서리등선 이야기

산에도 한때 심장이 있었다. 세상이 열린 지 얼마 되지 않았을 무렵, 산아버지 코르트는 세계의 중심이자 육지에서 하늘까지 두루 살필 수 있는 벨라나스의 봉우리에서 왕좌를 지키고 있었다. 그는 사랑 때문에 강한 자가 약해지고, 용감한 자가 비겁해지고, 현명한 자가 어리석어지는 것을 보았다.

코르트는 자신의 심장에 배신당하지 않을 방법을 생각해냈다. 심장을 꺼내 그 누구도 감히 찾을 엄두를 내지 못할 곳에 감춰두기로 한 것이다. 그는 심장을 황금으로 된 통에 봉인하여 대지에 묻었고, 그 주위에 세상에서 가장 혹독한 서리등선 산맥을 빚어내 지키도록 했다.

하지만 심장을 꺼내놓자, 산아버지는 잔혹해졌다. 그의 가슴은 길 잃은 영혼처럼 비명을 지르고 울부짖는 쓰디쓴 산바람으로 가득 찼다. 음식은 맛을 잃고, 음악은 감미로움을 잃었다. 그는 용맹한 공적에서 비롯되는 즐거움조차 잃고 말았다. 그는 눈사태와 지진을 일으켜 인간들을 괴롭혔다. 신들과 인간들은 그를 폭군이라 부르며 맞서 싸웠으나, 심장이 없는 코르트를 죽일 도리가 없었다. 머지않아, 신이건 인간이건, 코르트에게 도전할 영웅은 아무도 남지 않았다.

하늘의 여인은 잃어버린 심장을 찾기 위해 자신의 자녀 중 가장 빠르고 영리하며, 힘센 아이들을 보내 꼬박 일 년 하고도 하루를 찾아다녔다. 그러나 참새와 큰까마귀, 독수리와 수리, 칼새와 신천옹 모두 빈손으로 돌아왔을 뿐이었다.

그러자 뇌조가 소리 높여 우두머리 신의 심장을 찾아내겠다고 나섰다. 다른 새들은 비웃었다. 뇌조는 하늘을 누비기에 너무나 작고 보잘것없었고, 하늘보다 땅 위에서 종종거리며 보내는 시간이 더 많은 새였기 때문이었다. 그 산은 수리에게조차 너무도 혹독한 곳이었기에, 여인은 그 작은 생물에게 축복을 내려주지 않았다. 하지만 뇌조는 개의치 않고 길을 떠났다.

작은 새는 서리등선 산맥 깊숙한 곳으로 향했다. 날 수 없을 때는 기어갔다. 땅을 끌어안고 호된 산바람을 견디며, 뇌조는 외로운 길을 걸어 심장이 뛰고 있는 골짜기에 닿았다. 하지만 신이 저지른 온갖 악행으로 인해 비대해진 심장은 작은 새가 나르기에 너무나 무거웠다. 그래서 뇌조는 그것을 조금씩 굴려 골짜기의 절벽 아래로 떨어뜨렸다. 황금 통은 대지에 부딪혀 산산이 조각났다. 심장에 거의 터질 듯한 충격이 가해지자, 그 고통에 산신은 깜짝 놀라 정신을 차렸다.

코르트가 심장 가까이 가자 그것은 튀어 올라 주인의 가슴으로 돌아갔고, 그는 다시 완전해졌다. 그러자 겨울숨결 하콘은 코르트의 가슴을 세 개의 철 띠와 세 개의 얼음 띠로 묶어, 두 번 다시 심장이 밖으로 나오지 못하게 했다. 그리고 다른 모든 신은 뇌조를 수리보다도 더 높이 기렸다.

—"뇌조 이야기: 아바르 설화," 성가회 학자 페트린 수녀 저, 페렐던: 민속과 역사에서 발췌

 

Even mountains had a heart once. When the world was young, Korth the Mountain-Father kept his throne at the peak of Belenas, the mountain at the center of the world, from which he could see all the corners of earth and sky. And he saw strong men become weak, brave men grow cowardly, and wise men turn foolish for love.

 

Korth devised a plan that he might never be betrayed by his own heart, by taking it out and hiding it where no soul would ever dare search for it. He sealed it inside a golden cask, buried it in the earth, and raised around it the fiercest mountains the world had ever seen, the Frostbacks, to guard it.

 

But without his heart, the Mountain-Father grew cruel. His chest was filled with bitter mountain winds that shrieked and howled like lost souls. Food lost its flavor, music had no sweetness, and he lost all joy in deeds of valor. He sent avalanches and earthquakes to torment the tribes of men. Gods and men rose against him, calling him a tyrant, but with no heart, Korth could not be slain. Soon there were no heroes left, either among men or gods, who would dare challenge Korth.

 

The Lady of the Skies sent the best of her children—the swiftest, the cleverest, and strongest fliers—to scour the mountains for the missing heart, and for a year and a day they searched. But sparrow and raven, vulture and eagle, swift and albatross returned to her with nothing.

 

Then the ptarmigan spoke up and offered to find the god-chief's heart. The other birds laughed, for the ptarmigan is a tiny bird, too humble to soar, which spends half its time hopping along the ground. The Lady would not give the little creature her blessing, for the mountains were too fierce even for eagles, but the ptarmigan set out anyway.

 

The little bird traveled deep into the Frostbacks. When she could not fly, she crawled. She hugged the ground and weathered the worst mountain winds, and so made her lonely way to the valley where the heart beat. With all the god's terrible deeds, the heart was far too heavy for the tiny bird to carry, so she rolled it, little by little, out of the valley and down a cliff, and when the golden cask struck the earth, it shattered. The heart was full almost to bursting, and the pain of it roused the mountain god to come see what had happened.

 

When Korth neared his heart, it leapt back into his chest, and he was whole again. Then Hakkon Wintersbreath bound Korth's chest with three bands of iron and three bands of ice, so it could never again escape. And all the remaining gods named the ptarmigan honored above even the loftiest eagles.

 

—"The Ptarmigan: An Avvar Tale," from Ferelden: Folklore and History by Sister Petrine, Chantry scholar