1. KING GYLFI ruled over the land which is now called Svithiod (Sweden). It is related of him that he once gave a wayfaring woman, as a recompense for her having diverted him, as much land in his realm as she could plough with four oxen in a day and a night. This woman was, however, of the race of the Æsir, and was called Gefjon. She took four oxen from the north, out of Jötunheim, (but they were the sons she had had with a giant,) and set them before a plough. Now the plough made such deep furrows that it tore up the land, which the oxen drew westward out to sea until they came to a sound. There Gefjon fixed the land, and called it Sælund. And the place where the land had stood became water, and formed a lake which is now called "The Water" (Laugur), and the inlets of this lake correspond exactly with the headlands of Sealund. As Skald Bragi the Old saith:

This chapter is probably the interpolation of an early copyist, for it has evidently no connection with the following one, and is not found in the Upsal MS. of the Prose Edda, which is supposed to be the oldest extant. Gefjon's ploughing is obviously a mythic way of accounting for some convulsion of nature, perhaps the convulsion that produced the Sound, and thus effected a junction between the Baltic and the Northern Ocean.

GYLFI'S JOURNEY TO ASGARD.

2. King Gylfi was renowned for his wisdom and skill in magic [A]. He beheld with astonishment that whatever the Æsir willed took place; and was at a loss whether to attribute their success to the superiority of their natural abilities, or to a power imparted to them by the mighty gods whom they worshipped. To be satisfied in this particular, he resolved to go to Asgard, and, taking upon himself the likeness of an old man, set out on his journey. But the Æsir, being too well skilled in divination not to foresee his design, prepared to receive him with various illusions. On entering the city Gylfi saw a very lofty mansion, the roof of which, as far as his eye could reach, was covered with golden shields. Thiodolf of Hvina thus alludes to Valhalla being roofed with shields. "Warriors all care-worn,

(Stones had poured upon them),
On their backs let glisten

Valhalla's golden shingles."

At the entrance of the mansion Gylfi saw a man who amused himself by tossing seven small-swords in the air, and catching them as they fell, one after the other. This person having asked his name, Gylfi said that he was called Gangler, and that he came from a long journey, and begged for a night's lodging. He asked, in his turn, to whom this mansion belonged. The other told him that it belonged to their king, and added, "But I will lead thee to him, and thou shalt thyself ask him his name." So saying, he entered the hall, and as Gylfi followed the door banged to behind him. He there saw many stately rooms crowded with people, some playing, some drinking, and others fighting with various weapons. Gangler, seeing a multitude of things, the meaning of which he could not comprehend, softly pronounced the following verse (from the Háva-mál, st. i.):—

"Scan every gate

Ere thou go on,
With greatest caution;
For hard to say 'tis
Where foes are sitting

In this fair mansion."

He afterwards beheld three thrones raised one above another, with a man sitting on each of them [B]. Upon his asking what the names of these lords might be, his guide answered: "He who sitteth on the lowest throne is a king; his name is Har (the High or Lofty One); the second is Jafnhar (i. e. equal to the High); but he who sitteth on the highest throne is called Thridi (the Third)." Har, perceiving the stranger, asked him what his errand was, adding that he should be welcome to eat and drink without cost, as were all those who remained in Háva Hall. Gangler said he desired first to ascertain whether there was any person present renowned for his wisdom.

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If thou art not the most knowing," replied Har, "I fear thou wilt hardly return safe. But go, stand there below, and propose thy questions, here sits one who will be able to answer them."

OF THE SUPREME DEITY.

3. Gangler thus began his discourse :- "Who is the first, or eldest of the gods?"

"In our language,” replied 'Har, "he is called Alfadir (AllFather, or the Father of All); but in the old Asgard he had twelve names.

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Where is this God?" said Gangler; "what is his power? and what hath he done to display his glory?" [c]

"He liveth," replied Har, "from all ages, he governeth all realms, and swayeth all things great and small."

"He hath formed," added Jafnhar, "heaven and earth, and the air, and all things thereunto belonging."

