Himinbjörg

13. Himinbiörg is the eighth, where Heimdall, it is said, rules o'er the holy fanes: there the gods' watchman, in his tranquil home, drinks joyful the good mead.

“He is the warder of the gods, and is therefore placed on the borders of heaven, to prevent the giants from forcing their way over the bridge. He requires less sleep than a bird, and sees by night, as well as by day, a hundred miles around him. So acute is his ear that no sound escapes him, for he can even hear the grass growing on the earth, and the wool on a sheep’s back. He has a horn called the Gjallar-horn, which is heard throughout the universe.”

Grímnismál says Himinbjörg is where Heimdall rules over the holy fanes, and where the watchman of the gods drinks the good mead in his tranquil home. Gylfaginning says it stands on the border of heaven where the bridge Bifröst touches it.

In Gylfaginning, Snorri makes Heimdallr the guard of Bifröst, set at the edge of heaven so that the giants cannot cross. The account gives him a few gifts: he needs less sleep than a bird, he sees a hundred miles by night as well as by day, and he can hear grass grow on the earth and wool on a sheep. His horn is called Gjallarhorn, and it can be heard through all the worlds.

The same horn comes back at the end of the world. In Gylfaginning’s account of Ragnarök, Heimdallr stands up and blows the Gjallarhorn with all his force to rouse the gods. Later, in the battle, he and Loki fight, and each kills the other. The poem Völuspá also names the horn: in Thorpe’s translation the seeress knows that Heimdall’s horn is hidden under the holy tree, and later says that Heimdall blows loudly with his horn raised. Snorri’s prose and the poem are not two independent witnesses to the same scene, since Snorri draws on the poem.

The name is usually read as "heaven's castle" or "heaven mountain" (Simek, Lindow). Jacob Grimm preferred "heavenly hills" and compared himinfiöll, very high mountains, along with place names elsewhere in Europe such as Himilînberg and Heofenfeld.

Snorri's account differs slightly from the poem. Grímnismál only says Heimdallr drinks good mead as the gods' watchman there, whereas Gylfaginning sets Himinbjörg where Bifröst reaches heaven and has Heimdallr guard the bridge from mountain giants. Lindow suggests Snorri put it at heaven's edge because he equated the bridge with the rainbow, fitting Heimdallr's role as a boundary figure. Bellows notes that the second line of the Grímnismál stanza is badly damaged, so editions rely on conjecture.