Pharaoh’s daughter went down to bathe at the Nile while her servant girls walked along the riverbank. Seeing the basket among the reeds, she sent her slave girl to get it. When she opened it, she saw the child—a little boy, crying. She felt sorry for him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew boys.”….When the child grew older, she [the child’s mother] brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. ~ Exodus 2: 5-6, 10a
“The poor girl roved about, helpless, in the wood the whole day, but when it was evening she sat down, worn and weary, under a certain stone. When she had been there a while, two dwarfs came to her, and asked her wherefore she was there….After that, they told her that the stone was their abode, and asked her to step into it with them. She was very glad, and accepted their offer. They did her every kindness they could.”[1] ~ Vilfridr meets the Dwarves
Vilfridr is born on a lovely farm to a father and a beautiful, “but by no means a good-natured,”[2] mother named Vala. By the time Vilfridr is fourteen, she is called “Fairer-than-Vala,” which (surprise, surprise) causes Vala no small amount of jealousy, and she therefore plans on killing her daughter.
Vala leads Vilfridr out to the woods in the hopes that the animals will tear her apart and eat her. Although this seems to be more the start of Hansel and Gretel, it is actually a very common way for our Snow Whites to get to their saviors’ doorsteps. In other tales, the saviors are often thieves, giants, or even ogres.
But in this tale, it is dwarves who come to her rescue (in this case, two of them). In Germanic mythology, dwarves are craftsmen and metalworkers, and live underground or in mountains. They were powerful, magical creatures, but they often symbolized death and the underworld.[3]
This, then, ties Vilfridr quite nicely to the stories of Inanna and Psyche, which we’ve already covered. All three have dealings with the underworld, and both Inanna and Vilfridr are saved by underworld beings.
And all of them overcome the underworld (i.e. death) by chance.
“By Chance”
As Christians, there is no “chance,” but rather the divine hand of God at work. While reading this story, I was struck at how the dwarves “happened” to find Vilfridr, just as Pharaoh’s daughter “happened” to find Moses.
Their stories are very similar. Both were abandoned by their mothers, although Moses’ mother did it to save him and Vildfridr’s did it to kill her. Regardless of intent, it was a hope against hope that Moses’ mother sought by placing him the Nile; it was nigh impossible for him to survive. Impossible, but for the work of God. Just so, Vala had no hope of Vilfridr surviving the wild beasts of the woods; in her mind, it was impossible.
Yet both were saved by the most unlikeliest of persons: Moses by a kind, powerful princess, and Vilfrdr by kind, powerful dwarves.
But isn’t that how God works, time and again? When things are at their bleakest, when all seems lost, when no help is to be found….that is when God appoints the most unlikeliest of help to arrive. God is in control of everyone – from the meanest evil spirit (1 Sam. 19:9) to the most God-seeking saint, God is orchestrating every “chance” meeting to ensure His glory.
The reason? To show His immense and immeasurable power.
Next time you feel alone, afraid, and weary like Vilfridr, be on the lookout for a “chance” passerby; it may be the unlikeliest of persons, but rest assured that it is God ordained and meant to show you His Unaccountable Grace.
Sources
[1] Heidi Anne Heiner, “The Story of Vilfridr Fairer-Than-Vala,” Sleeping Beauties, 195
[2] Ibid.
