In all the palaces of the City of the G.o.ds little Hnossa was made welcome: in Fensalir, the Halls of Mists, where Frigga, the wife of Odin All-Father, sat spinning with golden threads; in Breidablik, where Baldur, the Well Beloved, lived with his fair wife, the young Nanna; in Bilskirnir, the Winding House, where Thor and Sif lived; and in Odin"s own palace Valaskjalf, that was all roofed over with silver shields.
The greatest of all the palaces was Gladsheim, that was built by the golden-leaved wood, Glasir. Here the banquets of the G.o.ds were held.
Often little Hnossa looked within and saw Odin All-Father seated at the banquet table, with a mantle of blue over him and a shining helmet shaped like an eagle upon his head. Odin would sit there, not eating at all, but drinking the wine of the G.o.ds, and taking the food off the table and giving it to Geri and Freki, the two wolves that crouched beside his seat.
She loved to go outside the great gate and stay beside Heimdall, the Warder of the Rainbow Bridge. There, when there was no one crossing that she might watch, she would sit beside Heimdall and listen to the wonders that he spoke of.
Heimdall held in his hands the horn that was called the Gialarhorn. He would sound it to let the Dwellers in Asgard know that one was crossing the Rainbow Bridge. And Heimdall told little Hnossa how he had trained himself to hear the gra.s.ses grow, and how he could see all around him for a hundred miles. He could see in the night as well as the day. He never slept. He had nine mothers, he told Hnossa, and he fed on the strength of the earth and the cold sea.
As she sat beside him day after day, Heimdall would tell little Hnossa how all things began. He had lived from the beginning of time and he knew all things. "Before Asgard was built," he said, "and before Odin lived, earth and sea and sky were all mixed together: what was then was the Chasm of Chasms. In the North there was Niflheim, the Place of Deadly Cold. In the South there was Muspelheim, the Land of Fire. In Niflheim there was a cauldron called Hveigelmer that poured out twelve rivers that flowed into the Chasm of Chasms.
"Ginnungagap, the Chasm of Chasms, filled up with ice, for the waters of the rivers froze as they poured into it. From Muspelheim came clouds of fire that turned the ice into thick mists. The mists fell down again in drops of dew, and from these drops were formed Ymir, the Ancient Giant.
"Ymir, the Ancient Giant, traveled along by the twelve rivers until he came to where another living form was standing in the mists. This was a Giant Cow. Audhumla was the name of that cow. Ymir lay down beside her and drank her milk, and on the milk she gave him he lived. Other beings were formed out of the dew that fell to the ground. They were the Daughters of the Frost, and Ymir, the Ancient Giant, married one, and their children were the Giants.
"One day Ymir saw Audhumla breathe upon a cliff of ice and lick with her tongue the place she breathed on. As her tongue went over and over the place he saw that a figure was being formed. It was not like a Giant"s form; it was more shapely and more beautiful. A head appeared in the cliff and golden hair fell over the ice. As Ymir looked upon the being that was being formed he hated him for his beauty.
"Audhumla, the Giant Cow, went on licking the place where she had breathed. At last a man completely formed stepped from the cliff. Ymir, the Ancient Giant, hated him so much that he would have slain him then and there. But he knew that if he did this, Audhumla would feed him no more with her milk.
"Bur was the name of the man who was formed in the ice cliff, Bur, the first of the heroes. He, too, lived on the milk of Audhumla. He married a daughter of the Ancient Giant and he had a son. But Ymir and Ymir"s sons hated Bur, and the time came at last when they were able to kill him.
"And now there was war between Ymir and Ymir"s sons and the son and son"s sons of Bur. Odin was the son of Bur"s son. Odin brought all his brothers together, and they were able to destroy Ymir and all his brood--all except one. So huge was Ymir that when he was slain his blood poured out in such a mighty flood that his sons were all drowned in it, all except Bergelmir, who was in a boat with his wife when the flood came, and who floated away on the flood to the place that we now call Jotunheim, the Realm of the Giants.
"Now Odin and his sons took the body of Ymir--the vastest body that ever was--and they flung it into the Chasm of Chasms, filling up all the hollow places with it. They dug the bones out of the body and they piled them up as the mountains. They took the teeth out and they made them into the rocks. They took the hair of Ymir and they made it into the forests of trees. They took his eyebrows and formed them into the place where Men now dwell, Midgard. And out of Ymir"s hollow skull they made the sky.
"And Odin and his sons and brothers did more than this. They took the sparks and the clouds of flame that blew from Muspelheim, and they made them into the sun and the moon and all the stars that are in the sky.
