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Table of Contents

The three poems giving the mythology and cosmogony of the North—The Völuspa, Vafthrudnismal, Grimnismal, the Asar, Jötnar, and Thursar—Odin and Vafthrudnir—The nine worlds—Before the creation—The origin of the Hrim Thursar—Birth of Ymir—Birth of Odin—Vili and Ve—The ash Yggdrasil—The well of wisdom—Hel, one of the nine worlds—The bridge Bifröst—Heimdall—Bergelmir born before the creation—The Jötun—Ymir slain by Odin—The deluge of blood—Creation of the world—Divisions of time—End of the world—A new world.

In the three poems called Völuspa, Vafthrudnismal, and Grimnismal, we have the earliest accounts of the cosmogony and of the mythology of the people of the North. The grand central figure in the mythology is Odin. He and his kin formed the people known as Asar in the lore and literature of the North, and were treated as gods. These poems are too long to be given here in full, but in the following pages we have endeavoured, by means of extracts, to give a more or less consecutive account of the subjects with which they deal.

The Völuspa was an inspired poem of a Völva or Sibyl,²⁰ and embodies the records of the creation of the present world, and of the time prior to it; of the various races, their origin and history, and of the chaos and destruction which finally will overtake mankind.

It is in some places so obscure, that if it had not been partly explained by the later Edda, and had light thrown upon it by the sagas and ancient laws, it would be impossible to understand its meaning; and even now it is most difficult, and in some places impossible to fully comprehend several of its mythical parts, some of which will always remain enigmatical.

Vafthrudnismal is especially interesting as compared with the Völuspa, with much of which it corresponds, and some part of which it amplifies.

The mythical and the real are so intermingled that it is often impossible to distinguish the one from the other.

In the beginning we are confronted by a chief named Odin, the son of Bör, who lived near the Tanais (the river Don) not far from the Palus Mæotis (the Sea of Azof), and there we find one Asgard, which in all probability had its original in some real locality.

Besides Asar and Jötnar, many other tribes are mentioned which can hardly be regarded as altogether mythical, some of which may have inhabited the far north of the ancient Sweden, or part of the present Russia and Scandinavia; the Thursar, who were also called Hrimthursar (hoar frost), and the Risar, also Bergrisar (mountain Risar), appear from these names to have lived in a cold mountainous country, possibly the region of the Ural Mountains.

Jötunheim, the chief burgh of which was Utgard, would appear to be a general, vague name given to a very wide extent of country not embraced in Asaheim (the home of the Asar). Jötunheim, as the name indicates, was the home or country of the Jötnar and Thursar, between whom and the Asar there was fierce enmity.

Some of the Jötnar were considered very wise, and Odin, as the chief of the Asar, determined to go in disguise to Jötunheim, the home of the Jötnar, in order to seek out the Jötun Vafthrudnir²¹ (the mighty or wise in riddles), who was renowned for his knowledge. The song begins by representing Odin as consulting his wife, Frigg, as to the advisability of undertaking the journey. The stanzas which follow represent Odin questioning Vafthrudnir in his search for knowledge:—

Then went Odin

To try word-wisdom

Of the all-wise Jötun.

To a hall he came,

Owned by Ymir’s father;

In went Ygg at once.²²

(As Odin enters he sings—)

Hail, Vafthrudnir,

I have come into thy hall

To look at thyself;

First I want to know,

If thou art a wise

Or an all-wise Jötun.

Vafthrudnir.

Who is the man

That in my hall

Speaks to me?

Thou shalt not

Get out of it

Unless thou art the wiser.

Odin.

I am called Gagnrad,²³

I have now come from my walking

Thirsty to thy hall;

Needing thy bidding

And thy welcome, Jötun;

Long time have I travelled.

Vafthrudnir.

Why standing on the floor

Dost thou speak to me?

Take a seat in the hall.

Then we shall try

Who knows more,

The guest or the old wise one.

Odin.

When a poor man

Comes to a rich one

Let him speak useful things or be silent;

Great babbling

I think turns to ill

For one who meets a cold-ribbed²⁴ man.

