Then spoke Gangleri: ‘What is there to be told about Skidbladnir if it is the best of ships? Is there no other ship as good as it or as big?’
High said: ‘Skidbladnir is the best ship and constructed with greatest ingenuity, but the biggest ship is Naglfari, it belongs to Muspell. It was certain dwarfs, sons of Ivaldi, that made Skidbladnir and gave Freyr the ship. It is big enough for all the Æsir to be able to go aboard it with weapons and war gear, and it gets a fair wind as soon as the sail is hoisted, wherever it is required to go. And when it is not to be taken to sea, then it is made of so many parts and with such great art that it can be folded up like a cloth and put in one’s pocket.’
[...]
Then something will happen that will be thought a most significant event, the wolf will swallow the sun, and people will think this a great disaster. Then the other wolf will catch the moon, and he also will cause much mischief. The stars will disappear from the sky. Then there will take place another event, the whole earth and mountains will shake so much that trees will become uprooted from the earth and the mountains will fall, and all fetters and bonds will snap and break. Then Fenriswolf will get free. Then the ocean will surge up on to the lands because the Midgard serpent will fly into a giant rage and make its way ashore. Then it will also happen that Naglfar will be loosed from its moorings, the ship of that name. It is made of dead people’s nails, and it is worth taking care lest anyone die with untrimmed nails, since such a person contributes much material to the ship Naglfar which gods and men wish would take a long time to finish. And in this flood Naglfar will be carried along. There is a giant called Hrym who will captain Naglfar. But Fenriswolf will go with mouth agape and its upper jaw will be against the sky and its lower one against the earth. It would gape wider if there was room. Flames will burn from its eyes and nostrils. The Midgard serpent will spit so much poison that it will bespatter all the sky and sea, and it will be very terrible, and it will be on one side of the wolf. Amid this turmoil the sky will open and from it will ride the sons of Muspell. Surt will ride in front, and both before and behind him there will be burning fire. His sword will be very fine. Light will shine from it more brightly than from the sun. And when they ride over Bifrost it will break, as was said above. Muspell’s lads will advance to the field called Vigrid. Then there will also arrive there Fenriswolf and the Midgard serpent. By then Loki will also have arrived there and Hrym and with him all the frost-giants, but with Loki will be all Hel’s people. But Muspell’s sons will have their own battle array; it will be very bright. The field Vigrid is a hundred leagues in each direction.
- The Prose Edda, Gylfaginning