Odin found a dusky Giantess named Night whose son was called Day, and he gave both of them horses to drive across the sky. Night drove a horse that is named Hrimfaxe, Frosty Mane, and Day drove a horse that is named Skinfaxe, Shining Mane. From Hrimfaxe"s bit fall the drops that make the dew upon the earth.
"Then Odin and his sons made a race of men and women and gave them Midgard to live in. Ugly Dwarfs had grown up and had spread themselves over the earth. These Odin made go live in the hollow places beneath the earth. The Elves he let stay on the earth, but he gave them the tasks of tending the streams and the gra.s.ses and the flowers. And with the Vanir he made peace after a war had been waged, taking Niord from them for a hostage.
"Bergelmir, the Giant who escaped drowning in Ymir"s blood, had sons and daughters in Jotunheim. They hated Odin and his sons and strove against them. When Odin lighted up the world with the sun and the moon they were very wroth, and they found two of the fiercest of the mighty wolves of Jotunheim and set them to follow them. And still the sun and the moon, Sol and Mani, are followed by the wolves of Jotunheim."
Such wonders did Heimdall with the Golden Teeth tell Hnossa, the youngest of the Dwellers in Asgard. Often the child stayed with him by the Rainbow Bridge, and saw the G.o.ds pa.s.s to and from Midgard: Thor, with his crown of stars, with the great hammer Miolnir in his hands, with the gloves of iron that he used when he grasped Miolnir; Thor in his chariot drawn by two goats and wearing the belt that doubled his strength; Frigga, with her dress of falcon feathers, flying swiftly as a bird; Odin All-Father himself, riding upon Sleipner, his eight-legged steed, clad all in golden armor, with his golden helmet, shaped like an eagle, upon his head, and with his spear Gungnir in his hand.
Heimdall kept his horn in the branch of a great tree. This tree was called Ygdra.s.sil, he told little Hnossa, and it was a wonder to G.o.ds and Men. "No one knows of a time when Ygdra.s.sil was not growing, and all are afraid to speak of the time when it will be destroyed.
"Ygdra.s.sil has three roots. One goes deep under Midgard, another goes deep under Jotunheim, and the third grows above Asgard. Over Odin"s hall a branch of Ygdra.s.sil grows, and it is called the Peace Bough.
"You see Ygdra.s.sil, little Hnossa, but you do not know all the wonders of it. Far up in its branches four stags graze; they shake from their horns the water that falls as rain upon the earth. On the topmost branch of Ygdra.s.sil, the branch that is so high that the G.o.ds themselves can hardly see it, there is an eagle that knows all things. Upon the beak of this eagle a hawk is perched, a hawk that sees what the eyes of the eagle may not see.
"The root of Ygdra.s.sil that is in Midgard goes deep down to the place of the dead. Here there is an evil dragon named Nidhogg that gnaws constantly at the root, striving to destroy Ygdra.s.sil, the Tree of trees. And Ratatosk, the Squirrel of Mischief--behold him now!--runs up and down Ygdra.s.sil, making trouble between the eagle above and the dragon below. He goes to tell the dragon how the eagle is bent upon tearing him to pieces and he goes back to tell the eagle how the dragon plans to devour him. The stories that he brings to Nidhogg make that evil dragon more fierce to destroy Ygdra.s.sil, the Tree of trees, so that he may come upon the eagle and devour him.
"There are two wells by the roots of Ygdra.s.sil, and one is above and one is below. One is beside the root that grows in Jotunheim. This is a Well of Knowledge, and it is guarded by old Mimir the Wise. Whoever drinks out of this well knows of all the things that will come to be. The other well is by the root that grows above Asgard. No one may drink out of this well. The three sisters that are the holy Norns guard it, and they take the white water from it to water Ygdra.s.sil, that the Tree of Life may keep green and strong. This well, little Hnossa, is called Urda"s Well."
And little Hnossa heard that by Urda"s Well there were two beautiful white swans. They made a music that the Dwellers in Asgard often heard.
But Hnossa was too young to hear the music that was made by the swans of Urda"s Well.
[Ill.u.s.tration]
THE ALL-FATHER"S FOREBODINGS: HOW HE LEAVES ASGARD
Two ravens had Odin All-Father; Hugin and Munin were their names; they flew through all the worlds every day, and coming back to Asgard they would light on Odin"s shoulders and tell him of all the things they had seen and heard. And once a day pa.s.sed without the ravens coming back.
Then Odin, standing on the Watch-Tower Hlidskjalf, said to himself:
I fear me for Hugin, Lest he come not back, But I watch more for Munin.
