Viking Tales of the North (R. B. Anderson).
Regeneration.
As our ancestors believed fully in regeneration, they declared that after a certain space of time the earth, purged by fire and purified by its immersion in the sea, would rise again in all its pristine beauty and be illumined by the sun, whose chariot was driven by a daughter of Sol’s, born before the wolf had devoured her mother. The new orb of day was not imperfect, as the first sun had been, for its rays were no longer so ardent that a shield had to be placed between it and the earth, which soon grew green beneath its beneficent rays, and brought forth flowers and fruit in abundance. Two human beings, a woman, Lif, and a man, Lifthrasir, now emerged from the depths of Hodmimir’s (Mimir’s) forest. They had taken refuge there when Surtr set fire to the world, and had sunk into peaceful slumbers, unmindful of the destruction around them, and remained, feeding upon the morning dew, until it was safe for them to wander out once more and take possession of the regenerated earth, which their descendants were to people and over which they were to have full sway.
“We shall see emerge
From the bright Ocean at our feet an earth
More fresh, more verdant than the last, with fruits
Self-springing, and a seed of man preserved,
Who then shall live in peace, as now in war.”
Balder Dead (Matthew Arnold).
All the gods who represented the developing forces of Nature were slain on the fatal field of Vigrid, but the imperishable forces of Nature, typified by Vali and Vidar, returned to the field of Ida, where they were met by Modi and Magni, Thor’s sons, the personifications of strength and energy, who saved their father’s sacred hammer from the general destruction, and carried it thither with them.