in return of a sexual encounter, but Helga's father was a very handsome man, and the Huldra had never had her own child before. She agreed, and brought the starving baby to her breasts. And so Helga was saved.

For five years, the Huldra had slept with Helga's father every night until he fainted, and then nursed Helga in the morning. No one in the village knew how the slender child survive all those 5 winters, with her father too exhausted to find himself another wife. And although Helga was very small, she was very beautiful and smart, because the Huldra's milk had possessed the most amazing qualities. When she was five years old, she already knew how to read and write. In the age of six she had learned how to take care of the house, to keep it clean and warm all by herself. At the age of seven she had learned how to cook, and in the age of eight, although she was still fragile and slender, she could skillfully chop wood for the fireplace, hunt animals, carry heavy things and shovel snow. All those years her father became weaker and weaker, and eventually he died. The Huldra said "Now that your father died, you must eat a regular food, for I will not nurse you any longer. But I have held you as a baby, and I will always make sure you'll have nothing but good fortune. I want you to have this bucket, and keep it upside down. Every time you'll be hungry, put it on the stove, and order him for food. The bucket will start to fill up with fat."

Well, back in the village everyone cried for Helga's poor father. They were very worried about Helga, but she wouldn't agree to go and live with any of neighbors. She stayed in her father's house, and took care of herself.

That summer she went to fish, and one of the boys in the village saw her. His name was Jan, and even though he was only 13 years old, he immediately fell in love with her. He asked for her name, gave her a beautiful stone, and run to his home to tell his mother that he fell in love with skinny Helga and would marry her.

His mother was a clever woman. She knew Helga's parents, and told her son "Now, now, Jan. Helga is a small girl. She might die in the winter, just like her mother. I just don't want to see your heart breaks."

A year passed, and Helga had lasted that winter. Summer came again, and Helga was fishing as Jan saw her. This time he carved her a small wood pin for her hair, and once again run to his mother.

"This winter was as cold as usually." Said his mother. "And maybe her father left some food in the house. See? She is still as thin as a branch. Just wait for the next winter. You will see."

The next 8 years that followed were the same. Jan's mother just couldn't believe or understand how this fragile child could carry on.

"Mother, this summer skinny Helga will be 17 years old, and I will marry her!" said Jan as he came back from fishing.

"Something is wrong with this child! She has no belly, how will she bring birth to my grandchildren? She has no breasts, how she will feed them? She has no fat, how will she keep you warm at night? Please Jan, marry another girl."

Jan didn't want to cause pain to his mother. He went to Helga, and to ask for her advice. But Helga was not at home.

Helga was in the forest. For a long time, she was in love with Jan. He kept giving her small presents, but still hasn't asked her to marry him. She knew it was because the way she looks. All the other girls were soft, fat and big. But no matter how much she ate, she was still lean. She went to the Huldra, to ask her to make her fat. But she didn't know if the Huldra will agree. She had nothing to give her in exchange.