Page:The Prose Edda (1916 translation by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur).pdf/112

 Snake has blown at him. The Wolf shall swallow Odin; that shall be his ending But straight thereafter shall Vídarr stride forth and set one foot upon the lower jaw of the Wolf: on that foot he has the shoe, materials for which have been gathering throughout all time. (They are the scraps of leather which men cut out of their shoes at toe or heel; therefore he who desires in his heart to come to the Æsir's help should cast those scraps away.) With one hand he shall seize the Wolf's upper jaw and tear his gullet asunder; and that is the death of the Wolf. Loki shall have battle with Heimdallr, and each be the slayer of the other. Then straightway shall Surtr cast fire over the earth and burn all the world; so is said in Völuspá:


 * High blows Heimdallr,   the horn is aloft;
 * Odin communes   with Mimir's head;
 * Trembles Yggdrasill's   towering Ash;
 * The old tree wails   when the Ettin is loosed.


 * What of the Æsir?   What of the Elf-folk?
 * All Jötunheim echoes,   the Æsir are at council;
 * The dwarves are groaning   before their stone doors,
 * Wise in rock-walls;   wit ye yet, or what?


 * Hrymr sails from the east,   the sea floods onward;
 * The monstrous Beast   twists in mighty wrath;
 * The Snake beats the waves,   the Eagle is screaming;
 * The gold-neb tears corpses,   Naglfar is loosed.


 * From the east sails the keel;   come now Múspell's folk
 * Over the sea-waves,   and Loki steereth;
 * There are the warlocks   all with the Wolf,&mdash;
 * With them is the brother   of Býleistr faring.