In the halls of Hel.
Loud barks Garm
At Gnipa-cave;
The fetters are severed,
The wolf is set free,—
Vale knows the future.
More does she see
Of the victorious gods
Terrible fall.
The wolf referred to in the first strophe is Maanegarm (the moon-devourer), of whom we have made notice before. The hag in the Ironwood is Angerboda (anguish-boding), with whom Loke begat children. Evil is being developed. The gods become through Loke united with the giants. The wood is of iron, hard and barren; the children are ravenous wolves. On the hill-top sits Egder (an eagle), a storm-eagle, the howling wind that rushes through the wood, and howling wind is the music produced upon his harp. The cock is a symbol of fire, and it is even to this day a common expression among the Norsemen, when a fire breaks out, that the red cock is crowing over the roof of the house. There are three cocks, one in the bird-wood, one in heaven, and one in the lower regions with Hel. The idea then is, that the cock as a symbol of fire announces the coming of Ragnarok in all the regions of the world. The vala continues: