Chapters 44-95 - Germanic Mythology

24. Dýrum settan
Dellings mögur
jó fram keyrði
jarknasteinum;
mars of Manheim
mön af glóar,
dró leik Dvalins
drösull í reið.
24. Delling's son
urged on his horse,
well adorned
with precious stones;
The horse's mane glows
above Man-world (Midgard).
In his chariot, the steed draws
Dvalin's playmate (the sun).
25. Jörmungrundar
í jódyr nyrðra
und rót yztu
aðalþollar
gengu til rekkju
gýgjur og þursar,
náir, dvergar
og dökkálfar.
26. Risu raknar,
rann álfröðull
norður að Niflheim
njóla sótti;
upp nam Árgjöll
Úlfrúnar niður
hornþytvaldur
Himinbjarga.
25. At Jormungrund's
northern horse-door
under the outermost root
of the noble Tree,
to their couches went
giantesses and giants
dead men and dwarves
and dark-elves.
26. The gods arose,
Alfrodull (the sun) ran.
Night advanced north
toward Niflheim
Ulfrun's son (Heimdall)
lifted up Argjoll (his horn),
the mighty hornblower
in Himinbjorg.
From this it follows that Niflhel is to be referred to the north of the mountain
Hvergelmir, Hel to the south of it. Thus this mountain is the wall separating Hel from
Niflhel. On that mountain is the gate, or gates, which in the Gorm story separates
Gudmund-Mimir's abode from those dwellings which resemble a "cloud of vapor," and
up there is the boundary, at which halir die for the second time, when they are transferred
from Hel to Niflhel.
The immense water-reservoir on the brow of the mountain, which stands under
Yggdrasil's northern root, as already stated, sends rivers down to both sides - to Niflhel in
the North and to Hel in the South. Of the majority of these rivers we now know only the
names. But those of which we do know more are characterized in such a manner that we
find that it is a sacred land to which those flowing to the South towards Hel hasten their
course, and that it is an unholy land which is sought by those which send their streams to
the north down into Niflhel. The rivers Gjöll and Leiftur fall down into Hel, and Gjöll is,
as already indicated, characterized by a bridge of gold, Leiftur by a shining, clear, and
most holy water. Down there in the South is found the mystic hodd goða, surrounded by
other Hel-rivers; Baldur's and the ásmegir's citadel (perhaps identical with hodd goda);
Mimir's fountain, seven times overlaid with gold, the fountain of inspiration and of the