the gods. Thus in Mimer, Æger and Njord, we have the whole ocean represented, from its origin, Mimer, to its last stage of development, to Njord, in whom, as a beneficent divinity, it unites itself with the gods; that is to say, blesses and serves the enterprises of men.
Æger visits the gods, and the latter visit him in return; and it was once when the gods visited him that his brewing-kettle was found too small, so that Thor had to go to the giant Hymer and borrow a larger one. In Æger's hall the bright gold was used instead of fire, and there the ale passed around spontaneously. Ran is his wife. She has a net, in which she catches those who venture out upon the sea. Æger and Ran have nine daughters, the waves. Loke once borrowed Ran's net, to catch the dwarf Andvare, who in the guise of a fish dwelt in a waterfall. With her hand she is able to hold the ships fast. It was a prevailing opinion among the ancient Norsemen that they who perished at sea came to Ran; for Fridthjof, who with his companions was in danger of being wrecked, talks about his having to rest on Ran's couch instead of Ingeborg's, and as it was not good to come empty-handed to the halls of Ran and Æger, he divided a ring of gold between himself and his men.
Thus Tegner has it in Fridthjof at Sea:
Whirling cold and fast
Snow-wreaths fill the sail;
Over dock and mast
Patters heavy hail.
The very stem they see so more,
So thick is darkness spread,
As gloom and horror hover o'er
The chamber of the dead.
