Good norns and of good descent shape good lives, and when some men are weighed down with misfortune, the evil norns are the cause of it.
16. Then said Ganglere: What other remarkable things are there to be said about the ash? Har answered: Much is to be said about it. On one of the boughs of the ash sits an eagle, who knows many things. Between his eyes sits a hawk that is called Vedfolner. A squirrel, by name Ratatosk, springs up and down the tree, and carries words of envy between the eagle and Nidhug. Four stags leap about in the branches of the ash and bit the leaves.[1] Thier names are: Dain, Dvalin, Duney and Durathro. In Hvergelmer with Nidhug are more serpents than tongue can tell. As is here said:
The ash Ygdrasil
Bears distress
Greater than men know.
Stags bit it above,
At the side it rots,
Nidhug gnaws it below.
And so again it is said:
More serpents lie
'Neath the Ygdrasil ash
Than is thought of
By every foolish ape.
Goin and Moin
- ↑ The Icelandic barr. See Vigfusson, sub voce.
