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alex revision · 2025-07-27T21:58:40Z

Song of the Seer Hear me, holy clans, children of Heimdal, high and low, Allfather prays that I may tell you the ancient tale of mankind. It was primeval times when Ymir ruled. There was no sky, there was no earth, there was no sea, and there was no shore. Bottomless, grassless, yawned the deep. The sun did not yet know its course. The stars did not yet know their orbit. The moon wandered aimlessly in the sky. Then the gods gathered, went to the Thing and held council, created the night, and created morning, noon, and evening, time and the world. But three Aesir went alone to the edge of the endless sea. There lay Ask and Embla on the shore, powerless, fateless, deep in sleep They had no soul, no meaning. Pale and colorless, they lay there. Odin gave soul, Hœnir gave meaning, Lóðurr gave life and bright splendour. The ash tree is called Yggdrasil. White mist flows around its head. It creates the dew that wets the valleys. Evergreen, it stands by the fountain of fate And three wise women emerge whispering from the well at their spring. One is called Urd, the second Verdandi, and the third of the Fates is called Skuld. They cast lots, they learned lives, and they determine men's fates. War first came upon the earth when the gods thrust the shining Gullveig three times with their long lances into the blazing flames. Then the holy gods gathered, went to the Thing square, and held council. Should the Aesir grant penance, should they all pay the sacrifice? Then Odin hurled the rampart. Thus came the first war into the world. The wall of the Aesir's castle shook, and the Vanir's vengeful footsteps thundered. Again, the gods gathered, went to the Thing square, and held council: Who had saturated the air with poison? Who gave Od's bride to the giants' sons? Thor grew enraged and swung his hammer. He could not rest when he experienced shame. Then the oaths were torn, the vows were broken, and the contract they had exchanged burst. Do you know where Heimdal hid his horn? I saw it beneath the heavenly tree, where water flows from Allfather's eye in endless, whispering streams. Slowly, I sat. Then, the old man approached and looked terribly into my eye. You need not search. You need not ask: Odin, I know where you hid your eye. It rests in Mimir's murmuring spring. Every morning from Allfather's pledge, the all-wise Mimir drinks mead. Odin gave rings and sacrifice for magical wisdom, for fortune-telling. I saw far, over the whole world. I saw beautiful Balder, Odin's son, destined for death, bleeding. Mistletoe swayed on tall trees, green and lovely over the land. But the branch, so tender and supple, became an arrow in Hödur's hand. Frigga's lament echoed through the halls, and she wept bitter tears for Valhalla. Chained in the riverside forests, on hard stone, lies the cunning Loki. Day and night, Sigyn watches by him. His fate brings torment to the woman. I see a hall standing, far from the sun, on the shore of the dead, with the gate to the north. Drops of pus trickle from the roof, its walls are woven with vipers. There, I see murderers and oathbreakers wading through swampy streams. Nidhogg, the dragon, gnaws at their bodies, fierce wolves tear at them. Eastward, in the bronze forests, dwells the old woman who bore Loki's brood. One of them, terrifyingly formed, will one day be the murderer of daylight. There, too, sits and beats the mighty harp the giantess's guardian, the cheerful Eggdir. Behind him, in the reed branches, crows Fjalar, the fiery-red rooster. But by the gods, Goldencomb crows; he awakens the host-father's heroes. Another rooster croaks beneath the earth, brown-red, in hel's shadowed realm. Garm yells shrilly before Gnipabellir, the chains tear, the wolf rages. I saw everything, I knew everything, the fate of the counsellors, the downfall of the gods. Brothers fight and kill each other, and blood relatives destroy the lineages. Adultery brings shame on the clans. Sword time, axe time, wind time, wolf time, everything tears itself apart, everything falls apart. The giants rumble. The end of the world is marked by the yelling of the Gjallarhorn. Heimdal's blaring horn blows the wake-up call. Odin sits murmuring by Mimir's head. What is it with the Aesir? What is it with the elves? The giants rage, the gods counsel. The dwarves groan in their clefts, the wise men of the rocks despair Nagalfar sails from the east, its dark hull gleaming. In anger, the serpent lashes the world ocean. The giant eagle tears corpses with a roar. The ship of the dead flies through the waves, Loki at the helm. Thus, Muspel's men come ashore. With the Fenris wolf, the furious troop sets out to meet the host of the gods. From the south, Surtur rages in flames of fire. The gods' weapons flash as far as the sun. Men die, giants fall, rocks break, and the sky bursts apart. The greatest distress approaches the gods when Odin fights against the Fenris wolf, and Freyr, the shining son of Njord, falls in attack against Surtur. ...