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And all that is before them and the whole civilised world, would be long centuries of anarchy such as the world has not seen for ages a true Ragnarok, a twilight of the very gods, an age such as the wise woman foretold in the old Voluspa. When brethren shall be Each other's bane, And sisters' sons rend The ties of kin.
The snake and the tree are familiar in other mythologies, though in most other cases the snake is the protector, while here he is the destroyer. Both Nidhögg and Jörmungandr are examples of the destroying dragon rather than the treasure-guardian. The Ash is the oracle: the judgment-place of the Gods, the dwelling of the Fates, the source of the spring of knowledge. Ragnarök.
But not for long were they to guard it and to sing over it, for now the season that was called the Fimbul Winter was coming over the earth, and Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods, was coming to the Dwellers in Asgard. Snow fell on the four quarters of the world; icy winds blew from every side; the sun and the moon were hidden by storms.
"My boat Skidbladnir or my boar Golden Bristle," said Frey. "No, no," said Skirnir. "I want something to go by my side. I want something to use in my hand. Give me the magic sword you own." Frey thought upon what his father said, that he would be left weaponless on the day of Ragnarök, when the Giants would make war upon the Gods and when Asgard would be endangered.
Ignatius Donnelly, in his very interesting book called 'Ragnarok, or 'The Age of Fire and Gravel, puts forth a most remarkable theory regarding the drift formation, to the truth of which this huge rock seems to bear witness.
And I thought sometimes that I would not make it. But I held on, for I knew you would come. Oh, it has been a long wait and it took all my strength." "As fast as I could," Odin answered in a choking voice. "As fast as I could, O Chief of the Neeblings. For Ragnarok is past, and the tree of life still reaches into the stars. The twilight is past and new suns and new earths are quickened.
Then a new Sun and a new Moon appeared and went traveling through the heavens; they were more lovely than Sol and Mani, and no wolves followed behind them in chase. The earth became green and beautiful again, and in a deep forest that the fire had not burnt a woman and a man wakened up. They had been hidden there by Odin and left to sleep during Ragnarök, the Twilight of the Gods.
The little bell on the chapel rang for the vespers or ever we ended that long talk, and the old man must go. I raised him up, for he was very feeble, and again the touch of the gold put a word into his mind. "Jarl, and son of Odin," he said, smiling, "no need for you to wait that dim Ragnarok fight of yours for warfare against evil.
Then in silence, realizing the uselessness of any words, knowing that in this monstrous Ragnarok of all humanity no ordinary relations of life could bear either cogency or meaning, he took her in his arms. And there alone with her, far above the ruined world, high in the pure air of mid-heaven, he comforted the girl with words till then unthought-of and unknown to him.
When the gods saw that they took a sword and thrust it into his mouth, so that it entered his under jaw right up to the hilt, and the point reached his palate. He howled in the most terrible manner, and since then the foam has poured from his mouth in such abundance that it forms the river called Von. So the wolf must remain until Ragnarök. Such a wicked race has Loki begot.