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D ag (Day)
D ain (2)
The son of Nott and her third hus-
band, Delling. Odin set Nott and Dag in the sky to
ride around the world, bringing darkness and light at
regular intervals. Dag’s horse was Skinfaxi (Shining
Mane) whose golden glow lit up the Earth.
See also “Night and Day” under creation.
One of four full-grown male deer, or
stags, that lived among the branches of Yggdrasil,
the World Tree. Dain ate Yggdrasil’s leaves, even
the highest ones, by standing on his back legs and
stretching his neck. The other three stags were
Duneyr, Durathror, and Dvalin (3). The deer are
named in the poem G rimnismal by Snorri Sturlu-
son in G ylfaginning .
D ain (1)
A dwarf mentioned only in H yndlul -
joth , a part of the P oetic E dda , as one of the creators
of the gold-bristled boar Hildisvini. According to
this poem, Dain and his brother, Nabbi, made the
magical boar.
D ainsleif (Dain’s Heirloom) A sword made by
the dwarf Dain (1), according to Snorri Sturlu-
son. This sword was cursed: Once drawn, it must
kill a man before it can returned to the sheath. A
blow from this magical sword never failed to kill
or cause a wound that never healed. To rescue his
daughter Hild, the legendary warrior and king
Hogni drew Dainsleif to kill her abductor, Hedin
Hjarrandason.
deer The male deer, which is also called a hart
or stag, appears in several descriptions of the worlds
of the Norse gods. For instance, four stags eat the
highest twigs of the World Tree, Yggdrasil, while
the great hart Eikthyrnir nibbles at the branches
of Laerad, the tree that stands next to Valhalla, the
great hall of Odin.
Scholars suggest that the male deer, with his
impressive antlers, was a sign of nobility and strength.
The red deer and the reindeer, both common species
in Scandinavia, were often portrayed in the mythol-
ogy, folklore, and art of northern Europe.
D elling (The
Dayspring) The father of Dag,
who is the day, and whose mother was Nott, the
night. Delling was the third husband of the giant-
ess Nott and was a little-known member of the
Aesir. He was shining and fair, for Dag took after
him. The details are known from V afthrudnismal ,
Peter Nicolai Arbo’s painting of Dag riding Skinfaxi
(1874)
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