1 16 Norway and the Norwegians 



' Sees arise, a second time, 

 Earth from ocean, green again ; 

 Waters fall once more ; the eagle flies over, 

 And from the fell fishes for his prey. 



The ^sir come togetlier on Ida's plain ; 

 Of the earth-encircler, the mighty one, they speak. 

 Then to the mind are brought ancient words. 

 And the runes by Fimbultyr found. 



Then will once more the wondrous 

 Golden tablets in the grass be found, 

 Which in tlie ancient days the ^'Esir had, 

 The folk-ruling gods, and Fiolnir's race. 



Unsown shall the fields bear fruit. 

 Evil shall depart ; Balder come back again ; 

 In Hropt's high hall dwell Balder and Hoder, 

 The happy gods. 



A hall I see brighter than the sun, 

 With gold adorned, on Gimil ; 

 There shall noble princes dwell. 

 And without end the earth possess. 



Then rides the Mighty One, to the gods' doom going, 

 The Strong One from above who all things governs. 

 He strifes shall stay and dooms shall utter. 

 Holiness establish which shall ever be. 



These are the chief elements in the mythology of the 

 northern folk as it is given us in the Edda. The 

 doings of the gods, however, occupy only a certain 

 space in ISTorse poetry. Next (I do not mean next in 

 point of time), after the lays, which are concerned with 

 the gods and godesses, come the heroic lays or hallads 

 which relate the doings of some great hero. These 

 ballads are far less characteristically northern than is 

 the pantheon of the Eddie gods. That it was a Scan- 

 dinavian habit as much as a German one, among the 