A day pa.s.sed and the ravens flew back. They sat, one on each of his shoulders. Then did the All-Father go into the Council Hall that was beside Glasir, the wood that had leaves of gold, and harken to what Hugin and Munin had to tell him.
They told him only of shadows and forebodings. Odin All-Father did not speak to the Dwellers in Asgard of the things they told him. But Frigga, his Queen, saw in his eyes the shadows and forebodings of things to come. And when he spoke to her about these things she said, "Do not strive against what must take place. Let us go to the holy Norns who sit by Urda"s Well and see if the shadows and the forebodings will remain when you have looked into their eyes."
And so it came that Odin and the G.o.ds left Asgard and came to Urda"s Well, where, under the great root of Ygdra.s.sil, the three Norns sat, with the two fair swans below them. Odin went, and Tyr, the great swordsman, and Baldur, the most beautiful and the Best-Beloved of the G.o.ds, and Thor, with his Hammer.
A Rainbow Bridge went from Asgard, the City of the G.o.ds, to Midgard, the World of Men. But another Rainbow Bridge, more beautiful and more tremulous still, went from Asgard to that root of Ygdra.s.sil under which was Urda"s Well. This Rainbow Bridge was seldom seen by men. And where the ends of the two rainbows came together Heimdall stood, Heimdall with the Golden Teeth, the Watcher for the G.o.ds, and the Keeper of the Way to Urda"s Well.
"Open the gate, Heimdall," said the All-Father, "open the gate, for today the G.o.ds would visit the holy Norns."
Without a word Heimdall opened wide the gate that led to that bridge more colored and more tremulous than any rainbow seen from earth. Then did Odin and Tyr and Baldur step out on the bridge. Thor followed, but before his foot was placed on the bridge, Heimdall laid his hand upon him.
"The others may go, but you may not go that way, Thor," said Heimdall.
"What? Would you, Heimdall, hold me back?" said Thor.
"Yes, for I am Keeper of the Way to the Norns," said Heimdall. "You with the mighty hammer you carry are too weighty for this way. The bridge I guard would break under you, Thor with the hammer."
"Nevertheless I will go visit the Norns with Odin and my comrades," said Thor.
"But not this way, Thor," said Heimdall. "I will not let the bridge be broken under the weight of you and your hammer. Leave your hammer here with me if you would go this way."
"No, no," said Thor. "I will not leave in any one"s charge the hammer that defends Asgard. And I may not be turned back from going with Odin and my comrades."
"There is another way to Urda"s Well," said Heimdall. "Behold these two great Cloud Rivers, Kormt and Ermt. Canst thou wade through them? They are cold and suffocating, but they will bring thee to Urda"s Well, where sit the three holy Norns."
Thor looked out on the two great rolling rivers of cloud. It was a bad way for one to go, cold and suffocating. Yet if he went that way he could keep on his shoulder the hammer which he would not leave in another"s charge. He stept out into the Cloud River that flowed by the Rainbow Bridge, and with his hammer upon his shoulder he went struggling on to the other river.
Odin, Tyr, and Baldur were beside Urda"s Well when Thor came struggling out of the Cloud River, wet and choking, but with his hammer still upon his shoulder. There stood Tyr, upright and handsome, leaning on his sword that was inscribed all over with magic runes; there stood Baldur, smiling, with his head bent as he listened to the murmur of the two fair swans; and there stood Odin All-Father, clad in his blue cloak fringed with golden stars, without the eagle-helmet upon his head, and with no spear in his hands.
The three Norns, Urda, Verdandi, and Skulda, sat beside the well that was in the hollow of the great root of Ygdra.s.sil. Urda was ancient and with white hair, and Verdandi was beautiful, while Skulda could hardly be seen, for she sat far back, and her hair fell over her face and eyes.
Urda, Verdandi, and Skulda; they knew the whole of the Past, the whole of the Present, and the whole of the Future. Odin, looking on them, saw into the eyes of Skulda even. Long, long he stood looking on the Norns with the eyes of a G.o.d, while the others listened to the murmur of the swans and the falling of the leaves of Ygdra.s.sil into Urda"s Well.
Looking into their eyes, Odin saw the shadows and forebodings that Hugin and Munin told him of take shape and substance. And now others came across the Rainbow Bridge. They were Frigga and Sif and Nanna, the wives of Odin and Thor and Baldur. Frigga looked upon the Norns. As she did, she turned a glance of love and sadness upon Baldur, her son, and then she drew back and placed her hand upon Nanna"s head.
Odin turned from gazing on the Norns, and looked upon Frigga, his queenly wife. "I would leave Asgard for a while, wife of Odin," he said.
"Yea," said Frigga. "Much has to be done in Midgard, the World of Men."