We are told in the Völuspa that Odin, in the quest of information, went to visit the Völva, or Sybil, Heid, who was possessed of supernatural powers of knowledge and foresight. She asks for a hearing from the sons of Heimdal, or mankind, and then proceeds to tell what she recollects:—

I remember Jötnar

Early born,

Who of yore

Raised me;²⁵

I remember nine worlds,

Nine ividi²⁶

The famous world-tree (Yggdrasil)

Beneath the earth.

The nine worlds were—1, Muspel; 2, Asgard; 3, Vanaheim (home of the Vanir); 4, Midgard; 5, Alfheim (world of the Alfar); 6, Mannheim (home of men); 7, Jötunheim (the home of the Jötnar); 8, Hel; 9, Niflheim.

The first beginnings of all things were apparently as obscure to the Völva as to others; nothing existed before the Creation. The world was then a gaping void (Ginnungagap), and there the Jötun Ymir, or the Hrim Thursar, lived. On each side of Ginnungagap there were two worlds, Niflheim, the world of cold, and Muspelheim, the world of heat.

When Ymir lived

In early ages

Was neither sand nor sea,

Nor cool waves,

No earth was there

Nor heaven above,

There was gaping void

And grass nowhere.

“First there was a home (a world) in the southern half of the world called Muspel; it is hot and bright, so that it is burning and in flames; it is also inaccessible for those who have no odals (or family estates); there the one that sits at the land’s end to defend it is called a Surt. He has a flaming sword, and at the end of the world he will go and make warfare and get victory over all the gods, and burn the whole world with fire” (Later Edda, c. 4).²⁷

The origin of the Hrim Thursar and the Birth of Ymir, who lived in Ginnungagap, and of Odin, Vili, and Ve, is as follows:

“Gangleri asked, ‘How was it before the kindreds existed and mankind increased?’ Hár answered, ‘When the rivers called Elivagar had run so far from their sources that the quick venom which flowed into them, like the dross which runs out of the fire, got hard, and changed into ice; when this ice stood still and flowed no longer, the exhalation of the poison came over it and froze into rime; the rime rose up all the way into the Ginnungagap.’ Jafnhár said, ‘The part of Ginnungagap turning to the north was filled with the heaviness and weight of ice and rime, and the opposite side with drizzle and gusts of wind; but the southern part of Ginnungagap became less heavy, from the sparks and glowing substances which came flying from Muspelheim.’ Thridi said, ‘Just as the cold and all things come from Niflheim, the things near Muspel were hot and shining; Ginnungagap was as warm as windless air. When the rime and the breath of the heat met so that the rime melted into drops, a human form came from these flowing drops with the power of the one who had sent the heat; he was called Ymir, but the Hrimthursar call him Örgelmir, and the kin of the Hrimthursar have sprung from him.’ Gangleri asked, ‘How did the kin grow from this, or how came it that there were more men; or dost thou believe in the god of whom thou didst tell now?’ Hár answered, ‘By no means do we think him a god; he was bad, and all his kinsmen; we call them Hrimthursar. It is told that when asleep he sweated, and then there grew a man and a woman from under his left arm, and one of his feet begot a son with the other; thence have sprung the kin of Hrimthursar. We call Ymir the Old Hrimthurs.’

“Gangleri asked, ‘Where did Ymir live, or by what?’ ‘It happened next when the hoar-frost fell in drops that the cow Audhumla grew out of it; four rivers of milk ran from her teats, and she fed Ymir.’

“Gangleri asked, ‘On what did the cow feed?’ Hár answered, ‘She licked the rime-stones covered with salt and rime, and the first day when she licked them a man’s hair came out of them in the evening; the second day a man’s head; the third day a whole man was there; he is called Buri; he was handsome in looks, large, and mighty; he had Bör for son, who got Besla, daughter of Bölthorn jötun, for wife, and she had three sons, Odin, Vili,²⁸ Ve; and it is my belief that this Odin and his brothers are the rulers of heaven and earth. We think he is called so. Thus the man whom we know to be the greatest and most famous is called, and they may well give him this name’ ” (‘Gylfaginning,’ c. 5).

The ash tree Yggdrasil is one of the strangest conceptions found in any mythology.

