THE THIRTY-THIRD FABLE. The Sequel of the Conflagration of the World. N hearing the preceding relation, Gangler afks, What will remain after the world fhall be confumed; and after Gods, and Heroes, and Men fhall perish? For I understood by you, adds he, that mankind were to exift for ever in another world. Thridi replies, After all thefe prodigies, there will fucceed many new abodes, fome of which will be agreeable and others wretched: but the best manfion of all, will be Gimle (or HEAVEN) where all kinds of liquors fhall be quaffed in the Hall called Brymer (A), fituated in the country of Okolm. That is also a most delightful palace which is upon the mountains of Inda*, and which is built of fhining gold. In this palace good and just men hall abide. In Naftrande (i. e. the shore of the dead) there is a vaft and direful ftructure, the portal of which faces the *This and the preceding names are very different in the Edition of Goranfon. T. north. north. It is compiled of nothing but the carcafes of Serpents, all whofe heads are turned towards the infide of the building: there they vomit forth fo much venom, that it forms a long river of poifon : and in this float the perjured and the murderers as is faid in thofe verfes of the VOLUSPA': "I know that there is in Nastrande, an abode remote from the Sun, the gates "of which look towards the north; there "drops of poifon rain through the win"dows. It is all built of the carcafes of ferpents. There, in rapid rivers, fwim "the perjured, the affaffins, and those who "feek to feduce the wives of others. In an"other place, their condition is still worse; "for a wolf, an all-devouring monster, perpetually torments the bodies who are fent in thither (B)." Gangler refumes the discourse, and fays, Which then are the Gods that fhall furvive? Shall they all perish, and will there no longer be a heaven nor an earth? Har replies, There will arife out of the fea, another earth most lovely and delightful: covered it will be with verdure and pleasant fields: there the grain fhall fpring forth and grow of itself, without cultivation. VIDAR and VALE fhall also furvive, because neither the flood, nor the black conflagration fhall do them any harm. They fhall dwell in the plains of Ida; where was formerly the refidence of the Gods. The fons of Thor, MODE and MAGNE repair thither: thither come BALDER and HODER, from the manfions of the dead. They fit down and converse together; they recal to mind the adverfities they have formerly undergone. They afterwards find among the grafs, the golden Dice, which the Gods heretofore madė ufe of. And here be it obferved, that while the fire devoured all things, two perfons of the human race, one male and the other female, named Lif and Lifthrafer, lay concealed under an hill. They feed on the dew, and propagate fo abundantly, that the earth is foon peopled with a new racè of mortals. What you will think still more wonderful is, that Sunna (the SUN) before it is devour'd by the Wolf FENRIS, fhall have brought forth a daughter as lovely and as refplendant as herfelf; and who fhall go in the fame track formerly trode by her mother according as it is defcribed in these verses:The brilliant monarch of "Firefhall beget an only daughter, be" fore Sandals." But *Goranfon renders it Crepidas, M. Mallet's Verfion is countenanced by Bartholin. Deaurati orbes aleatorij, p. 597: T. + There feems to be a defect or ambiguity in the Original here, which has occafioned a strange confufion of genders, both in the French of M. Mallet, and the Latin efore the Wolf commits his devastation. "This young Virgin, after the death of the "Gods, will pursue the fame track as her "parent (c)." Now, continues Har, If you have have any new questions to ask me, I know not who can refolve you; because I have never heard of any one who can relate what will happen in the other ages of the world: I advise you therefore to remain fatisfied with my relation, and to preserve it in your memory. Upon this, Gangler heard a terrible noife all around him; he looked every way, but could difcern nothing, except a vaft extended plain. He fet out therefore on his return back to his own kingdoms where he related all that he had feen and heard and ever fince that time, this relation hath been handed down among the people by Oral Tradition (D). Verfion of Goranfon. The former has "LE ROI "brillant du feu engendrera une fille unique avant que "d'etre englouti par le loup; cette fille fuiera le traces de "SA MERE, apres la mort des dieux." The latter, Unicam filiam genuit rubicundiffimus ILLE REX antiquam EUM Fenris devoraverit; qua curfura eft, mortuis Diis, viam MATERNAM. I have endeavoured to avoid this, by expreffing the paffage in more general terms. T. REMARKS ON THE TWO LAST FABLES, Had the EDDA had no other claim to our regard, than as having preferved to us the opinions and doctrines of the ancient northern nations *' on that important fubject, an existence after this life, it would have merited, even on that account, to have been preferved from oblivion. And really on this head it throws great light on Hiftory: whether we confider that branch of it which principally regards the afcertainment of facts; or that which devotes itself rather to trace the different revolutions of manners and opinions. Such as are only fond of the former fpecies of Hiftory, will find in these concluding Fables, the principles of that wild enthufiaftic courage which animated the ravagers of the Roman Empire, and conquerors of the greatest part of Europe. Such as intereft themselves more in the latter, will fee (not without pleasure and aftonish Les Celtes. Fr. Orig, ment) a people whom they were wont to confider as barbarous and uncultivated, employed in deep and fublime fpeculations; proceeding in them more conclufively, and coming, poffibly, much nearer to the end, than those celebrated nations who have arrogated to themselves an exclufive privilege to reafon and knowlege. I have before obferved, that the philofophers of "the north †' confidered nature as in a state of perpetual labour and warfare. Her ftrength was thus continually wafting away by little and little; and her approaching diffolution could not but become every day more and more perceptible. At last, a confufion of the seasons, with a long and preternatural winter, were to be the final marks of her decay. The moral world is to be no less disturbed and troubled than the natural. The voice of dying Nature will be no Les Celtes. Fr. longer |
