406 RELIGION. MGrlE AND RAN. 



the swords do in Valhalla. Loki quarrelled with all the gods 

 and killed Fimafeng, .ZEgir's thrall ; another of his thralls was 

 called Eldir. 



Early the gods of the slain (the Asar) Shook the twigs 

 Took their food, And looked on the blood, 



And at the feast They found there was 



Ere they were satisfied Enough at ^Egir's. 



(Hymis Kvida, 1.) 



Ran, who was the wife of JEgir, and like him also wor- 

 shipped, was supposed to have a net in which she caught all 

 those who were lost at sea, and the people seem to have been 

 superstitious as to the manner in which shipwrecked persons 

 were received by her. 



" Jilgir's wife is called Kan, and their nine daughters have 

 been named before. At that feast everything came by itself, 

 food and drink and all that was necessary for the feast. The 

 Asar became aware that Ran owned a net in which she caught 

 all men that came out on the sea. Now this saying relates 

 why the gold is called the fire, 1 or the light or the brightness 

 of "^Egir, or Ran, or ^Egir's daughters" (Skaldskaparmal, 

 c. 33). 



The nine daughters of ^Egirand Ran had names emblematic 

 of the sea and its waves. 



In the Later Edda (Skaldskaparmal), c. 25, we read- 



" How is the sea to be called ? Ymir's blood, the visitor of 

 the gods, the husband of Ran, the father of ^gir's daughters, 

 who have the following names : 



" Himinglcefaihe heaven glittering (implying the glitter- 

 ing of the sun and moon on the waves). 



"Dufa the dove (symbolising the stillness of a quiet sea, 

 heaving up and down gently. 



" Sloduf/hadda the bloody-haired (so named from the 

 sunset or blood giving colour to the waves). 



"He/ring the hurling, heaving may mean the over- 

 drifting, moving heavily along by a gale. 



" Unn (Ud) the loving or beloved one. 



" Hronn the towering one. 



1 



In poetry gold is often called 



fire, or Ran's light, showing that belief 



in the old myth still existed. 



