Section 1k

Nastrond ("Corpse-Strand"): the land of the dead, ruled by the goddess Hel. Here the wicked undergo tortures. Smoke vent : the phrase gives a picture of the Icelandic house, with its opening in the roof serving instead of a chimney. 39. The stanza is almost certainly in corrupt form. The third line is presumably an interpolation, and is lacking in most of the late, paper manuscripts. Some editors, however, have called lines 1-3 the remains of a full. stanza, with the fourth line lacking, and lines 4-5 the remains of another. The stanza depicts the torments of the two worst classes of criminals known to Old Norse morality--oath-breakers and murderers. Nithhogg ("the Dread Biter"): the dragon that lies beneath the ash Yggdrasil and gnaws at its roots, thus symbolizing the destructive elements in the universe; cf. Grimnismol , 32, 35. The wolf : presumably the wolf Fenrir, one of the children of Loki and the giantess Angrbotha (the others being Mithgarthsorm and the goddess Hel), who was chained by the gods with the marvelous chain Gleipnir, fashioned by a dwarf "out of six things: the [fp. 18] noise of a cat's step, the beards of women, the roots of mountains, the nerves of bears, the breath of fishes, and the spittle of birds." The chaining of Fenrir cost the god Tyr his right hand; cf. stanza 44.] p. 18 40. The giantess old | in Ironwood sat, In the east, and bore | the brood of Fenrir; Among these one | in monster's guise Was soon to steal | the sun from the sky. 41. There feeds he full | on the flesh of the dead, And the home of the gods | he reddens with gore; Dark grows the sun, | and in summer soon Come mighty storms: | would you know yet more? 42. On a hill there sat, | and smote on his harp, Eggther the joyous, | the giants' warder; Above him the cock | in the bird-wood crowed, Fair and red | did Fjalar stand. [40. The Hauksbok version inserts after stanza 39 the refrain stanza (44), and puts stanzas 40 and 41 between 27 and 21. With this stanza begins the account of the final struggle itself. The giantess : her name is nowhere stated, and the only other reference to Ironwood is in Grimnismol , 39, in this same connection. The children of this giantess and the wolf Fenrir are the wolves Skoll and Hati, the first of whom steals the sun, the second the moon. Some scholars naturally see here an eclipse myth. 41. In the third line many editors omit the comma after "sun," and put one after "soon," making the two lines run: "Dark grows the sun | in summer soon, / Mighty storms--" etc. Either phenomenon in summer would be sufficiently striking. 42. In the Hauksbok version stanzas 42 and 43 stand between stanzas 44 and 38. Eggther : this giant, who seems to be the watchman of the giants, as Heimdall is that of the gods and Surt of the dwellers in the fire-world, is not mentioned elsewhere in [fp. 19] the poems. Fjalar , the cock whose crowing wakes the giants for the final struggle.] p. 19 43. Then to the gods | crowed Gollinkambi, He wakes the heroes | in Othin's hall; And beneath the earth | does another crow, The rust-red bird | at the bars of Hel.