NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY. 90 
repast; then they return to Odin’s hall with their wounds all healed, and 
enjoy the sumptuous feast daily spread for them. This banquet consists of 
the flesh of the boar Seremnir, which is always sufficient in supply, no mat- 
ter how great the number of the guests may be. Every day it is served up at 
table, and every day are its life and flesh renewed. Their drink is mead, 
the milk of the goat Hetthrun, which stands upon the walls of Valhalla, and 
feeds on the foliage of the tree Lerad, which grows upon the hall of the 
dead ; this beverage is served to them in abundance by the Valkyre, beauti- 
ful maidens of whom we shall speak hereafter. Before we leave the hall of 
Odin, we must also notice the wonderful stag Azkthyrnir, from whose 
horns the waters of the spring Hvergelmir gush forth. 
But this scene of fierce contest was not the only heaven of which the 
northern nations had an idea. We learn from the Voluspa, that beyond 
the clear blue ether there is another heaven called the boundless, in 
which is situated the glorious city Gamble, the eternal and unchangeable. 
At the final day of judgment, the dwellers of Valhalla, Niffleheim, and 
Midgard, will have to stand forth and be tried, no longer by the rule of 
warlike achievements, but by that of moral justice. Those who, however 
unwarlike, have been good and just, will then be admitted to the glories of 
Gimble and the presence of the Supreme Being; while those who, though 
valiant, have been cruel, unjust, and rapacious, will be hurled down 
to Vastrond (the bleak shore of the dead). 
_ In the meantime all who die by old age or disease, and all cowards and 
fugitives in battle, will have to suffer in Helhevm, a province of Niffleheim, 
which is girt by the hell-stream G/éll, and set apart as the abode of the 
unblest. 
Tue Gops or THE Scanpinavians. The Supreme Being, the uncreated one, 
we have already said was not considered an object of the religious worship 
of mortal beings. They honored therefore in this way the created gods, the 
chief of whom was Odin. He was originally the sun considered as a deity, 
and also its symbol. As the ruler of the world, and king of gods and men, 
he occupies the chief seat at the banquet of the gods of Valhalla, upon his 
throne, from which he can overlook all heaven and earth. 
Upon his shoulders are the ravens Hugin and Munin, who fly every day 
over the whole world, and on their return report to him all they have seen 
and heard. As the god of the sun, he has the disk of that luminary behind 
his head, supported by two serpents (pl. 11, jig. 6). In his right hand he 
holds a spear, and by his side is the sword, attributes which designate him 
as the ruler of battles, and source of all valor. The tablet in his left hand 
he holds as the inventor of the Runic characters and songs of enchantment. 
Pl. 18, fig. 1, we see him standing with the left foot on a stone ; around his 
shoulders is the warrior’s cloak over a splendid cuirass, and upon his head 
a golden helmet; his left hand grasps the shield, and with his right he is 
leaning upon the sword. The two ravens before mentioned are perched 
upon his shoulders, and at his feet lie the two wolves Gert and Lrekz, to 
whom he gives all the meat placed before him at every banquet, while he 
himself lives only on the wine which he drinks. 
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