END OF THE W()lil.l>. 



Crowed for the Asar 

 Gullinkambi (golden-comb), 

 He rouses the warriors 

 At Herjafodr's (host-father) ; 

 But another crows 

 Under the ground, 

 A dark red cock, 1 

 In the halls of Hel. 



Garm barks violently 



Before the Gnipa cave ; 



The fetters will break 



And the wolf will run ; 



She (the Volva) knows many tales. 



I see further forward 



To the doom of the powers 



The dark doom of the gods. 



Brothers will fight 



And become each other's slayers ; 



The sons of sisters will 



Break blood ties. 



It goes hard in the world, 



There is much whoredom, 



An age of axes, an age of swords ; 



Shields are cleft ; 



An age of winds, an age of wolves, 



Ere the world sinks ; 



No man will spare 



Another man. 



The sons of Mimir are moving 

 But the end draws near, 

 By the sound of the ancient 

 Gjallarhorn. 

 Heimdall blows loud, 

 The horn is aloft ; 

 Odin talks with 

 The head of Mimir. 



Shakes the standing 



Ash Yggdrasil; 



The old tree groans, 



And the Jotun (Loki) breaks loose ; 



All are terrified 2 



In the roads of Hel 



Before the kinsman of Surt 



Swallows it. 



1 A thin! bird not named lives in the 

 halls of Hel. They represent the Jotnar, 

 the Asar, and the third Hel (the home <>f 

 the dead), and seem to be the wakers of 

 these three different realms. 



2 The Asar, after taking Loki. bound 

 him to a rock with fetters made of the 

 entrails of his son, Vali (who rr.ust not 

 be confused with his namesake, Baldr's 

 brother). 



" Now Loki was without any truce 

 taken to a cave. They took three slabs, 

 set them on edge, and made a hole in 

 each. They took the sons of Loki, Vali 

 and Nari or Narfi, and changed Vali 

 into a wolf which tore Narfi asunder. 

 Then they took his entrails and with 

 them tied Loki over the three slabs ; one 

 was under his shoulders, another under 

 his loins, the third under his knees, ami 

 these bands changed into iron. Then 

 Skadi (a goddess) took a poisonous ser- 

 pent and fastened it above him, sn that 

 the poison should drip into his face ; but 

 his wife Sigyn stands at his side, and 

 holds a vessel under the poison-drops. 

 When it is full she goes out to pour it 

 down, but in the meanwhile the poison 

 drips into his face; then he shudders so 

 hard that the whole earth trembles ; that 

 you call earthquake. There he lies in 



bands till the doom of the gods " 

 (Gylfaginning-, c. 50). 



" Loki begat the wolf 

 With Angrboda, 

 And Sleipnir 

 With Svadilfb'ri ; 

 One monster was thought 

 Most terrible of all : 

 It was sprung from 

 The brother of Byleist (= Loki)." 

 [Hyndlu!j6d, 40 ] 



The Asar were afraid of Fenrir wolf, 

 Loki's son, and twice tried to chain it, 

 but could not. 



" Thereupon they were afraid that 

 they could not chain the \\ult : then 

 Allfodr (Odin) sent the servant Ski'rnir, 

 the messenger of Frey, down to Svartal- 

 faheim ' world of the black Alfar) to some 

 Dvergar, and had a chain made, called 

 Gleipnir. It was made of six things : 

 Of the noise of the cat, of the beard 

 of women, of the roots of the mountain, 

 of the sinews of the bear, of the breath 

 of the fish, of the spittle of the bird." 



At last they succeeded in chaining it 

 with the chain, but Tyr lost his right 

 hand, which he was obliged to put into 

 the mouth of the wolf as a pledge. 



" When the Asar saw that the wit 



