But Heimdall,
the sentry of heaven, will be on guard at the end of the rainbow-bridge.
He needs no more sleep than a bird and can see for a hundred miles
either by day or night. He only can sound the horn whose blast
can be heard through heaven and earth and the under-world. Loki
and his army will be seen by him. His loud alarm will sound and
bring the gods together. They will rush to meet the giants. Woden
will wield his spear--Tiew his glittering sword--Thor his terrible
hammer. These will all be in vain. The gods must die. But so
must the giants and Loki.
And then a new earth will rise from the sea. The leaves of its
forests will never fall; its fields will yield harvests unsown.
And in a hall far brighter than Woden's Valhalla the brave and good
will be gathered forever.
The Nibelungs
I
The time came when the people of Western Europe learned to believe
in one God and were converted to Christianity, but the old stories
about the gods and Valkyries and giants and heroes, who were half
gods and half men, were not forgotten.
These stories were repeated from father to son for generations,
and in the twelfth century a poet, whose name we do not know, wrote
them in verse.
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