Page:Norse mythology or, the religion of our forefathers, containing all the myths of the Eddas, systematized and interpreted with an introduction, vocabulary and index.djvu/437

 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 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