[Other] Holle is known throughout northern Europe. She is also known as Holda or Hulda. A triple goddess, Holle is the Maiden, the Mother and the Crone--the embodiment of the three stages of womanhood. As Maiden, she is the ash girl, whose face is half black with soot. Destined to marry Holler, King of Winter and Frost, he tested her with a riddle to be sure of Holle's worthiness. She had to come to his palace neither naked nor clothed, neither riding nor walking, neither alone nor with companions, in neither light nor darkness. Holle answered by arriving wrapped in a fishing net, sitting on a donkey with one toe dragging on the ground, surrounded by twenty-four wolves at twilight. Holle as Mother is said to be seen as a woman from the front and a tree form the back. Representing fertility and growth she guards and nurtures all the green growing things of the forest. As Crone, Holle is viewed as the wise Queen of Winter. She shakes her bed till the feathers fly to make it snow. When it...
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