Viktor Rydberg's Investigations into Germanic Mythology, Vol. II

Draupnir on Baldur's breast and whispered into his ear; what, the world may never know.
Then the pyre was set ablaze, and the burning ship sailed out into the sea of air.
60. Odin Uses the Witch-Runes. The law of the world demanded revenge for
Baldur, and it was predestined that the avenger would be born of Rind, the daughter of
Billing, the elf of the sunset glow. But Rind rejected the Asa-father, and thus, forced by
the greatest necessity, he resorted to the power of the runes of witchcraft.
61. Baldur’s Avenger. With Rind, Odin fathered Vali, who left his mother's
womb early. Only one night old and thus not responsible for his actions, nor feeling any
remorse in his duty, he slew Hödur.
62. The Origin of Plagues. Loki, who had again become pregnant with
Gullveig's heart, bore the queen of plagues, Leikn, into the world. Leikn soon had much
to do, since the fimbul-winter with its horrors immediately followed Baldur's death. 24
THE FIMBUL-WINTER
63. Ivaldi’s Sons in the Wolfdales. In one of the dark stretches of valley at the
northernmost edge of the world, where one of the tunnels to Niflhel is found, Ivaldi's sons
built a home and a forge. Egil and Slagfin went out on skis and hunted. Völund forged,
and, when not at his forge, he chanted galder-songs and conjured with "gands," (magic
objects, wands).
64. Völund’s Witchcraft. When Völund chanted and conjured, dark winds
carrying frosty mist and clouds emanated from him, blowing southward, unloading
snowstorms and hail over Midgard. Hardly a day passed over many years that he did not
send primeval-cold winds toward the world of man. The air was filled with ruin. Odin
listened from Hlidskjalf and became aware that the galder-songs came from the uncharted
regions beyond Jotunheim. He sent his wise ravens to spy, but their wings weakened and
their blood stiffened. They returned with nothing to say. 25
65. Völund’s Work. Völund called the weapon he crafted "the sword of revenge"
(gambanteinn). He applied all of his artistry, all of his secret knowledge, to its
preparation. He tempered the blade in the poisonous waves of rivers in Niflhel and etched
the runes of certain victory into the invincible steel.
66. The Upheaval of Nature. Every year, Midgard yielded fewer crops. Bad
harvest followed on bad harvest. Spirits of hunger and disease came with blizzards and
laid waste to man and beast. The gods seemed powerless, and offerings to them without
hope. Two powerful thurs-maidens, Fenja and Menja, grasped the world-mill's handle
and set it in so fast a motion that the earth trembled from its depths. From the mill-stones
leapt fragments of rock, which were cast high up out of the sea; the mountains spewed
fire, the millworks went awry, and the vault of heaven was wrenched into the oblique
position it has had ever since. 26
24 This episode is better placed at no. 110. Leikn, Loki's daughter, is identical with Snorri Sturluson's Hel,
the queen of dead. As Snorri describes her, she is half-living, half-black. As a personal name, Hel actually
refers to Urd. As a place name, it refers to the realms of bliss in the underworld (see Vol. 1, no 53-57).
25 As told in the events of the poem Hrafnagaldur Óðins. There, Odin sends the gods Heimdall, Loki, and Bragi to Urd for an answer to whether these events signal
Ragnarök. Tears are her reply.
26 This explains why the Pole Star is not directly over head and why the heavens seem to rotate in a sloping
position in reference to the horizon. This vandalism to the world-mill is felt both in the heavens and on
earth. The whole order of Nature is disturbed. This geological disaster is quickly followed by a devastating