Part 3 — CHAPTER II. REGENERATION.

But when the heavens and the earth and the whole world have been consumed in flames, when the gods and all the einherjes and all mankind have perished,—what then? Is not man immortal? Are not all men to live in some world or other forever? The vala looks again, and

She sees arise

The second time,

From the sea, the earth

Completely green:

Cascades do fall,

The eagle soars,

From lofty mounts

Pursues its prey.

The gods convene

On Ida’s plains,

And talk of the powerful

Midgard-serpent:

They call to mind

The Fenris-wolf

And the ancient runes

Of the mighty Odin.

Then again

The wonderful

Golden tablets

Are found in the grass:

429In time’s morning

The leader of the gods

And Odin’s race

Possessed them.

The fields unsown

Yield their growth;

All ills cease;

Balder comes.

Hoder and Balder,

Those heavenly gods,

Dwell together in Hropt’s^[93] halls.

Conceive ye this or not?

Vidar and Vale survive; neither the flood nor Surt’s flame has harmed them, and they dwell on the plain of Ida, where Asgard formerly stood. Thither come the sons of Thor, Mode and Magne, bringing with them their father’s hammer, Mjolner. Hœner is there also, and comprehends the future. Balder and Hoder sit and converse together; they call to mind their former knowledge and the perils they underwent, and the fight with the wolf Fenrer, and with the Midgard-serpent. The sons of Hoder and Balder inhabit the wide Wind-home. The sun brings forth a daughter more lovely than herself, before she is swallowed by Fenrer; and when the gods have perished, the daughter rides in her mother’s heavenly course.

During the conflagration caused by Surt’s fire, a woman by name Lif (life) and a man named Lifthraser lie concealed in Hodmimer’s forest. The dew of the dawn serves then for food, and so great a race shall spring from them that their descendants shall soon spread over the whole earth.

Then the vala

430Sees a hall called Gimle;

It outshines the sun,

Of gold its roof;

It stands in heaven:

The virtuous there

Shall always dwell,

And evermore

Delights enjoy.

Toward the north on the Nida-mountains stands a large hall of shining gold, which the race of Sindre, that is the dwarfs, occupy. There is also another hall called Brimer, which is also in heaven, in the region Okolner, and there all who delight in quaffing good drink will find plenty in store for them. Good and virtuous beings inhabit all these halls.

But there is also a place of punishment. It is called Naastrand (strand of dead bodies). In Naastrand there is a vast and terrible structure, with doors that face to the north. It is built entirely of the backs of serpents, wattled together like wicker-work. But all the serpents’ heads are turned toward the inside of the hall, and continually vomit forth floods of venom, in which wade all those who have committed murder, perjury, or adultery. The vala, in the Elder Edda,

Saw a hall

Far from the sun,

On the strand of dead bodies,

With doors toward the north.

Venom drops

Through the loopholes;

Formed is that hall

Of wreathed serpents.

There saw she wade

Through heavy streams,

Perjurers

And murderers

431And adulterers;

There Nidhug sucked

The bodies of the dead

And the wolf tore them to pieces.

Conceive ye this or not?

Then comes the mighty one^[94]

To the great judgment;

From heaven he comes,

He who guides all things:

Judgments he utters;

Strifes he appeases,

Laws he ordains

To flourish forever.

Or as it is stated in Hyndla’s lay, after she has described Heimdal, the sublime protector of the perishable world:

Then comes another

Yet more mighty,

But him dare I not

Venture to name;

Few look further forward

Than to the time

When Odin goes

To meet the wolf.

And when the vale in Völuspá, beginning with the primeval time, has unveiled, in the most profound sentences, the whole history of the universe,—when she has gone through every period of its development down through Ragnarok and the Regeneration, the following is her last vision:

There comes the dark

Dragon^[95] flying,

The shining serpent

From the Nida-mountains

In the deep.

432Over the plain it flies;

Dead bodies Nidhug

Drags in his whizzing plumage,—

Now must Nidhug sink.

Thus ends the vala’s prophecy (völuspá.) She has revealed the decrees of the Father of Nature; she has described the conflagration and renovation of the world, and now proclaims the fate of the good and of the evil.

The world and the things in it perish, but not the forces. Some of the gods reappear in the regenerated earth, while some do not. They who reappear are mentioned in pairs, excepting Hœner, who is alone. Balder and Hoder are together; likewise Vidar and Vale, and Mode and Magne. Neither Odin nor Thor nor the vans appear. They perished with the world, for they represented the developing forces of this world; they were divinities representing that which came into being and had existence in it. On the other hand, Balder and Hoder came back from Hel. They represent light and darkness; but they are alike in this respect, that they are nothing substantial, nothing real, they are only the condition for something to be, or we might say they are the space, the firmament, in which something may exist. They are the two brothers whose sons shall inhabit the wide Wind-home. Thus when heaven and earth have passed away there is nothing remaining but the wide expanse of space with light and darkness, who not only rule together in perfect harmony, but also permeate each other and neutralize each other.

