Page:Curious myths of the Middle Ages (1876).djvu/259

 “39. The sun I saw, true star of day, Sink in its roaring home; but Hell’s grated doors On the other side I heard heavily creaking. 51. In the Norn’s seat nine days sat I,     Thenre was I mounted on a horse: There the giantess’s sun shone grimly Through the dripping clouds of heaven. 52. Without and within, I seemed to traverse All the seven nether worlds; up and down, I sought an easier way Where I might have the readiest paths.” He comes to a torrent about which flew “scorched birds, which were souls, numerous as flies.” Then the wind dies away, and he comes to a land where the waters do not flow. There false-faced women grind earth for food. “58. Gory stones these dark women Turned sorrowfully; out of their breasts Hung bleeding hearts, faint with much affliction.” He saw men with faces bloody, and heathen stars above their heads, painted with deadly characters; men who had envied others had bloody runes cut in their breasts. Covetous men went to Castle Covetous dragging weights of lead, murderers were consumed by venomous serpents, sabbath-breakers were nailed by their hands to