No Hall and No Castle

Then spoke Gangleri: ‘Will there be any gods alive then? And
will there be any kind of earth or sky?’

High said: ‘The earth will shoot up out of the sea and will then
be green and fair. Crops will grow unsown. Vidar and Vali will be
alive, the sea and Surt’s fire not having harmed them, and they will
dwell on Idavoll, where Asgard had been previously. And then
Thor’s sons Modi and Magni will arrive, bringing Miollnir. After
that Baldr and Hod will arrive from Hel. Then they will all sit
down together and talk and discuss their mysteries and speak of
the things that had happened in former times, of the Midgard
serpent and Fenriswolf. Then they will find in the grass the golden
playing pieces that had belonged to the Æsir. Thus it is said:

Vidar and Vali will dwell in the gods’ holy places when
Surt’s flame goes dark. Modi and Magni shall have Miollnir
when Vingnir fights no more.

And in a place called Hoddmimir’s holt two people will lie hid
during Surt’s fire called Life and Leifthrasir, and their food will be
the dews of morning. And from these people there will be
descended such a great progeny that all the world will be inhabited. As it says here:

Life and Leifthrasir, and they shall lie hid in Hoddmimir’s
holt. Dews of morning they shall have as their food, and
from them shall grow mankind.

And this also will seem amazing to you, that the sun will have
begotten a daughter no less fair than she is, and she shall follow
the paths of her mother, as it says here:

A daughter shall Alfrodul bear before Fenrir catches her.
She shall ride, when the powers die, the maiden, her
mother’s road.

And now if you know any more questions to ask further into the
future, I do not know where you will find answers, for I have
heard no one relate the history of the world any further on in time.
And may the knowledge you have gained do you good.’

Next Gangleri heard great noises in every direction from him,
and he looked out to one side. And when he looked around
further he found he was standing out on open ground, could see
no hall and no castle. Then he went off on his way and came back
to his kingdom and told of the events he had seen and heard
about. And from his account these stories passed from one person
to another.

But the Æsir sat down to discuss and hold a conference and
went over all these stories that had been told him, and assigned
those same names that were mentioned above to the people and
places that were there [in Sweden], so that when long periods of
time had passed men should not doubt that they were all the same,
those Æsir about whom stories were told above and those who
were now given the same names. So someone there was given the
name Thor - and this means the ancient Thor of the Æsir, that is
Oku-Thor - and to him are attributed the exploits which Thor
(Hec-tor) performed in Troy. And it is believed that the Turks told
tales about Ulysses and that they gave him the name Loki, for the
Turks were especially hostile to him.


- Prose Edda, Gylfaginning