In old Norse Viking Age Mythology,
The red squirrel is also called Ratatoskr.
There's not a lot of information about the red squirrels but,
here's my interpretation of the old myths:
Ratatoskr runs up and down the Yggdrasil,
that we today would call, 'The Tree of Life'.
The Ratatoskr carries messages
from the Eagles, Owls and the spirit world,
down to the world serpent Níðhöggr,
what we today might call 'Mother Earth'.
In between these two places
is a little place called Midgard,
that's us, that's where we live.
The little red squirrels
brings messages to Midgard,
to all the animals on the ground
and to a very few, selected humans.
The messages are from far away lands,
what the eagles have seen and what the wise owls have learned on their travels.
The Ratatoskr also brings warnings of imminent danger and foresight of caution.
Such as dangerous animals close by and even forecasting storms,
natural environmental events like earthquakes, floods and upcoming droughts.
It's also mentioned that
the Ratatoskr delivers "slander/lies/gossip",
but that's highly up for debate
to be a translation error.
I personally don't believe this,
as Odin himself would only use
the most trusted of animals,
to carry his messages
to Midgard and Mother Earth.
There's simply no way,
Odin would entrust a lying,
slanderous creature, to carry
such important messages for him.
It simply doesn't make sense.
No, he would only entrust
such important task,
to the most trusted of animals
in all of Midgard.
Like Odin's trusted two Raven's:
Hugin and Munin.
His two wolves: Geri and Freki,
and last but not least,
Odin's mythical, 8 legged horse, Sleipnir
that can travel between worlds.
The Ratatoskr, our red squirrels, in my opinion and interpretation, are Messengers from Odin himself, to Midgard and Mother earth.
Odin's Ravens,
they only collects, transport and deliver important information,
directly to Odin himself, from all the realms. But the Ratatoskr delivers them, to us.
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The Tree of Life has been documented, thousands of years before our calendars, in pretty much every single religious documentation, throughout millennials and before that. Even to this day,
you will keep seeing this tree even in humans biology like,
our brains, looks exactly like the tree of life.
The very womb sack we were born in, spread out, looks exactly like the tree of life.
That's why midwife's in most of Europe,
wear this pendant,
as a symbol of birth, death and rebirth
No matter your personal beliefs or religions, it's just a bedtime story and my interpretation of it.
Decan Frost
Thank you Decan, so very interesting and such beautiful illustrations too.