noon
Fate hangs on the house of Cerdic , or the realm of the Saxon , when Woden calls the laeca of his son from the grave . '' Hilda , much troubled bent her face over her clasped hands , and , rocking to and fro , muttered some runes unintelligible to the ear of her listener . Then she turned to him , commandingly , and said : `` Thy dreams now , indeed , are oracles , more true than living Vala could charm with the wand and the rune : Unfold them . '' Thus adjured , Harold resumed : `` Methought , then , that I was on a broad , level plain , in the noon of day ; all was clear to my eye , and glad to my heart . I was alone and went on my way rejoicing . Suddenly the earth opened under my feet , and I fell deep , fathom-deep ; -- deep , as if to that central pit , which our heathen sires called Niffelheim -- the Home of Vapour -- the hell of the dead who die without glory . Stunned by the fall , I lay long , locked as in a dream in the midst of a dream .