An ash I know standing

Called Yggdrasil,

A high tree besprinkled

With white loam;

Thence come the dews

That drop in the dales;

It stands evergreen

Spreading over the well of Urd.

Three roots stand

In three directions

Under the ash Yggdrasil;

Hel dwels under one,

The Hrim-thursar under the second,

Under the third “mortal” men.

(Grimnismal).

Under it stands the well of wisdom for a drink from which Odin pledges his one eye.

“Gangleri said: ‘Where is the head-place or holy place of the Asar?’ Hár answered: ‘At the ash of Yggdrasil, where the gods give their judgments every day.’ Gangleri asked: ‘What can be told of that place?’ Jafnhár said: ‘The ash is the largest and best of trees; its branches spread all over the world and reach up over the heaven; three roots of the tree hold it up and spread very widely. One (of the roots) is with the Asar, another with the Hrimthursar where of yore Ginnungagap was; the third is over Niflheim, and beneath it is Hvergelmin, but Nidhög gnaws its lower part. Under the root turning towards the Hrimthursar is Mimir’s well, in which wisdom and intellect are hidden. Its owner is called Mimir; he is full of wisdom, for he drinks from the well of the horn Gjallar-horn. Odin came and asked for a drink of the well, and did not get it till he pawned his eye.”

“What more wonders,” asked Gangleri, “may be told of the ash?” Hár answered, “Many wonders. An eagle sits in the limbs of the ash and knows many things; between its eyes sits the hawk Vedrfölnir. The squirrel Ratatösk runs up and down the ash and carries words of envy between the eagle and Nidhög. Four harts run on the limbs of the ash and eat the buds; they are called Dain, Dvalin, Duneyr, and Durathror. So many serpents are in Hvergelmir with Nidhög that no tongue can number them” (Gylfaginning, c. 16).

Heid in the Voluspa tells about the holy tree, and that the horn of Heimdall is hidden under it till the last fight of the gods. Yggdrasil is watered from the water of the well.

She knows that the blast

Of Heimdal is hidden

Under the bright

Holy tree;

She sees it poured over

By a muddy stream

From the pledge of Valfödr;

Know ye all up to this and onward?

Under the tree lived the three Nornir (Genii), who shape the destinies of men.

Thence come three maidens,

Knowing many things,

Out of the hall

Which stands under the tree;

One was called Urd,

Another Verdandi,

The third Skuld;

They carved on wood tablets,

They chose lives,

They laid down laws

For the children of men,

They chose the fates of men.

Hel was one of the nine worlds, and stood under the ash Yggdrasil, where the dead, who did not die on the battle-field, went. Hence, when a man had died, Hel-shoes were put on his feet for the journey.

Odin goes to the world of Hel, in which was the Gnipa cave, in order to inquire about the fate of his son Baldr who had died.

“Odin threw Hel (daughter of Loki) down into Niflheim, and gave her power over nine worlds; she was to lodge all those who were sent to her, namely, those who died of sickness and old age. She has a large homestead there, and her house-walls are wonderfully high, and her doors are large. Her hall is called Eljúdnir, her plate famine, her knife hunger; ganglati (lazy-goer, idler) her thrall; ganglöt (idler) her bondswoman; her threshhold is called stumbling-block; her bed the couch of one who is bed-ridden; her bed-hangings (ársal) the glittering evil. One half of her body is livid, and the other half skin-colour; therefore she is easily known, and her look is frowning and fierce” (Later Edda, c. 34, Gylfaginning).

