[108] The giant Ymir is a personification of Chaos, the undigested primal matter. The sons of Börr (other personifications) slew him. Out of him they formed the world; his blood made the sea, his flesh the land, his bones the mountains; rocks and cliffs were his teeth, jaws, and broken pieces of bones; his skull formed the heavens. [109] Gudmund Andreas in notis ad Völuspá. [110] That they are not insensible to kindness one of the succeeding tales will show. [111] The habitual reader of the northern and German writers, or even our old English ones, will observe with surprise his gradually diminished contempt for many expressions now become vulgar. He will find himself imperceptibly falling into the habit of regarding them in the light of their pristine dignity. [112] Skidbladni, like Pari Banou's tent, could expand and contract as required. It would carry all the Æser and their arms, and when not in use it could be taken asunder and put in a purse. "A good ship," says Ganglar, "is Skidbladni, but great art must have been employed in making it." Mythologists say it is the clouds. [113] _i. e._ The _Dripper_. [114] _i. e._ The _Bruiser_ or _Crusher_, from _Myla_, to bruise or crush. Little the Fancy know of the high connexions of their phrase _Mill_. [115] Edda Resenii, Dæmisaga 59. [116] Thorston's Saga, c. 3, in the Kämpa Dater. [117] The Berserkers were warriors who used to be inflamed with such rage and fury at the thoughts of combats as to bite their shields, run through fire, swallow burning coals, and perform such like mad feats. "Whether the avidity for fighting or the ferocity of their nature," says Saxo, "brought this madness on them, is uncertain." [118] The northern nations believed that the tombs of their heroes emitted a kind of lambent flame, which was always visible in the night, and served to guard the ashes of the dead; they called it _Hauga Elldr_, or The Sepulchral Fire. It was supposed more particularly to surround such tombs as contained hidden treasures.--_Bartholin, de Contempt. a Dan. Morte_, p. 275. [119] Hervarar Saga _passim_. The Tirfing Saga would be its more proper appellation. In poetic and romantic interest it exceeds all the northern Sagas. [120] In Swedish Dverg also signifies a spider. [121] In the old Swedish metrical history of Alexander, the word _Duerf_ occurs. The progress in the English word is as follows: Anglo-Saxon [Old English: dþeorg]; thence _dwerke_; A maid that is a messingere And a _dwerkè_ me brought here, Her to do socoúr. _Lybeaus Disconus._ lastly, _dwarf_, as in old Swedish. SCANDINAVIA. De vare syv og hundrede Trolde, De vare baade grumme og lede, De vilde gjöre Bonden et Gjæsterie, Med hannem baade drikke og æde. ELINE AF VILLENSZOV.