Gerðr (or Gerda) is a jötunn and goddess in Norse mythology. She is the daughter of the jötunn (giant) Gymir and Aurboda; the sister of Beli; the wife of Frey, whose servant Skirnir, wooed and won her for his master. Gerðr spurned apples and gold but finally gave in at the terrible threat of eternal cold and loneliness, thus personifying winter giving in at last to the warm sunshine of spring. The nine nights of waiting between her consent to become Frey’s bride and the actual union is symbolic of the long nine months of hard winter in northern countries before spring arrives. In some mythologies the radiance of Gerda personifies the aurora borealis (northern lights).