The Golden Bough. Part VII. Balder The Beautiful. Volume I: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Golden Bough. Part VII. Balder The Beautiful. Volume I, credited to James Frazer, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Golden Bough. Part VII. Balder The Beautiful. Volume I by James Frazer. Read in English by Leon Harvey. The tenth volume in The Golden Bough series. Frazer discusses the problem which gives its title to the whole work. If right, the Golden Bough over which the King of the Wood, Diana’s priest at Aricia, kept watch and ward was no other than a branch of mistletoe growing on an oak within the sacred grove and as the plucking of the bough was a necessary prelude to the slaughter of the priest, leads to a parallel between the King of the Wood at Nemi and the Norse god Balder, who was worshipped in a sacred grove beside the beautiful Sogne fiord of Norway and was said to have perished by a stroke of mistletoe, which alone of all things on earth or in heaven could wound him. This volume also provides a dissertation into sacred rituals of fire and seclusion of girls in primitive societies. - Summary by leon harvey

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Golden Bough. Part VII. Balder The Beautiful. Volume I
• Author credits: James Frazer
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 16
• Listed recording duration: 12:17:23

Catalogue topics

• religion

Track guide

1. 00 - Preface. — 15:33
2. 01 - I. Between Heaven and Earth. — 42:01
3. 02 - II. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty. Part 1. — 1:11:04
4. 03 - II. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty. Part 2 — 42:32
5. 04 - II. Seclusion of Girls at Puberty. Part 3 — 49:28
6. 05 - III. The Myth of Balder. — 10:39
7. 06 - IV. The Fire Festivals of Europe. Part 1. — 30:28
8. 07 - IV. The Fire Festivals of Europe. Part 2. — 54:02
9. 08 - IV. The Fire Festivals of Europe. Part 3. — 27:36
10. 09 - IV. The Fire Festivals of Europe. Part 4. — 1:06:54
11. 10 - IV. The Fire Festivals of Europe. Part 5. — 1:00:42
12. 11 - IV. The Fire Festivals of Europe. Part 6. — 58:46
13. 12 - IV. The Fire Festivals of Europe. Part 7 — 48:48
14. 13 - IV. The Fire Festivals of Europe. Part 8 — 1:05:45
15. 14 - IV. The Fire Festivals of Europe. Part 9 — 55:39
16. 15 - V. The Interpretation of the Fire Festivals. — 37:26

Listen to this recording

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.