Page:Norse mythology or, the religion of our forefathers, containing all the myths of the Eddas, systematized and interpreted with an introduction, vocabulary and index.djvu/219

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They stretched out
The golden cord,
And beneath the middle
Of the moon's mansion fixed it.

East and west
They hid the ends,
Where the prince had
Lands between;
Toward the north
Nere's sister
Cast a chain,
Which she bade last forever.

Nay, in the Norseman's faith, man and all things about him were sustained by divine power. The norns decreed by rigid fate each man's career, which not even the gods could alter. Man was free to act, but all the consequences of his actions were settled beforehand.