Meanwhile, the Asas had been gathering their forces upon the battlefield, where with calm, stern faces they awaited the attack of their foes--the red Flame Giants, the grim army of Hela, the grey-white host of the Frost Giants, led by Loki, with the Fenris Wolf on one hand and the Sea-serpent, breathing out clouds of deadly vapour, on the other.

"And all are marshalled in one flaming square Against the G.o.ds, upon the plains of heaven."

Then came the crash of battle, in which, for all their courage, the Asas were bound to meet with defeat. Desperately they fought, but all to no avail, for, at the moment that Heimdall and Loki fell dead before each other's swords, and Thor, after killing the Sea-serpent, was drowned in the poisonous stream that flowed from the creature's mouth, the Fenris Wolf came at All-Father Odin with jaws open so wide that they reached from earth to heaven; and rushing upon the mighty Asa he engulfed him in that horrid tomb.

Most of the Asas, as well as their foes, now lay dead on the battlefield, and, seeing this, the Flame Giants suddenly grasped their fiery brands and flung them over earth and heaven and all the underworld.

The mighty Tree of Life withered and fell; the golden halls of Asgard melted away; the green things of earth turned black, and still the fire raged, until the whole world, burnt to a cinder, sank beneath the waves of the sea.

Thus did the End of All Things come about.

But because the End of All Things is also very often the Beginning of Others, the Northmen say that, after many long years, the old Earth rose again, clean and pure and bright from her long cleansing underneath the sea. And in the sky above a daughter of Sol again drove her sun-chariot, and smiled upon the earth, so that it grew young and fresh and green again.

And when this came to pa.s.s, a man and a woman, who, sunk in sleep in the depths of a forest, had escaped the universal destruction, came forth and took possession of the sweet green lands, for themselves and for their children for ever.

"So perish the old G.o.ds!

But out of the sea of Time Rises a new land of song.

Fairer than the old.

Over is meadows green Walk the young bards and sing.

Build it again, O ye bards, Fairer than before!

Ye fathers of the new race, Feed upon morning dew, Sing the new Song of Love!

The law of force is dead!

The law of love prevails!

Thor, the thunderer, Shall rule the earth no more, No more, with threats, Challenge the meek Christ.

Sing no more, O ye bards of the North, Of Vikings and of Jarls!

Of the days of Eld Preserve the freedom only, Not the deeds of blood."

LONGFELLOW.