ble tempests;
the wolf Fenris was secured in chains, thanks to the dauntless Tyr;
and Hel or Hela, the goddess of death, was hurled into the depths of
Nifl-heim, where Odin gave her power over nine worlds.

"Hela into Niflheim thou threw'st,
And gav'st her nine unlighted worlds to rule,
A queen, and empire over all the dead."

Balder Dead (Matthew Arnold).

Hel's Kingdom in Nifl-heim

This realm, which was supposed to be situated under the earth, could
only be entered after a painful journey over the roughest roads in the
cold, dark regions of the extreme North. The gate was so far from all
human abode that even Hermod the swift, mounted upon Sleipnir, had to
journey nine long nights ere he reached the river Gioell. This formed
the boundary of Nifl-heim, over which was thrown a bridge of crystal
arched with gold, hung on a single hair, and constantly guarded by
the grim skeleton Moedgud, who made every spirit pay a toll of blood
ere she would allow it to pass.

"The bridge of glass hung on a hair
Thrown o'er the river terrible,--
The Gioell, boundary of Hel.
Now here the maiden Moedgud stood,
Waiting to take the toll of blood,--
A maiden horrible to sight,
Fleshless, with shroud and pall bedight."

Valhalla (J. C. Jones).

The spirits generally rode or drove across this bridge on the horses
or in the waggons which had been burned upon the funeral pyre with the
dead to serve that purpose, and the Northern races were very careful to
bind upon the feet of the departed a specially strong pair of shoes,
called Hel-shoes, that they might not suffer during the long journey
over rough roads. Soon after the Giallar bridge was passed, the spirit
reached the Ironwood, where stood none but bare and iron-leafed trees,
and, passing through it, reached Hel-gate, beside which the fierce,
blood-stained dog Garm kept watch, cowering in a dark hole known as
the Gnipa cave. This monster's rage could only be appeased by the
offering of a Hel-cake, which never failed those who had ever given
bread to the needy.

"Loud bays Garm
Before the Gnipa cave."

Saemund's Edda (Thorpe's tr.).

Within the gate, amid the intense cold and impenetrable darkness,
was heard the seething of the great cauldron Hvergelmir, the rolling
of the glaciers in the Elivagar and other streams of Hel, among which
were the Leipter, by which solemn oaths were