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24 A History of Sweden
Of Heimdall he sings, the warder of gods, who from
his rainbow bridge in the sky can see for a hundred
leagues in every direction and hear how the grass
grows.
Balder and Loke. Reverently all give ear to the song
of Balder the gentle, who suffered death through the
wiles of the treacherous Loke. A shudder there passed
through the hall as Ijhe singer recited how as for pun-
ishment Loke was bound to a rock with his own son’s
intestines, and how a venomous serpent, dripping with
poison, was placed right over the culprit. But, so the
singer continued, his faithful spouse stood beside him,
and in a bowl collected the poison, and when she turned
to empty the bowl, straight into the face of Loke the
dripping poison descended. Loke then writhes and
twists in his pain till all the earth trembles. This is
what people now call an earthquake.
Life in Asgard, the Home of the Gods. Silent the
old man sits. Thoughtful silence prevails ’mong the
hearers. But by and by they request the scald to con-
tinue. More they desire to hear, to hear of the life of
the gods, the Asas, in Asgard, where Frigg, Oden’s
spouse, is foremost ’mong women, where Freya, god-
dess of love and of beauty, resides, and Iduyi, who gives
to gods and to goddesses apples to eat, apples of youth
everlasting.
The Song of Creation. Then followed the song, long
hoary with age, the song of creation: In the begin-
ning of time there existed one world of fire, and an-
other of frost, and between them a gulf known as
Ginungagap. Into this gulf fell sparks from the fire-
world on ice from the frost-world. Thus arose Ymer,
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