“In her closeness to nature, Oona recalls legends which reach beyond her individual existence into the larger reservoir of feminine myth. Riding bareback through a dark forest, swirled in her blond hair, she recalls those other fair-haired horsewomen of Norse mythology, the Valkyries. This image, perhaps suggested to Gunvor Nelson by her own Scandinavian heritage, reminds us that for primitive women there was no contradiction between beauty and strength, nor between femininity and power.” June M. Gill