“It is the beginning of this Saga that Baldr the Good dreamt great and dangerous dreams about his life. When he told them to the Asar they consulted and resolved to ask for safety for Baldr from every kind of danger; Frigg (Odin’s wife) took oaths from fire, water, iron, and every kind of metal, stones, earth, trees, sicknesses, beasts, birds, poison, serpents, that they would spare Baldr’s life. When this was done and known, Baldr and the Asar entertained themselves thus: he stood up at the Things and some gods shot at him, or others struck at him or threw stones at him. Whatever they did he was not hurt, and all thought this a great wonder. When Loki Laufey(jarson) saw this he was angry that Baldr was not hurt. He changed himself into a woman’s shape and went to Frigg in Fensalir. Frigg asked this woman if she knew what the Asar were doing at the Thing. She said that they all shot at Baldr, and that he was not hurt. Frigg said, ‘Weapons or trees will not hurt Baldr; I have taken oaths from them all.’ The woman asked, ‘Have all things taken oaths to spare Baldr’s life?’ Frigg answered, ‘A bush grows east of Valhöll called Mistiltein (mistletoe); I thought it was too young to take an oath.’ The woman went away; but Loki took the mistletoe and tore it up and went to the Thing. Höd (Baldr’s brother) stood in the outmost part of the ring of people. Loki said to him, ‘Why doest thou not shoot at Baldr?’ He answered, ‘Because I do not see where he is, and also I am weaponless.’ Loki said, ‘Do like other men and show honour to Baldr; I will show thee where he stands; shoot this stick at him.’ Höd took the mistletoe and shot at Baldr as Loki showed him; it pierced Baldr, who fell dead to the ground. This was the most unfortunate deed that has been done among the gods and men. When Baldr was fallen none of the Asar could say a word or touch him with their hands, and they looked at each other with the same mind towards the one who had done this deed, but no one could take revenge; it was such a place of peace. When they tried to speak the tears came first, so that no one could tell to the other his sorrow in words. Odin suffered most from this loss, because he knew best what a loss and damage to the Asar the death of Baldr was. …” (Gylfaginning, c. 49).

“It is to be told of Hermód that he rode nine nights through dark and deep valleys and saw nothing before he came to the river Gjöll²⁹ and rode on the Gjallar bridge,³⁰ which is covered with shining gold.³¹ Modgud is the name of the maiden who guards the bridge; she asked him his name and kin, and said that the day before five arrays of dead men rode over the bridge, ‘but the bridge sounds not less under thee alone, and thou hast not the colour of dead men; why ridest thou here on the way of Hel?’ He answered, ‘I am riding to Hel to seek Baldr, or hast thou seen Baldr on the way of Hel?’ She answered that Baldr had ridden over the Gjallar bridge, ‘but the way of Hel lies downward and northward.’ Hermód rode till he came to the gates of Hel; then he alighted and girthed his horse strongly, mounted and pricked it with the spurs; the horse leaped so high over the gate that it touched nowhere. Then Hermód rode home to the hall, alighted, went in and saw his brother Baldr sitting in a high-seat; he stayed there the night. In the morning Hermód asked Hel to allow Baldr to ride home with him, and told how great weeping there was among the Asar. Hel said she would see if Baldr was as beloved as was told; if all things, living and dead, in the world weep over him, he shall go back to the Asar, but remain with Hel (me) if any refuse or will not weep. Then Hermód rose, and Baldr let him out of the hall and took the ring Draupnir and sent it to Odin as a remembrance, and Nanna³² sent to Frigg a linen veil and more gifts, and to Fulla a gold ring. Then Hermód rode back to Asgard and told all the tidings he had seen or heard. Thereupon the Asar sent messengers all over the world to ask that Baldr might be wept out of Hel, and all did it, men and beasts, earth and stones, trees, and all metals, as thou must have seen that these things weep when they come from frost into heat. When the messengers went home and had performed their errands well, they found a jötun woman sitting in a cave, called Thökk; they asked her to weep Baldr (out of) Hel; she answered—

Thökk will weep

With dry tears

The burning voyage of Baldr;

I never enjoyed

A living or a dead man’s son;

May Hel keep what she has.

It is guessed that this was Loki Laufeyjarson, who had caused most evils among the Asar.”

“Then also the dog Garm, which is tied in front of Gnipa cave, got loose; he is the greatest terror, he fights Tyr and they kill each other” (Gylfaginning, c. 5).

The wicked seem to have died twice: first they die and get into Hel, then they die again and get into Niflhel = Foggy Hel. The following is one of the answers of Vafthrudnir to Odin:—

Of the runes³³ of Jötnar

And those of all the gods

I can tell thee true,

For I have been

In every world;

I have gone to nine

Worlds beneath Nifl-hel;

There die the men from Hel.

