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Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

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2. Reið hann niður þaðan<br />

Niflheljar til,<br />

mætti hann hvelpi<br />

þeim er úr helju kom.<br />

3. Sá var blóðugur<br />

um brjóst framan,<br />

og galdurs föður<br />

gól um lengi.<br />

Fram reið Óðinn,<br />

foldvegur dundi,<br />

hann kom að hávu<br />

Heljar ranni.<br />

7. Hér stendur Baldri<br />

of brugginn mjöður…<br />

En ásmegir<br />

í ofvæni.<br />

2. He rode down from there<br />

to Niflhel,<br />

he met a whelp<br />

that came out of Hel<br />

3. It was bloody<br />

on the front of its breast,<br />

and about Galdr's father (Odin)<br />

it long howled.<br />

Odin rode on,<br />

the field-ways resounded,<br />

he came to the high<br />

hall of Hel.<br />

7. Here, for Baldur, stands<br />

the brewed mead …<br />

and the Asmegir<br />

in great expectation.<br />

Vegtamskviða distinctly distinguishes between Niflhel and Hel. In Hel is the<br />

dwelling which awaits the son of the gods, the noblest and most pious of all the Aesir.<br />

The dwelling, which reveals a lavish splendor, is described as the very antithesis of that<br />

awful abode which, according to Gylfaginning 34, belongs to the queen of the lower<br />

world. 1 In Vafþrúðnismál 43, the old giant says:<br />

Frá jötna rúnum<br />

og allra goða<br />

eg kann segja satt,<br />

því að hvern hefi eg<br />

heim um komið:<br />

níu kom eg heima<br />

fyr Niflhel neðan;<br />

hinig deyja úr Helju halir.<br />

Of the runes of giants<br />

and all the gods<br />

I can speak truly,<br />

for I have been<br />

in every world:<br />

nine worlds I visited<br />

below Niflhel;<br />

thither die halir from Hel.<br />

1 "Her hall is named Éljúðnir, her plate Hunger, her knife Famine, the thrall Ganglati (slow-moving), the<br />

handmaid Ganglöt (slow-moving), her threshold Stumbling-block, where you enter, sickness her bed, her<br />

hangings Gleaming-misfortune."

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