“What do you say about your own Reformation?” said Birger.
“That it has nothing to do with the twilight of the gods, which the Captain wants to hear about—tell us what you Swedes believe about that.”
“Why, we Swedes do not believe in it at all; it is not like the legends of the Walpurgis Night, or the death of Baldur, which are annually kept alive by the change of seasons which they commemorate. This legend has lost its hold on the popular mind; but it is a curious theory, notwithstanding, because it contains evident traces of a revelation corrupted, because disjoined from that people to whose guardianship had been committed the oracles of Divine Truth. In the twilight of the gods may be clearly traced a representation of the end of the world, such as is revealed to us:—a fierce winter, the most terrible natural affliction to the northern mind, is to usher it in; then comes the general falling away, which we are ourselves taught to expect.[57]
“The sun and the moon are to be devoured by the wolves, that have been continually pursuing them ever since creation, and every now and then, by seizing them, have caused eclipses; the stars fall, the earth quakes so that the trees are shaken from their roots, and the mountains totter;—then the Midgard Serpent turns on its ocean bed, and an immense wave rushes over the land, upon which floats the phantom ship, Naglfar, which is built of the nails of dead men—the wolf, Fenrir, together with the midgard serpent,—both of them the offspring of Loki, the Principle of Evil,—which hitherto have been chained down by the Æsir, are now permitted to break loose; the heavens are cleft in twain, and the sons of Muspell, the Band of Brightness, headed by Surtur the Avenger, ride through the breach, and advance by the bridge of Bifrost which bursts asunder beneath them. For the time the Avengers join their bright bands with Loki and the Children of Darkness, and advance to the battle-field of Vigrid, where the destinies of the world are to be decided.
“In the mean while the gods are fully prepared; Heimdall, the Warder of Heaven, has sounded the Horn Gjallar, and the gods assemble in council;—Valhalla pours out from its five hundred and forty gates its hosts of heroes; these, which are the men who have been slain in battle from the beginning of the world, and ever since have been trained by daily tournaments for this very purpose, are eager for the combat; and Odin, having previously ridden over for the last time to the Well of Mimir, and consulted the Norna, marshalls his hosts on the field of Vigrid; loud and desperate is the battle, the Powers of Evil fall one by one before the gods, but very few of these survive the conflict. Thor, having killed the Midgard Serpent, falls exhausted with his efforts and dies; Frey, who has parted with the sword of victory, falls before the avenger, Surtur; Loki and Heimdall engage in battle and mortally wound each other; Odin himself is swallowed up by the wolf Fenrir, which is instantly destroyed by Vidar; and last of all, Tyr, the God of Victory, falls in the very act of overcoming the dog Garm.
“Surtur the Avenger, having now no opponent, sets the earth and the heavens on fire with his excessive brightness, and the whole race of men is consumed, with the exception of certain chosen individuals who lie hid and protected in the forest of Hodmimir. Then Surtur himself retires before Vidar, the God of Silence, who, calling to him Modi and Magni (Courage and Might) the sons of Thor (Violence), and summoning Baldur (Innocence) from the realms of Hela (Night or Invisibility), founds a new heaven and a new earth, and a new race of inhabitants, and they dwell on the plains of Ida (perpetual youth), where Asgard formerly stood, and their descendants shall spread over the new earth, which shall be lighted by a new sun.
“‘The radiant sun
A daughter bears
Ere Fenrir takes her;—
On her mother’s course