The sides of the rim of heaven communicate with each other by a bridge called Bifröst, or the bridge of the Asar, on which Heimdall, the watchman of the gods, stood.

“Heimdall is the watchman of the gods standing on Bifröst Bridge (the rainbow)” (Later Edda, 27).

“Heimdall is named the White As: he is great and holy; nine maidens bore him as son, and they were all sisters. He is also called Hallinskidi and Gullintanni (gold tooth). His teeth were of gold, his horse is called gold maned. He lived at a place called Himinbjörg (heaven mountains) by Bifröst. He is the warden of the gods, and sits there at the end of heaven to guard the bridge against the Berg Risar (mountain Jötnar); he needs less sleep than a bird, he can see equally by night and by day a hundred leagues away, and he hears when the grass grows, or the wool on the sheep, and all that is louder than these. He has the horn called Gjallarhorn, and his blowing is heard through all worlds. The sword of Heimdall is called Höfud” (Gylfaginning, 27).

We find that the Jötnar and Asar were separated from each other by a large river whose waters never freeze.

Vafthrudnir.

Tell me, Gagnrad, &c.,

How the river is called

Which divides the land

Between the sons of Jötnar and the gods.

Odin.

Ifing is the river called

That parts the land

Between the sons of Jötnar and the gods;

Open shall it flow

All the days of the world;

No ice will come on it.

From Vafthrudnismal we learn of the origin of Bergelmir who was born before the Creation.

It is an important question which are the most ancient people—the Asar, or the ancient kinsmen of Ymir?

Odin.

Tell me …

Who of the Asar,

Or of the sons of Ymir,

Was the oldest in early days?

Vafthrudnir.

Numberless winters

Before the earth was shaped

Was Bergelmir born.

Thrudgelmir

Was his father

And Orgelmir his grandfather.

Odin.

Tell me …

Whence first Orgelmir came

Among the sons of Jötnar,

Thou wise Jötun.

Vafthrudnir.

From Elivagar³⁴

Spurted drops of poison

Which grew into a Jötun;

Thence are our kin

All sprung;

Hence they are always too hideous.

Odin.

Tell me …

How that strong Jötun

Begat children

As he had not beheld a gyg?³⁵

Vafthrudnir.

In the armpit

Of the Hrim-thursar, it is said,

Grew a maiden and a son;

Foot begat with foot

Of that wise Jötun

A six-headed son.

Odin.

Tell me …

What thou earliest rememberest,

Or knowest farthest back;

Thou art an all-wise Jötun.

Vafthrudnir.

Numberless winters

Ere the earth was shaped

Was Bergelmir born;

The first I remember

Is when that wise Jötun

Was laid in the flour-bin.³⁶

In due course Ymir was slain by Odin, Vili, and Ve, the three sons of Bör, who was himself a Jötun, and therefore of the same kin as Ymir. Having slain Ymir, the sons of Bör proceeded to make the earth out of his body, and to give the sun, moon, and stars their places in heaven. The flow of his blood was so great as to cause a deluge. Bergelmir was the only one of the Hrim-Thursar who escaped in a boat with his wife, and from him came a new race of Hrim-Thursar.

“The sons of Bör slew the Jötun Ymir, but when he fell there flowed so much blood from his wounds that it drowned the whole race of the Hrim-Thursar, except one who escaped with his household. Him the Jötnar called Bergelmir; he and his wife went on board his ark, and thus saved themselves; from them are descended a new race of Hrim-Thursar” (Later Edda).

After the destruction of the earlier Hrim-Thursar we hear how the sons of Bör created the world, and we are told how the earth and the heavens were made from Ymir.

From Ymir’s flesh

The earth was shaped,

And from his blood the sea;

The mountains from his bones;

From his hair the trees,

And the heaven from his skull.

But from his brows

The mild gods made

Midgard for the sons of men;

And from his brain

Were all the gloomy

Clouds created.

(Grimnismal.)

We are also told of the creation of the planets and stars, of our world, of the sea, of the moon, and of day and night. The year was reckoned by winters (vetr), and the days by nights (nott).

The year was divided into months (mánud or mánad).

