Paul B. Du Chaillu - The Viking Age (Vol. 1&2)

The host of Dvergar

From the bloody surf 46

And from the bones of Blain.

There did Modsognir 47

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 host 50

To the house 51

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.

He 54is 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 terrified 56

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 wall 57

Know ye all up to this and onward?

Now Garm barks loud

Before Gnipa cave;

The fetters will break,

And the wolf will run.

Hrym 58drives from the east,

Holds his shield before him.

The Jörmungand 59writhes

In Jötun wrath;

The serpent lashes the waves,

And the eagle screams;

The pale beak tears the corpses;

Naglfar 60is 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 second 62

Sorrow of Hlin,

When Odin goes

To fight the wolf;

And the bright slayer

Of Beli 63against 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 loud 68

Before Gnipa-cave;

The fetters will break,

And the wolf will run.

(Völuspa.)

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

She 69beholds 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.

Table of Contents

Norse Cosmogony—Midgard, Asgard, and Mannheim—The Asar and Vanir—Thor and Tyr—The Goddesses—The Apples of Youth.

Where the mythical Odin ends in the Völuspa, if there is any ending to him, is impossible to tell; it appears that he came and built an earthly Midgard , 70according to the writer of the Later Edda who gives the tradition and belief of the people in his day.

Odin himself was originally a Jötun, and it would appear from the mythological literature of the North that, for some reason, he wished to found a new religion, and desired to proclaim himself chief and spiritual ruler over several, if not all the tribes before mentioned; this claim, from the account of the fights which took place, must have been hotly contested. In the history of the birth of every nation, something similar has taken place, and these struggles are always described with wonderful and often supernatural accompaniments. We are led to believe that a devoted band of followers attached themselves to Odin’s cause, and gradually others joined him; thus forming a community over which he was the leader. To protect themselves from their enemies, among whom, according to the Eddas, were included Jötnar and Thursar, &c., the Asar erected a wall round their country, and called the whole enclosed land Midgard.

In the centre of Midgard, Odin built for himself, his family, chiefs, and councillors, Asgard , 71called also Asaheim (home of the Asar), and Godheim (home of the gods). As , in the Northern language, afterwards denoted one of the gods, who in course of time were also deified, and to whom, as well as to Odin, sacrifices were offered.

Within the walls of Midgard, which encircled Asgard, was Mannheim , 72where Odin’s adherents dwelt, and hence the name of their country.

“They gave them clothes and names; the men they called Ash, and the women Embla. From them all mankind is descended, and a dwelling-place was given them under Midgard. In the next place the sons of Bör made for themselves, in the middle of the world, a burgh which is called Asgard, and which we call Troja (there dwelt the gods of their race), and thence resulted many tidings and adventures, both on earth and in the sky. In Asgard is a place called Hlidskjalf, and when Odin seats himself there in the high seat he sees all over the whole world, and what every man is doing, and he knew all things that he saw. His wife was Frigg, and she was the daughter of Fjorgvin, and from their offspring are descended the race which we call Asar , who inhabited Asgard the ancient, the realm that surrounds it, and all that race are known to be gods, and for that reason Odin is called Allfather” (Later Edda).