"And what is more," continued Thridi, "he hath made man, and given him a soul which shall live and never perish though the body shall have mouldered away, or have been burnt to ashes. And all that are righteous shall dwell with him in the place called Gimli, or Vingólf; but the wicked

* As lists of names are frequently given in the Edda, and only serve to interrupt the text, we shall place them in notes, and refer the reader to the Glossary for their signification. The names here enumerated are:-1. Alfadir. 2. Herjan. 3. Hnikar, or Nikar. 4. Nikuz, or Hnikudr. 5. Fjölnir. 6. Oski. 7. Omi. 8. Biflindi. 9. Svidr. 10. Svidrir. 11. Vidrir. 12. Jálk.

shall go to Hel, and thence to Niflhel, which is below, in the ninth world."

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'And where did this god remain before he made heaven and earth?" asked Gangler.

"He was then,” replied Har, "with the Hrimthursar."

OF THE PRIMORDIAL STATE OF THE UNIVERSE.

4. " But with what did he begin, or what was the beginning of things?" demanded Gangler.

"Hear," replied Har, "what is said in the Völuspá.

""Twas time's first dawn,

When nought yet was,
Nor sand nor sea,
Nor cooling wave;
Earth was not there,
Nor heaven above.
Nought save a void
And yawning gulf.

But verdure none.

"Many ages before the earth was made," added Jafnhar, was Niflheim formed, in the middle of which lies the spring called Hvergelmir, from which flow twelve rivers †, Gjöll being the nearest to the gate of the abode of death."

"But, first of all," continued Thridi, "there was in the southern region (sphere) the world called Muspell. It is a world too luminous and glowing to be entered by those who are not indigenous there. He who sitteth on its borders (or the land's-end) to guard it is named Surtur. In his hand he beareth a flaming falchion, and at the end of the world shall issue forth to combat, and shall vanquish all the gods, and consume the universe with fire. As it is said in the Völuspa

* Rime Giants, or Giants of the Frost.

Viz., Svaul, Gunnthrá, Fjörm, Fimbul, Thulr, Slith, Hrith, Sylgr, Ylgr, Vith, Leiptur and Gjöll.

Literally, "It is light and hot, insomuch so that it is flaming and burning, and it is impervious to those who are outlandish (foreign), and no✦ indigenous there" (or who have no home or heritage therein).

D D

"Surtur from the south wends
With seething fire

The falchion of the mighty one,
A sun-light flameth *.
Mountains together dash,
Giants headlong rush,

Men tread the paths to Hel,

And Heaven in twain is rent.'"

ORIGIN OF THE HRIMTHURSAR, OR FROST-GIANTS.

5. "Tell me," said Gangler, "what was the state of things ere the races mingled, and nations came into being."

"When the rivers that are called Elivagar had flowed far from their sources," replied Har, "the venom which they rolled along hardened, as does dross that runs from a furnace, and became ice. When the rivers flowed no longer, and the ice stood still, the vapour arising from the venom gathered over it, and froze to rime, and in this manner were formed, in Ginnungagap, many layers of congealed vapour, piled one over the other.'

"That part of Ginnungagap," added Jafnhar, "that lies towards the north was thus filled with heavy masses of gelid vapour and ice, whilst everywhere within were whirlwinds and fleeting mists. But the southern part of Ginnungagap was lighted by the sparks and flakes that flew into it from Muspellheim."

"Thus," continued Thridi, "whilst freezing cold and gathering gloom proceeded from Niflheim, that part of Ginnungagap looking towards Muspellheim was filled with glowing radiancy, the intervening space remaining calm and light as wind-still air. And when the heated blast met the gelid

* The sense of this half-strophe is very obscure. Finn Magnusen renders it by, "Surtur e meridie procedit advehens flagrantem flammam, sol resplendet e gladio cœlestis Dei." Jacob Grimm, (Deut. Mythol. p. 770,) by "Surtus tendit ab austro cum vimine gigas, splendet e gladio (ejus) sol deorum," and concludes that Surtur is here expressly called a giant. As neither of these interpretations appears to us quite clear, and as that of Grimm would completely upset a very elaborate theory, we have purposely abstained from calling Surtur either giant or god-mighty one, being applicable to both, appearing to us, so long as the question is sub judice, the best designation.