Chapter XIII: Heimdall
The Watchman of the Gods
In the course of a walk along the sea-shore Odin once beheld nine beautiful giantesses, the wave maidens, Gialp, Greip, Egia, Augeia, Ulfrun, Aurgiafa, Sindur, Atla, and Iarnsaxa, sound asleep on the white sand. The god of the sky was so charmed with these beautiful creatures that, as the Eddas relate, he wedded all nine of them, and they combined, at the same moment, to bring forth a son, who received the name of Heimdall.
“Born was I of mothers nine,
Son I am of sisters nine.”
Sæmund’s Edda (Thorpe’s tr.).
The Rainbow Bridge
H. Hendrich
By Permission of the “Illustrirte Zeitung” (J. J. Weber, Leipzig)