Then again The wonderful Golden tablets Are found in the grass: In time’s morning The leader of the gods And Odin’s race Possessed them. The fields unsown Yield their growth; All ills cease; Balder comes. Hoder and Balder, Those heavenly gods, Dwell together in Hropt’s[93] halls. Conceive ye this or not? Vidar and Vale survive; neither the flood nor Surt’s flame has harmed them, and they dwell on the plain of Ida, where Asgard formerly stood. Thither come the sons of Thor, Mode and Magne, bringing with them their father’s hammer, Mjolner. Hœner is there also, and comprehends the future. Balder and Hoder sit and converse together; they call to mind their former knowledge and the perils they underwent, and the fight with the wolf Fenrer, and with the Midgard-serpent. The sons of Hoder and Balder inhabit the wide Wind-home. The sun brings forth a daughter more lovely than herself, before she is swallowed by Fenrer; and when the gods have perished, the daughter rides in her mother’s heavenly course. During the conflagration caused by Surt’s fire, a woman by name Lif (life) and a man named Lifthraser lie concealed in Hodmimer’s forest. The dew of the dawn serves then for food, and so great a race shall spring from them that their descendants shall soon spread over the whole earth. Then the vala Sees a hall called Gimle; It outshines the sun, Of gold its roof; It stands in heaven: The virtuous there Shall always dwell, And evermore Delights enjoy. Toward the north on the Nida-mountains stands a large hall of shining gold, which the race of Sindre, that is the dwarfs, occupy. There is also another hall called Brimer, which is also in heaven, in the region Okolner, and there all who delight in quaffing good drink will find plenty in store for them. Good and virtuous beings inhabit all these halls. But there is also a place of punishment. It is called Naastrand (strand of dead bodies). In Naastrand there is a vast and terrible structure, with doors that face to the north. It is built entirely of the backs of serpents, wattled together like wicker-work. But all the serpents’ heads are turned toward the inside of the hall, and continually vomit forth floods of venom, in which wade all those who have committed murder, perjury, or adultery. The vala, in the Elder Edda,