Odin would later find out that there was, indeed, a boy at school that really really liked him. We’re talking like liked him.
This is one of those comics I worried about a bit before posting because I’m not entirely sure how prolific the paper fortune teller, alternatively known as the “cootie catcher” (according to my sister in law), is these days or globally. Hopefully you folks have some passing knowledge of such things.
Odin’s encounter with the Volva is one of the better known bits of Norse mythology, being the first poem included in the famous Poetic Edda. The poem, though rather short, is a crucial component in our understanding of Norse cosmology. In the tale, Odin meets with the seeress, who speaks to him of hidden truths and her knowledge of both the beginning and the end of the world. She tells him about the ancient days when only Ymir existed and then about the creation of the world (or at least one version of it) in which Odin and his brothers lift the land above the sea to create Midgard. She goes on to tell of the creation of the sun, its placement in the sky, and the growth of vegetation that occurs on the land. Odin listens as she speaks of the ordering of the stars, the moon, the cycles of day and night and the naming of many things by the gods.
In her telling, a golden age dawns (quite literally) and the Aesir create wondrous things, play games, and enjoy wealth and prosperity. She mentions three giant maids coming up out of Jotunheim (possibly a reference to the three Fates) and the creation of the Dwarves. Then comes the creation of the first man and woman, Ask and Embla (Ash and Elm), who are like empty vessels to begin with. Odin gives them souls, sense is given by Honir, and heat and motion is given by Lothur (possibly another name for Loki). She then mentions the fates again and tells of the laws created by them and the Aesir. After all of these acts of creation, comes the first war in the world between two factions of gods.
After her recount of the battles and some other, rather confusing events, she reveals that she knows Odin’s own secrets as well. She knows of the sacrifice of his eye for hidden knowledge, and of the whereabouts of said eye. Being a mysterious fellow, I’m certain Odin didn’t appreciate his secrets being known.
The seeress goes on to tell of the slaying of Baldr by Loki’s trickery and how his wrath and the wrath of the giants and other monsters will lead to the final battle at Ragnarok. She prophecies the destruction of the gods and the earth and the deaths of the gods. Odin hears of his own demise, slain by the jaws of Fenrir, and of the destruction of the world serpent, Jormungandr, by his son Thor who survives but only manages to take nine steps before collapsing and perishing like his father.
After the destruction of the gods and the earth, she recounts the rebirth of the world, the blossoming of a new land. Baldr and Honir are given new life, and a new hall is made to house them in happiness. They rule the land with righteousness until a new and mighty lord who rules all lands appears (potentially a late reference to Christianity).
If you’ve never investigated the Poetic Edda, I highly suggest giving it a read, it’s not especially long, though it can be a little confusing. There are many annotated versions online that offer some useful notes that can help clarify some of the strangest bits.
It’d be nice if we could summon a seeress for ourselves to get the details on our future, but alas, today we are stuck with only ouija boards and paper fortune tellers. Though, I guess it might make things a little weird if we all knew exactly how we were going to die. Also, the volva in the story is a bit of a downer, she doesn’t really seem to focus on any of the good stuff that happens. I mean, how can you skip telling Odin about his son dressing up as a woman to get his hammer back?
I think that’s the only story I’d tell if I could see it before it happened.
It’s been a long time since I updated the site! I’m really sorry for that and I’m sorry if you’ve been wondering where I am! The site isn’t really designed for blog updates that aren’t attached to strips. If you’re ever curious about these sorts of things, I do try to post to twitter every now and again, that’s probably the best place to send me messages and things!
So for now what have I been up to? Well, I’ve been incredibly busy finishing up some work for smaller clients as well as doing some writing and illustrating for Boom! Studios. I’ve been doing comic covers for them for a while (which you can find in shops and online) but over the last couple of months I’ve done some short comics for both Munchkin (I illustrated Seller’s Market, in Issue #10) and Clarence (not sure about the details on this one but I wrote and illustrated a story about a road trip!). I’ve got caught up on a lot of work and I’m now trying to schedule some more consistent updates for Happle Tea. I really do miss updating frequently and I’m sorry I’ve been MIA a lot this year. There have been a ton of changes in my life and though they’ve been very positive, it’s been a bit overwhelming at times.
Anyway, I feel like I’m getting a better handle on life so hopefully I can get back on track here. I miss bringing comics to you guys regularly like you would not believe!
Yay! Update! I missed you!
It’s so amazing that you’re back! I always check if there are any new strips because the are so stylish and unique. Your view of mythology is rather special – there’s both sarcasm and irony but also a vast amount of knowledge. Take your time in handling every kind of change, we are patient and appreciate your work no matter how often you update here.
Not only are you back, but it’s a glorious return with Norse mythology and the motherfokin’ (forgive me the word) paper fortune teller! I’m going to a halloween party as Hel this saturday, coincidence? I think not.