Hœner comes back. He was originally one of the trinity with Odin and Loder (Loke); but the gods received Njord as a hostage from the vans, and gave to the vans in return Hœner, as a security of friendship between them. This union between the asas and vans 433is now dissolved. Hœner has nothing more to do among the vans. Their works all perished with the old earth. He is the developing, creative force that is needed now in the new world as it was in the old.

Vidar is the imperishable force in original nature, that is, in crude nature, but at the same time united with the gods. He is the connecting link between gods and giants. His mother was Grid, a giantess, and his father was Odin. The strong Vale begotten of Odin and Rind (the slumbering earth) is the imperishable force of nature which constantly renews itself in the earth as a habitation of man. Both Vidar and Vale are avenging gods. Vale avenges the death of Balder, and Vidar the death of Odin, and thus we have in Vidar and Vale representatives of the imperishable force of nature in two forms, the one without and the other within the domain of man, both purified and renewed in the regenerated earth.

In the atmosphere and in the dense clouds reigned Thor, with his flashing fire and clattering thunder. Thunder and lightning have passed away, but the forces that produced them, courage and strength, are preserved in Thor’s sons, Mode (courage) and Magne (strength). They have their father’s hammer, Mjolner, and with it they can strike to the right and to the left, permeating the new heaven and new earth. What a well of profound thought are the Eddas!

The parents of the new race of men are called Lif and Lifthraser. Life cannot perish. It lies concealed in Hodmimer’s forest, which the flame of Surt was not able to destroy. The new race of mankind seem to possess a far nobler nature than the former, for they subsist on the morning dew.

Do Mimer and Surt live? They are the fundamental 434elements of fire and water. The Eddas are not clear on this point, but an affirmative answer seems to be suggested in the fact that the better part of every being is preserved.

The good among men find their reward in Gimle; for he that made man gave him a soul, which shall live and never perish, though the body shall have mouldered away or have been burnt to ashes; and all that are righteous shall dwell with him in the place called Gimle, says the Younger Edda. The dwarfs have their Sindre, and their golden hall on the Nida-mountains; and the giant has his shining drinking hall, Brimer, but it is situated in Okolner (not cool), where there is no more frost.

The Elder Edda seems to point out two places of punishment for men. Giants and dwarfs are not punished, for they act blindly, they have no free will. But the wicked of mankind go to Naastrand and wade in streams of serpent-venom, and thence they appear to be washed down into Hvergelmer, that horrible old kettle, where their bodies are torn by Nidhug, the dragon of the uttermost darkness.

There is a day of judgment. The good and bad are separated. The god, whom the Edda dare not name, is the judge. The Younger Edda once calls him Allfather, for he is to the new world what Odin was to the old. He was before the beginning of time, and at the end of time he enters upon his eternal reign.

The reward is eternal. Is the punishment also eternal? When light and darkness (Balder and Hoder) can live peaceably together,—when darkness can resolve itself into light,—cannot then the evil be dissolved in the good; cannot the eternal streams of goodness wash away the evil? We think so, and the Edda seems to justify us in this thought; at least the Elder Edda seems to 435take this view of the subject. Listen again to the last vision of the vala:

There comes the dark

Dragon flying,

The shining serpent

From the Nida-mountains

In the deep.

Over the plain it flies;

Dead bodies Nidhug

Drags in his whizzing plumage,—

Now must Nidhug sink.^[96]

When there is an intermediate state, a transition, a purification, a purgatory, then this purification must sooner or later be accomplished; and that is the day of the great judgment, when Nidhug must sink, and nevermore lift his wings loaded with dead bodies. This idea is beautifully elaborated in Zendavista. The Edda has it in a single line, but the majority of its interpreters have not comprehended it. We who are permeated by the true Christian spirit, we know how great joy there is in heaven over a sinner who is converted; we know the God of mercy, who does not desire the ruin of a single sinner, and the God of omnipotence, who with his hand is able to press the tears of repentance from the heart, though it be hard as steel; we comprehend why he lets Nidhug sink down. All darkness shall be cleared up and be gilded by the shining light of heaven.

436Such was the origin, the development, the destruction and regeneration of the world. And now, says the Younger Edda, as it closes the deluding of King Gylfe, if you have any further questions to ask, I know not who can answer you; for I never heard tell of anyone who could relate what will happen in the other ages of the world. Make therefore the best use you can of what has been imparted to you.

Upon this Ganglere heard a terrible noise all around him. He looked, but could see neither palace nor city anywhere, nor anything save a vast plain. He therefore set out on his return to his kingdom, where he related all that he had seen and heard; and ever since that time these tidings have been handed down from man to man by oral tradition, and we add, may the stream of story never cease to flow! May the youth, the vigorous man, and the grandfather with his silvery locks, forever continue to refresh their minds by looking into and drinking from the fountain that reflects the ancient history of the great Gothic race!

In closing, we would present this question: Shall we have northern art? We have southern art (Hercules and Hebe), we have oriental art (Adam and Eve), and now will some one complete the trilogy by adding Loke and Sigyn? Ay, let us have another Thorvaldsen, and let him devote himself to northern art. Here is a new and untrodden field for the artist. Ye Gothic poets and painters and sculptors! why stand ye here idle?

437