“Haustmánud (harvest-month) is the last before winter; Gormánud (gore-month, called thus from the slaughter of cattle then taking place) the first month of winter; Frermánud (frost-month); Hrútmánud (the ram’s month); Thorri (the month of waning or declining winter); Gói, Einmánud … then Gaukmánud or Sádtid (cuckoo-month or sowing-tide); Eggtíd or Stekktíd (egg-tide or weaning-tide); Sólmánud or Selmánud (sun-month or sæter-month in which the cattle are removed to the sel or sæter); Heyjannir (haymaking-month); Kornskurdarmánud (grain-reaping month)” (Skaldskaparmal, c. 63).

The month was subdivided into six weeks; each week contained five days. The days were called—Týsdag = Tuesday; Ódinsdag = Wednesday; Thórsdag = Thursday; Frjádag = Friday; Laugardag (bath-day) or Thváttdag (washing-day) = Saturday.

Odin.

Tell me …

Whence the moon came

That walks above men,

And the sun also?

Vafthrudnir.

Mundilfori³⁷ is called

The father of the moon,

And of the sun also;

Wheel round the heaven

They shall every day,

And tell men of the years.

Odin.

Tell me …

Whence the day came

That passes over mankind,

Or the night with her new moon?

Vafthrudnir.

Delling (the bright) is called

The father of Dag (the day)

But Nott (night) was Norvi’s³⁸ daughter;

The full moons and the new ones

The good gods made

To tell men the years.

(Vafthrudnismal.)

The following is the origin of Midgard:—

Ere the sons of Bör

Raised the lands,

They who shaped

The famous Midgard;

The sun shone from the south

On the stones of the hall;

Then the ground grew

With green grass.

The sun from the south,³⁹

The companion of the moon,

With her right hand took hold

Of the rim of heaven;⁴⁰

The sun knew not

Where she⁴¹ owned halls,

The moon knew not

What power he⁴² had;

The stars knew not

Where they owned places.

Then all the powers went

To their judgment seats,⁴³

The most holy gods

Counselled about this;

To night and the quarters of the moon

Gave they names;

They gave names to

Morning and midday,

To afternoon and eve,

That the years might be reckoned.

(Völuspa.)

Then we have the origin of the wind and of winter. Hræsvelg means the swallower of corpses.

Odin.

Tell me …

Whence the wind comes

Who goes over the waves;

Men do not see him.

Vafthrudnir.

Hræsvelg is called

He who sits at heaven’s end,

A Jötun in an eagle’s shape;

From his wings

It is said the wind comes

Over all mankind.

Odin.

Tell me …

Whence the winter came,

Or the warm summer,

First with the wise gods.

Vafthrudnir.

Vindsval⁴⁴ is called

The father of winter,

And Svasud⁴⁵ the father of summer.

Another amplification of the Creation is given in Gylfaginning.

Thridi said:

“They took Ymir’s skull, and made thereof the sky, and raised it over the earth with four sides. Under each corner they set four Dvergar, which were called Austri, East; Vestri, West; Nordri, North; Sudri, South. Then they took glowing sparks that were loose and had been cast out from Muspelheim, and placed them in the midst of the boundless heaven, both above and below, to light up heaven and earth; they gave resting-places to all fires, and set some in heaven; some were made free to go under heaven, but they gave them a place and shaped their course. In old songs it is said that from that time days and years were reckoned.”

The creation of the world, and of the heavens and planets, is followed by that of the Dvergar and of man and woman, who were helpless and fateless (their destinies not having been spun by the Nornir); from these two mankind are descended.

Then all the gods went

To their judgment-seats,

The most holy gods,

And counselled about

Who should create

The host of Dvergar

From the bloody surf⁴⁶

And from the bones of Blain.

There did Modsognir⁴⁷

The mightiest become

Of all Dvergar,

And Durin next to him;

They two shaped

Many man-likenesses

In the ground,

As Durin has told.⁴⁸

* * * * *

It is time to reckon

Down to Lofar,

For mankind (Gónar),

The Dvergar in Dvalin’s host,⁴⁹

Those who went

From the stone-halls,

The host of Aurvangar,

To Jöruvellir (battle-plains).

