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"What
happens after (or happened, or will happen sometime, for
this myth is written in the future tense), is told in
the Völuspa, but it is also amplified in Snorri's
Gylfaginning (53), a tale of a strange encounter of
King Gylfi with the Aesir themselves, disguised as men,
who do not reveal their identity but are willing to
answer questions: 'What happens when the whole world has
burned up, the gods are dead, and all of mankind is
gone? You have said earlier, that each human being would
go on living in this or that world.' So it is, goes the
answer, there are several worlds for the good and the
bad. Then Gylfi asks: 'Shall any gods be alive, and
shall there be something of earth and heaven?' And the
answer is:
'The earth
rises up from the sea again, and is green and beautiful
and things grow without sowing. Vidar and Vali are
alive, for neither the sea nor the flames of Surt have
hurt them and they dwell on the Eddyfield, where once
stood Asgard. There come also the sons of Thor, Modi and
Magni, and bring along his hammer. There come also
Balder and Hoder from the other world. All sit down and
converse together. They rehearse their runes and talk of
events of old days. Then they find in the grass the
golden tablets that the Aesir once played with.
Two
children of men will also be found safe from the great
flames of Surt. Their names, Lif and Lifthrasir, and
they feed on the morning dew and from this human pair
will come a great population which will fill the earth.
And strange to say, the sun, before being devoured by
Fenrir, will have borne a daughter, no less beautiful
and going the same ways as her mother.'
Then, all at once, concludes Snorri's tale wryly, a
thunderous cracking was heard from all sides, and when
the King looked again, he found himself on the open
plain and the great hall had vanished." (Hamlet's Mill) |