Night and Day
The divinities of day and of night were also of Giant race. The
Giant
Norvi had a daughter by the name of Nott (Night), who was dark and
swarthy like the rest of her kindred. She was first wedded to
Naglfari, with
whom she had a son named Aud; later, to Anar, with whom she had a
daughter named Jord, who became the wife of Odin; and finally, to
Delling,
of the race of the Æsir, with whom she had a son named Dag (Day),
who
was bright and fair like his father’s family. The All-Father took
Night and her
son Day, gave them two horses and two wains, and stationed them
aloft in
the heavens, where they were to ride around the earth in
alternating
courses of twelve hours each. Night drives the horse known as
Rimfaxi
(Hrímfaxi, that is, “having a mane of rime”), and each morning the
fields are
bedewed with froth that drips from his bit. This horse is also
called
Fjorsvartnir (from fjor, “life,” and svartr, “black”). Day drives
Skinfaxi (“with
the shining mane”); earth and sky sparkle with the light from his
mane.
Sources:
Peter
Andreas Munch: Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods
and Heroes. The American-Scandinavian Foundation, New
York. 1926, pp. 37.
Rasmus B. Anderson (Ed.): The Elder Eddas of Saemund
Sigfusson and the Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson.
Norræna Society, London-New York. 1906.
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