Plague and Famine sang their runes,
Mingled with Despair’s harsh tunes.
Misery and Agony
E’er in Hel’s abode shall be!”
Valhalla (J. C. Jones).
This goddess had many different abodes for the guests who daily came to her, for she received not only perjurers and criminals of all kinds, but also all those who were unfortunate enough to die without shedding blood. To her realm also were consigned all those who died of old age or disease—a mode of decease which was contemptuously called “straw death,” as the beds of the people were generally of that material.
“Temper’d hard by frost,
Tempest and toil their nerves, the sons of those
Whose only terror was a bloodless death.”
Thomson.