A NEW WORLD. 



43 



Then comes the great 



Son of Sigfodr (father of victory) 



Vidar to slay, 



The beast of carrion. 1 



AVith his hand he lets 



His sword pierce 



The heart of the Jotun's son, 2 



Then his father (Odin) is avenged. 3 



Then conies the famous 



Son of Hlodyn (Thor) ; 



Odin's son 



Goes to fight the serpent ; 



Midgard's defender (Thor) 



Slays him in wrath ; 



All men will 



Leave their homesteads ; 



The son of Fjorgyn (T Uur ), 

 Walks nine paces 

 Reeling from the serpent 

 That slums not heinous deeds. 



The sun blackens, 4 

 The earth sinks into the sea; 

 The bright stars 

 Vanish from heaven ; 

 The life-feeder (fire) 

 And the vapour rage ; 

 The high heat rises 

 Towards heaven itself. 

 Now Garm barks loud 5 

 Before Gnipa-cave ; 

 The fetters will break, 

 And the wolf will run. 



(Voluspa.) 



After the destruction of the world, a new one will arise. 



She 6 beholds rising up 

 Another time 

 An earth out of the sea, 

 An evergreen one. 



The waterfalls rush ; 

 Above an eagle flies 

 Which on the mountains 

 Catches fish. 



The Asar meet 



On the Idavb'll (plain) 



And talk about 



The mighty earth-serpent 



And there speak of 



The great events 



And of the old runes 



Of Fimbultyr. 



1 The wolf Fenrir. 



2 Loki is the father of Fenrir-wolf, 

 who is called the Jotun's son, as Loki was 

 a Jb'tun. 



3 Odin's son, Vidar, avenges his father 

 by slaying the Ffnrir- \vull'. 



4 Here the Volva again sees how 

 everything is destroyed. Ragnarok, 

 "the doom of the powers and the end 

 of the world," is mentioned in Lokasenm 

 where Loki is taunting the gods ; when 

 he comes to Tyr, the latter answers 

 him 



I nave no haud 



And thou hast no praise j 



We are both badly off; 

 Nor is the wolf well , 

 That in bands shall 

 Wait for Ragnarok. 



In Atlamal Ragnarok is also men- 

 tioned in the dreams of Glaumvor (see 

 p. 462). In the later Edda the word is 

 corrupted by having an ' r " .added, 

 which gives the meaning of twilight instead 

 of doom of the gods, as it really meant. 



5 The Volva seems never to tire re- 

 minding her hearers that the dog Garm 

 barks loud, &c. 



' Tae Volva. 



