Sons of Thorvald - The Epic Saga

Part I: Thorvald's Youth

Once upon a time, there was Thorvald Thorvaldsson, a young man who lived in an old village whose people were well known for their unbreakable spirits and bodies. In this village contortion was an old tradition practiced by young men and women alike and then passed from older to younger generations.

A very long time ago, this village was founded around a sacred shrine of Freyja, the goddess of beauty who was believed to pass the knowledge of contortion onto people to keep their bodies youthful and agile.

"Somewhere in Midgard
There was an old yard,
Belonging to Freyja
The goddess of bendies;
People approached it,
And built a village,
No longer lonely
Was the One and Only."

For a long time Thorvald was one of the boys who performed contortion at festivals dedicated to Freyja as it was the most honorable way of worshipping her. He always thought of his abilities as a blessing from the goddess and tried to give back as much as possible.

Part II: Of Setting Up The Business

But after turning 20 it was time for Thorvald to serve another god and gain a good muscle. He became a viking on a viking ship and his vikingship only ended in his 30s, when the broad shoulders replaced the lithe frame of the former contortionist who finally returned back home.

"By twisting and bending
Thorvald inspired,
But there was an ending:
He, too, retired;
In Thor's honor
He gained new skills,
A whole new profession
Helped paying his bills."

Yes, during the years of musclework he also gained skills as a blacksmith who could forge a good sword, and upon his return he opened a small smithy for the needs of the village. Many tools in the village were old and rusty, seeing that Thorvald immediately started upgrading them, regaining the love of the villagers almost to the level when he was a bendy boy.

After opening the business, he married the beautiful blond girl named Inga to whom he promised his heart back when he was in his late teens, back then she was a child charmed by Thorvald's flexibility and just stepping on the bendy path, now she was a fully flourished busty woman who worked as a coach for young kids, guiding them on the first steps to Freyja's gift.

After their reunion, Inga and Thorvald couldn't stop loving each day and night until their three sons were born one right after another: Bjorn, Leif and Eirik.

"Bjorn got born,
Leif gained life,
Eirik was here
And so was Thorvald's wife;
Thorvald rejoiced
Looking at his brood,
He'd had a great time
As he'd conclude."

So Thorvald Thorvaldsson's life changed a lot since the days of his youth and he was now raising his sons, preparing them to inherit his house and the smithy one day.

Part III: Of Bjorn And Eirik

Bjorn was a total copy of his father in everything from the dark hair to the curious and brave spirit. The boy was very interested in his father's work and always watched him, but what really pleased the father is that Bjorn would do so sitting in a split or laying in a cheststand or even a triplefold that was so easy for him to do in the heat of the smithy.

Despite his mother Inga always told him he looks so much like his dad in his youth, young Bjorn just couldn't believe his massive father used to be a slender and lithe contortionist, but of course he used every chance to get his muscled dad to help him with the stretches. Basically that was the main purpose of the small sauna they built next to the smithy.

The youngest brother, Eirik, was busy with keeping the house and the yard clean and taking cake of their little garden. He had a lot of free time but didn't spend it in the smithy as he much preferred watching the boys and girls performing by the shrine of Freyja. Something always attracted him to the goddess and her shrine, but only in his teens he finally discovered his destiny and unlocked the true abilities of his bendy back that surpassed even those of his brothers.

"Prophecies told
Of a boy to be born
Who'd bend his body
Like a ram's horn;
Many days passed
Changing many Suns,
The rare bird was found
Among Thorvald's sons."

To everyone's surprise, Eirik surpassed the entire village, so it was often told that the boy was blessed by the goddess herself. Meanwhile two other brothers struggled to keep up with the progress of the youngest one, who indeed seemed to have been blessed...

Part IV: Of Leif The Woodcutter

The middle brother, Leif, who's depicted in the middle, might appear smaller and not just because of the perspective distortion. He was the true son of his mother Inga, the most effeminate of the three, and meanwhile he did work as a woodcutter bringing a lot of hard wood for his father's smithy, he didn't mind making a coin taking care of the other kind of hard wood... specially that forests were too dark in the evening and there was not much to do with the second half of the day. So he tried his best as a dancing contortionist in the local tavern, thus being around the hard wood pretty much all day.

Leif helped his dad to build the sauna and always joined his two brothers in there for the daily stretching, the way their bodies bent always reminded him of his beloved trees and how they bend to the wind. He loved trees on many levels: he loved their beauty and he loved how much they help men every single day in their lives with the wood they give, so for every tree he cut he always carefully planted a few new ones and took care of their growth.

Part V: Afterword

I'm sorry if this saga was a little too long but I really enjoyed writing it as well as working on this picture ^-^ I wanted to make something about baths and contortion for a long time and I'm very happy with how this picture turned out ^-^

Thank you so much for looking/reading and I hope you enjoyed this picture and story... ^_^