_Paring the Nails_ (Vol. iii., p. 462.; Vol. v., p 142.).--In reference
to the superstitious practices in question, the readers of the _Prose
Edda_, many of whose traditions still survive amongst us, will remember
what it is therein narrated concerning the ship Naglfar. Amongst the
terror-fraught prodigies preceding Ragnarök, or the Twilight of the
Gods, and the Conflagration of the Universe, we are informed that "on
the waters floats the ship Naglfar, which is constructed of the nails of
dead men. For which reason," it is said, "great care should be taken to
die with pared nails; for he who dies with his nails unpared, supplies
materials for the building of this vessel, which both gods and men wish
may be finished as late as possible." Of this ship, the more ancient and
poetical Völn-spà also speaks in something like the following terms:--
"A keel from distant East is nearing,
Pilotted by Loki's hand,
Muspellheimr's children bearing,--
Sea-borne comes that horrid band!
With the wolf to join, are speeding,
In a grim and gaunt array,
Monster-forms 'neath Loki's leading,--
Byleist's brother leads the way."