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/443

 take this view of the subject. Listen again to the last vision of the vala:

There comes the dark Dragon flying, The shining serpent From the Nida-mountains In the deep. Over the plain it flies; Dead bodies Nidhug Drags in his whizzing plumage,— Now must Nidhug sink.

When there is an intermediate state, a transition, a purification, a purgatory, then this purification must sooner or later be accomplished; and that is the day of the great judgment, when Nidhug must sink, and nevermore lift his wings loaded with dead bodies. This idea is beautifully elaborated in Zendavista. The Edda has it in a single line, but the majority of its interpreters have not comprehended it. We who are permeated by the true Christian spirit, we know how great joy there is in heaven over a sinner who is converted; we know the God of mercy, who does not desire the ruin of a single sinner, and the God of omnipotence, who with his hand is able to press the tears of repentance from the heart, though it be hard as steel; we comprehend why he lets Nidhug sink down. All darkness shall be cleared up and be gilded by the shining light of heaven.