Norse mythology; or, The religion of our forefathers, containing all the myths of the Eddas, systematized and interpretedAnderson, Rasmus Björn
Religion
Norse mythology; or, The religion of our forefathers, containing all the myths of the Eddas, systematized and interpreted
Anderson, Rasmus Björn
Mythology, Norse; Northmen -- Religion; Old Norse literature; Tales, Medieval
There was nowhere grass
Until Bor’s sons
The expanse did raise,
By whom the great
Midgard was made.
From the south the sun
Shone on the walls;
Then did the earth
Green herbs produce.
The moon went ahead
The sun followed,
His right hand held
The steeds of heaven.
Mundilfare was the father of the sun and moon. It is stated in the
Younger Edda that Mundilfare had two children, a son and a daughter, so
lovely and graceful that he called the boy Maane[31] (moon) and the girl
Sol (sun), and the latter he gave in marriage to Glener (the shining
one).
But the gods, being incensed at Mundilfare’s presumption, took his
children and placed them in the heavens, and let Sol drive the horses
that draw the car of the sun. These horses are called Aarvak (the
ever-wakeful) and Alsvinn (the rapid one); they are gentle and
beautiful, and under their withers the gods placed two skins filled with
air to cool and refresh them, or, according to another ancient
tradition, an iron refrigerant substance called _ísarnkol_. A shield, by
name Svalin (cool), stands before the Sun, the shining god. The
mountains and the ocean would burn up if this shield should fall away.
Maane was set to guide the moon in her course, and regulate her
increasing and waning aspect.
A giant, by name Norve, who dwelt in Jotunheim, had a daughter called
Night (_nótt_), who, like all her race, was of a dark and swarthy
complexion. She was first wedded to a man called Naglfare, and had by
him a son named Aud, and afterward to another man called Annar, by whom
she had a daughter called Earth (_jörd_). She finally espoused Delling
(day-break), of asa-race, and their son was Day (_dagr_), a child light
and fair like his father. Allfather gave Night and Day two horses and
two cars, and set them up in the heavens that they might drive
successively one after the other, each in twenty-four hours’ time, round
the world. Night rides first with her steed Hrimfaxe (rime-fax),[32]
that every morn, as he ends his course, bedews the earth with the foam
from his bit. The steed driven by Day is called Skinfaxe (shining-fax),
and all the sky and earth glistens from his mane. Thus the Elder Edda,
in the lay of Vafthrudner:
Mundilfare hight he
Who the moon’s father is,
And also the sun’s:
Round heaven journey
Each day they must,
To count years for men.
In the lay of Grimner:
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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