Song and Legend From the Middle Ages
Scandinavian Literature
Page 2
Until there came
Out of the ranks,
Powerful and fair,
Three Asas home,
And found on shore,
In helpless plight,
Without their fate.
They had not yet
Spirit or mind,
Blood, or beauty,
Or lovely hue.
Odin gave spirit,
Heinir gave mind,
Lothur gave blood
And lovely hue.
------Tr. by Henderson.
The second passage gives an account of the universal dissolution---called Ragnarok, the Twilight of the Gods.
At Gnipa-cave;
The fetters are severed,
The wolf is set free,---
Vala (8) knows the future.
More does she see
Of the victorious gods'
Terrible fall.
From the east drives Hrym, (9)
Bears his child before him;
Jormungander welters
In giant fierceness;
The waves thunder;
The eagle screams,
Rends the corpses with pale beak,
And Naglfar (10) is launched.
A ship from the east nears,
The hosts of Muspel
Come o'er the main,
But Loke is pilot.
All grim and gaunt monsters
Conjoin with the wolf,
And before them all goes
From the south wends Surt (12)
With seething fire;
The sun of the war-god
Shines in his sword;
Mountains together dash,
And frighten the giant-maids;
Heroes tread the paths to Hel,
And heaven in twain is rent.
Over Hlin (13) then shall come
Another woe,
When Odin goes forth
The wolf to combat.
....................
All men
Abandon the earth.
The sun darkens,
The earth sinks into the ocean;
The lucid stars
From heaven vanish;
Fire and vapor
Rage toward heaven;
High flames
Involve the skies.
Loud barks Garm
At Gnipa-cave:
The fetters are severed,
The wolf is set free,----
Vala knows the future.
More does she see
Of the victorious gods'
Terrible fall.
------Tr. by Thorpe.
The conclusion of the "Voluspa" is the following picture of the regenerated earth.
She sees arise,
The second time,
From th' sea, the earth
Completely green:
Cascades do fall;
The eagle soars,
That on the hills
Pursues his prey.
The gods convene
On Ida's plains,
And talk of man,
Endnotes
6. The first man and first woman made out of pine trees by the three gods Odin, Heinir, and Lothur. (back)
8. Vala, the prophetess. (back)
10. Naglfar, a ship of the gods. (back)
11. The brother of Byleist, Loke. (back)
12. Surt, a fire-giant. (back)
13. Hlin, a name sometimes used for the goddess, Frigg. (back)