‘We meet thee and greet thee from all,
To the gods thou art known by thy valor,
And they bid thee a guest to their hall.’”
Owen Meredith.
Hermod’s distinctive attribute, besides his corselet and helmet, was a wand or staff called Gambantein, the emblem of his office, which he carried with him wherever he went.
Hermod and the soothsayer.
Once, oppressed by nameless fears for the future, Odin, seeing that the Norns would not answer his questions, bade Hermod don his armor, saddle Sleipnir, which he alone was allowed to ride, and hasten off to the land of the Finns. This people, living in the frozen regions of the pole, were supposed to have great occult powers, and to be able to call up the cold storms which swept down from the North, bringing plenty of ice and snow in their train.
The most noted among all these conjuring Finns was Rossthiof (the horse thief), who was wont to entice travelers into his realm by magic arts, only to rob and slay them; but although he could predict the future, he was always very reluctant indeed to do so.
Hermod, “the swift,” had no sooner received Allfather’s directions than he started out, riding rapidly northward, and brandishing, instead of his own wand, Odin’s runic staff, which had the power of dispelling all the obstacles that Rossthiof conjured up to hinder his advance. In spite, therefore, of phantom-like monsters and of invisible snares and pitfalls, Hermod safely reached the conjurer’s abode, and when the giant began to attack him, soon mastered him, bound him hand and foot, and declared he would set him free only if he promised to reveal all that he wished to know.
Rossthiof, seeing there was no hope of escape, pledged himself to do all the god wished, and as soon as he was free began to mutter terrible incantations, at the mere sound of which the sun hid behind the clouds, the earth trembled and quivered, and the storm winds howled like a pack of hungry wolves.