The three Nornies, Urda, Verdandi, and Skula, are celebrated in Scandinavian mythology. Of them we have before spoken, and have little to add here. Their origin was unknown. They appear to have sprung up with the great tree Yggdrasil, and to have been dependent only on the mysterious Al-fader. They were said to have more sympathy than destined beings would be expected to have, and to have wept over the fall of their favourites. Both Urda and Skula were frequently consulted by the gods, who were ignorant of their own fate. Besides these there were inferior Nornies among the elves and the dwarfs. _Night_ and _Day_ (Nott and Dagr) were also deified; so was the horse _Rimfaxi_ (frost-mane), which carried night, and the horse _Skinfaxi_ (bright mane), which drew the car of day. Dew is merely foam which falls from the bits of the former horse. Night was the daughter of the great Norvè; and being married to the god Delling (the dawn) the offspring was Day. There is some poetry in the following description from the poetic Edda: Delling’s son (_day_) forth Drove his horse, Richly beset With shining stones. O’er Manheim (_earth_) gleamed The courser’s mane, Who drew in his car The baffler of Dualin (_day_). Through earth’s great Gates of the north, Beneath the outer root Of the ancient tree, To rest now glided Giantesses and giants, Ghosts and dwarfs, And dark-alfs. Heroes arose, Alf-beamer (_sun_) got up: Northwards to Niflheim, Night is flown. On Argiöll (_rainbow_) stood Ulfruna’s son (_Heimdall_), The great horn-sounder Of heaven’s hill. The deity of winter was the giant _Hrsnelgar_, who dwelt in a cavern towards the dreary pole, and from whose wings comes the bleak north wind. Thus the Vafthrudnis-mal:— The giant Hrsnelger At Heaven’s extremity Sits under an eagle’s form. From his wings, ’tis said, The cold winds sweep Over all nations. This is the giant whom Thorkil saw in the cave.[116] In two or three places there is also allusion to a summer god, _Sfosoder_, the sweet, the pleasant; a contrast with Hrsnelgar, the devourer of carrion. The Valkyrs, the elves, and dwarfs, having been already described, all that now remains is to relate the circumstances which will precede and accompany the destruction of the world. Many of them have a connection with the fate of BALDER.