t. Balidr is Odin's second son, and
of him it is good to say, he is fair and: bright in face, and hair, and
body, and him all praise; he is wise and fair-spoken and mild, and that
nature is in him none may withstand his doom. Tyr is daring and best of
mood; there is a saw that he is tyrstrong who is before other men and
never yields; he is also so wise that it is said he is tyrlearned who
is wise. Bragi is famous for wisdom, and best in tongue-wit, and cunning
speech, and song-craft. 'And many other are there, good and great; and
one, Loki, fair of face, ill in temper and fickle of mood, is called the
backbiter of the Asa, and speaker of evil redes and shame of all gods
and men; he has above all that craft called sleight, and cheats all
in all things. Among the children of Loki are Fenris-wolf and
Midgards-worm; the second lies about all the world in the deep sea,
holding his tail in his teeth, though some say Thor has slain him; but
Fenris-wolf is bound until the doom of the gods, when gods and men shall
come to an end, and earth and heaven be burnt, when he shall slay Odin.
After this the earth shoots up from the sea, and it is green and fair,
and the fields bear unsown, and gods and men shall be alive again, and
sit in fair halls, and talk of old tales and the tidings that
happened aforetime. The head-seat, or holiest-stead, of the gods is at
Yggdrasil's ash, which is of all trees best and biggest; its boughs are
spread over the whole world and stand above heaven; one root of the ash
is in heaven, and under the root is the right holy spring; there hold
the gods doom every day; the second root is with the Hrimthursar,
where before was Yawning-gap; under that root is Mimir's spring, where
knowledge and wit lie hidden; thither came Allfather and begged a drink,
but got it not before he left his eye in pledge; the third root is
over Niflheim, and the worm Nidhogg gnaws the root beneath. A fair hall
stands under the ash by the spring, and out of it come three maidens,
Norns, named Has-been, Being, Will-be, who shape the lives of men; there
are beside other Norns, who come to every man that is born to shape his
life, and some of these are good and some evil. In the boughs of the
ash sits an eagle, wise in much, and between his eyes sits the hawk
Vedrfalnir; the squirrel Ratatoskr runs up and down along the ash,
bearing words of hate betwixt the eagle and the worm. Those Norns who
abide by the holy spring draw from it every d