1 1 4 Norway and the Norwegians 



reminiscences of the far-away past to prophecies of a 

 far-away future — namely, to the Last Day, as it pre- 

 sented itself to the northern mind. The end of the 

 world is to begin with a terrible winter of three years' 

 duration. All folk living on earth will perish in this 

 cold. Only the immortal powers of good and evil — the 

 gods from Asgaard, the City of the Gods, the heroes 

 who have been translated thither, and dwell in the hall 

 of the chosen VolhoU (Walhalla) — will be left to fight 

 in this final battle. 



* Swart grows the sunshine, and no summer after ; 

 All the winds are death-winds.' ^ 



And then out of this darkness the Last Day dawns, as 

 over graves : 



' There on a how - sat, striking his harp, 

 The giantess' watch, glad Egdir. 

 Crowed to him from gallows'-wood 

 A bright red cock that Fjalar hight. 

 Crowed to the gods Gullinkambi ; ^ 

 And another crowed from beneath the earth, 

 A dusk-red cock in the halls of Hel. 

 Fiercely the hell-hound bays from the Gnipa-cave, 

 Its fetter breaks, and the wolf runs free. 

 How is it with the ^Esir, how M'ith the Alfar?-* 

 Jotunheim roars ! The ^sir come to council ; 

 And the dwarfs are moaning before their stony doors. 

 Know ye what that betokens ? ' 



There are three great battles of this dooms-day — 

 Eagnarok. Odin, the chief god, fights with a certain 

 Fenrir, the hell-honnd or hell-wolf, the son of Loki ; 

 Thor fights with another of Loki's children called 



1 Or winds from the dead, laden with iiestilence. 



• The funeral mound. ^ Gold-comb. ■* The elves. 