M-m-maybe you could still explain the paper fortune teller thingie? I mean, I have seen some of them, like in movies or other webcomics (I don’t actually remember where), but I have not a blankest idea how they work and what their cultural implications are :—(
A piece of paper is folded into the shape you see, writing is placed amongst the folds, and it’s worked with the fingers in a pattern to reveal fortunes or answers to questions. In the parts of the U.S. where I’ve lived, it’s primarily a toy for school-age children. An internet search for “paper fortune teller” reveals many ways to make one and examples of fortunes to place inside it.
The idea is that you start with a color and a number, and the person holding it starts with the fortune teller open with that color, and folds it back and forth the number of times you specify. Then, you open the paper compartment that reveals, where there’s something written which predicts your future. (I may have some of the details wrong; it’s been a long time.)
It’s like a magic 8 ball. A kid at my school used to rig the outcome of these by having multiple fortune tellers. (One would only have positive predictions, the other would have only negative predictions.) Nobody ever figured it out.
They are, functionally and culturally, DIY magic 8-balls. They give vague, canned answers to questions, determined by a sequence of numbers or colors or whatever. That’s about all you need to know to get the joke.
They are origami puzzle toys. There are 3 layers, the outside, the inside, and under the flaps. 4 outside panels, 4 inside panels, 4 flaps.
When one moves it, one can cover half the inner panels. When it is fully closed, in the first stage of the game with the outside exposed, it looks kind of like a flower bud. One places a finger under the 4 points visible in the coming, and pinches their fingers to close the insides. For the second stage, one opens it either lengthwise or widthwise, (pinching two fingers, then pulling them apart with the other two pinched.) splitting it down the middle while holding the side closed, and then closing that and opening the inner side one was just holding closed. That is the classic motion of the game, the side switching, revealing two panels at a time and rapidly switching between them like a slot machine scrolling down. The flap panels are revealed by lifting the inner panels from where they are folded over in the center, like the back of it is the outer panels are the back of an envelope, the inner panels are the closey triangle thing, and the inner panel is the inside of the envelope. Lift the triangle on the envelope, see the inside.
The operator asks questions to guide how many times they open one side and close the other, and yet more questions to determine what flap is opened and whatnot. Inside the inner flap is the fortune. The user normally asks their friend, say, “what is your favorite color?” and then open and close each side corresponding to the number of letters in their favorite color. Once they are done with that, they now have two of the inner panels exposed, which two of the four is determined by what they landed on after going through the color letter thing. Odds or evens, essentially.
After that they do something to determine which inner panel to open, I forget. I think the panels have something written in them and the friend needs to decide what inner panel they want to open? Heads or tails, maybe. Or they could choose between two fortune questions. Something… And then-voila! The inner panel is folded up and the fortune is revealed! It has been a while since I’ve seen one, I’ve forgotten the nuances of their use.
The cultural implications are that it is a thing kids use to annoy their friends.
You are so verily awesome for this extensive answer. Thank you!
Fantastic explanation! It should go into Wikipedia or some such.
The paper toy is well known where I live in Sweden. It is made by kids here and is used to divine all sorts of things. I thought the joke was funny.
Thanks for making these things. 🙂
Nice to hear from you again! I always look forward to your comic posts 🙂
Ah! The paper fortune teller. A thing of wonder. You (you being, like, an 8-year-old child) write a bunch of silly “fortunes” on the little folded-under flaps on the inside, then pretend to divine people’s fortune through an elaborate ritual involving counting. (Person whose fortune is being told [PWFIBT] first picks one of the four colors from the outside, say, GREEN. The person playing fortune-teller [FT] spells G-R-E-E-N while flapping the thing open and closed with their fingertips 5x. PWFIBT then picks a number 1-8 from an inner flap, say, 4. FT counts 1-2-3-4 while flapping back and forth again. Finally, PWFIBT picks a final number from the inner flaps, and FT opens up that flap and reads the silly fortune underneath. “While waiting for the bus tomorrow, jello will fall on you from a plane passing overhead.” Fortune told!
P.S. I am super-excited that Scott is back! Thanks for the comic!
Whoops. That was supposed to be a reply to M.N. Sorry!
I can’t believe it! My first grader learned to make these fortune tellers this year and has become obsessed with them, so we were all very amused by their appearance in this comic. It’s pretty funny that the seeress traffics in such mundane methods of forecasting the future. Glad to have you back!
You know, I didn’t realize until just now that calling them Cootie Catchers is really weird, because they’ve never been used for that (in my experience anyway). Just for the fortune telling/decision making stuff.
I remember those fortune tellers! Those things were great
I’m glad Happle-Tea is back, if irregularly. Heck, I’m glad that you’re just wanting to continue the series. Those comic gigs sound awesome – congrats and keep up the good work!