* * * * *

Until out of that host⁵⁰

To the house⁵¹

Came three Asar

Mighty and mild;

They found on the ground

Ask and Embla,

Helpless and fateless

They had no breath,

They had no mind,

Neither blood nor motion

Nor proper complexion.

Odin gave the breath,⁵²

Hœnir gave the mind,

Lodur gave the blood

And befitting hues.

(Völuspa.)

Finally the Völva describes the end of the world.

Eastward sat the old one

In Jarnvid,⁵³

And there bred

The brood of Fenrir;

Of them all

One becomes

The destroyer of the sun

In the shape of a Troll.

He⁵⁴ is fed with the lives

Of death-fated men;

He reddens the seat of the gods

With red blood;

The sunshine becomes black

After the summers,

And all weather woe-begone.

Know ye all up to this and onward?

The herdsman of the Jötun woman,

The glad Egdir,

Sat there on a mound

And struck a harp,

A bright-red cock,

Called Fjalar,

Crowed near him

In the bird-wood.

Crowed for the Asar

Gullinkambi (golden-comb),

He rouses the warriors

At Herjafödr’s (host-father);

But another crows

Under the ground,

A dark red cock,⁵⁵

In the halls of Hel.

Garm barks violently

Before the Gnipa cave;

The fetters will break

And the wolf will run;

She (the Völva) 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 Jötun (Loki) breaks loose;

All are terrified⁵⁶

In the roads of Hel

Before the kinsman of Surt

Swallows it.

How is it with the Asar?

How is it with the Alfar?

All Jötunheim rumbles,

The Asar are at the Thing;

The Dvergar moan

Before the stone doors,

The wise ones of the rock wall⁵⁷

Know ye all up to this and onward?

Now Garm barks loud

Before Gnipa cave;

The fetters will break,

And the wolf will run.

Hrym⁵⁸ drives from the east,

Holds his shield before him.

The Jörmungand⁵⁹ writhes

In Jötun wrath;

The serpent lashes the waves,

And the eagle screams;

The pale beak tears the corpses;

Naglfar⁶⁰ is loosened.

A keel (a ship) comes from the east,

The men of Muspell

Will come across the sea,

But Loki is the steerer;⁶¹

All the monsters

Go with the wolf,

The brother of Býleist (Loki)

Is in the train.

Surt comes from the south

With the switch-harm (fire);

The sun of the gods

Flashes from his sword;

Rocks clash,

The Jötun women stagger;

Men walk the road of Hel;

Heaven is rent asunder.

Then comes the second⁶²

Sorrow of Hlin,

When Odin goes

To fight the wolf;

And the bright slayer

Of Beli⁶³ against Surt;

There will fall

The love of Frigg (Odin).

Now Garm barks loud

Before Gnipa-cave;

The fetters will break,

And the wolf will run.

Then comes the great

Son of Sigfödr (father of victory)

Vidar to slay,

The beast of carrion.⁶⁴

With his hand he lets

His sword pierce

The heart of the Jötun’s son,⁶⁵

Then his father (Odin) is avenged.⁶⁶

Then comes the famous

Son of Hlodyn (Thor);

Odin’s son

Goes to fight the serpent;

Midgard’s defender (Thor)

Slays him in wrath;

All men will

Leave their homesteads;

The son of Fjörgyn (Thor),

Walks nine paces

Reeling from the serpent

That shuns not heinous deeds.

The sun blackens,⁶⁷

The earth sinks into the sea;

The bright stars

Vanish from heaven;

The life-feeder (fire)

And the vapour rage;

The high heat rises

Towards heaven itself.

Now Garm barks loud⁶⁸

Before Gnipa-cave;

The fetters will break,

And the wolf will run.

(Völuspa.)

After the destruction of the world, a new one will arise.

She⁶⁹ beholds rising up

Another time

An earth out of the sea,

An evergreen one.

The waterfalls rush;

Above an eagle flies

Which on the mountains

Catches fish.

The Asar meet

On the Idavöll (plain)

And talk about

The mighty earth-serpent

And there speak of

The great events

And of the old runes

Of Fimbultyr.