Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology
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."