42 



MYTHOLOGY AND COSMOGONY. 



How is it with the Asar? 



How is it with the Alfar ? 



All Jotunheim rumbles, 



The Asar are at the Thing ; 



The Dvergar moan 



Before the stone doors, 



The wise ones of the rock wall l 



Know ye all up to this and onward ? 



Now Garm barks loud 

 Before Gnipa cave ; 

 The fetters will break, 

 And the wolf will run. 



Hrym 2 drives from the east, 



Holds his shield before him. 



The Jorrnuugand 3 writhes 



In Jotun wrath ; 



The serpent lashes the waves, 



And the eagle screams; 



The pale beak tears the corpses; 



Naglfar 4 is loosened. 



A keel (a ship) comes from the east, 

 The men of Muspell 

 Will come across the sea, 

 But Loki is the steerer ; 5 



All the monsters 



Go with the wolf, 



The brother of Byleist (Loki) 



Is in the train. 



Surt comes from the south 

 With the switchrharm (fire); 

 The sun of the gods 

 Flashes from his sword ; 

 Eocks clash, 



The Jotun women stagger; 

 Men walk the road of Hel ; 

 Heaven is rent asunder. 



Then comes the second c 

 Sorrow of Hlin, 

 When Odin goes 

 To fight the wolf; 

 And the bright slayer 

 Of Beli 7 against Surt ; 

 There will fall 

 The love of Frigg (Odin). 



Now Gann barks loud 

 Before Gnipa-cave ; 

 The fetters will break, 

 And the wolf will run. 



was fully tied they took the band which 

 hung on the chain and was called Gelgja, 

 and drew it through a large slab, called 

 Gjb'll, and fastened the slab deep down 

 in the ground. They took a large stone 

 and put it still deeper into the ground ; 

 it was called Tliviti, and they used it as 

 a fastening pin. The wolf gaped terribly 

 and shook itself violently, and wanted 

 to bite them. They put into its mouth a 

 sword ; the guards touch the lower palate 

 and the point the upper palate ; that is 

 its gag. It groans fiercely and saliva 

 flows from its mouth and makes the river 

 Von ; there it lies till the last fight of 

 the gods " (Later Edda, c. 34). 



1 Dvergar. 



2 Hrym. This name occurs nowhere 

 else. 



3 Jormungand is the world serpent, 

 Midgard's serpent, the son of Loki. 



" Angrboda was a Jotun woman in Jot- 

 unheimar. Loki begat three children by 

 her: Fenrir wolf, Jormungand, or Mid- 

 gardsorm, the serpent, and Hel. When 

 the gods knew that these three children 



were brought up in Jotunheimar, they 

 had foretellings that great misfortune 

 and loss would be caused by them, and 

 all thought much evil must be expected 

 from them, first on account of their 

 mother, and still more of their father. 

 Allfodr (Odin) sent the gods to take and 

 bring them to him. When they came 

 to him he threw the serpent (Midgard- 

 sorm) into the deep sea that lies round 

 all lands, and it grew so much that it 

 lies in the niiddle of the sea round all 

 lands and bites its tail " (Later Edda, 

 c. 34). 



4 ' Naglfar." The ship, said in the 

 Later Edda, Gylfaginning 51, to be made 

 of nails of dead men ; when it is finished 

 the end of the world comes. 



4 Loki being the chief enemy of the 

 gods. 



6 The first sorrow is not mentioned. 

 Hlin. a maid of Frigg (see Gylfaginning, 

 35). Her second sorrow is the death of 

 Odin. 



7 Slayer of Beli = Frey. 



