Drops of dew are scattered round
To adorn the vales of earth.”
Vafthrudni’s-mal (W. Taylor’s tr.).
The goddess of night had already thrice been married: by her first husband, Naglfari, she had had a son named Aud; by her second, Annar, a daughter Jörd (earth); and by her third, the god Dellinger (dawn), she now had a son, radiant with beauty, who was called Dag (day).
As soon as the gods became aware of this beautiful being’s existence they provided a chariot for him also, drawn by the resplendent white steed Skin-faxi (shining mane), from whose mane bright beams of light shone forth in every direction, illuminating all the world, and bringing light and gladness to all.
“Forth from the east, up the ascent of Heaven,
Day drove his courser with the shining mane.”
Balder Dead (Matthew Arnold).
The wolves Sköll and Hati.
But as evil always treads close upon the footsteps of good, hoping to destroy it, the ancient inhabitants of the Northern regions imagined that both Sun and Moon were incessantly pursued by the fierce wolves Sköll (repulsion) and Hati (hatred), whose sole aim was to overtake and swallow the brilliant objects before them, so that the world might again be enveloped in its primeval darkness.