midnight
Totila remembered the words with which he himself had answered Julius . `` From the north comes all strength -- the world belongs to the Northmen , '' concluded Harald . `` Tell it to them in the words of thy favourite song , '' said his sister . And she handed him her harp ; and Harald played and sang an alliterative measure , or _ stabreim _ , which Adalgoth , translating it into rhymed verse , thus repeated to Valeria : `` Thor stood at the midnight end of the world , And the battle-axe flew from his hand . ` As far as the battle-axe flies when hurled , Is mine the sea and the land ! ' And the hammer flew from his powerful hand Like chaff by a hurricane blown : And it fell in the farthest southern-land , So that all became his own . Since then 't is German right and grace With the hammer the lands to merit ; We come of the Hammer-God 's noble race , And his world-wide realm will inherit ! ''