But we see, a little further on, that this bridge Bifrost was a real structure.  We read of the roots of the ash-tree Ygdrasil, and one of its roots reaches to the fountain of Urd: 

Here the gods have their doomstead.  The Asas ride hither every day over Bifrost, which is also called Asa-bridge.”

And these three mountain-chains going out to the different continents were the three roots of the tree Ygdrasil, the sacred tree of the mountain-top; and it is to this “three-pronged root of the world-mountain” that the

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Hindoo legends refer, (see page 238, ante):  on its top was heaven, Olympus; below it was hell, where the Asuras, the comets, dwelt; and between was Meru, (Mero Merou,) the land of the Meropes, Atlantis.

The Asas were clearly a human race of noble and godlike qualities.  The proof of this is that they perished in Ragnarok; they were mortal.  They rode over the bridge every day going from heaven, the heavenly land, to the earth, Europe.

We read on: 

“Kormt and Ormt, And the two Kerlaugs These shall Thor wade Every day, When he goes to judge Near the Ygdrasil ash; For the Asa-bridge Burns all ablaze—­ The holy waters roar.”

These rivers, Kormt and Ormt and the two Kerlaugs, were probably breaks in the long ridge, where it had gradually subsided into the sea.  The Asa-bridge was, very likely, dotted with volcanoes, as the islands of the Atlantic are to this day.

“Then answered Ganglere, ‘Does fire burn over Bifrost?’ Har answered:  ’The red which you see in the rainbow is burning fire.  The frost-giants and the mountain-giants would go up to heaven if Bifrost were passable for all who desired to go there.  Many fair places are there in heaven, and they are protected by a divine defense.’”

We have just seen (p. 371, ante) that the home of the godlike race, the Asas, to wit, heaven, Asgard, was surrounded by the ocean, was therefore an island; and that around the outer margin of this ocean, the Atlantic,

[1.  Elder Edda, “Grimner’s Lay,” 29.]

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the godlike race had given lands for the ice-giants to dwell in.  And now we read that this Asa-bridge, this Bifrost, reached from earth to heaven, to wit, across this gulf that separated the island from the colonies of the ice-giants.  And now we learn that, if this bridge were not defended by a divine defense, these troublesome ice-giants would go up to heaven; that is to say, the bold Northmen would march across it from Great Britain and Ireland to the Azores, to wit, to Atlantis.  Surely all this could not apply to the rainbow.

But we read a little further.  Har is reciting to Ganglere the wonders of the heavenly land, and is describing its golden palaces, and its mixed population of dark and light colored races, and he says: 

“Furthermore, there is a dwelling, by name Himinbjorg, which stands at the end of heaven, where the Bifrost bridge is united with heaven.”