Fish Memorial

The candle light vigil for Ran was lovely albeit 'light' less... kind of hard to light candles in water. The very next night we had a memorial for Ran as I finally convinced them that after so many days out of the tank she'd definitly be dead. Being goldfish - which have notoriously short memories, most had already forgotten that there ever was another fish in the tank. Yes made for an interesting memorial - 'We are gathered here to remember fondly Ran.' 'Ran? Ran who?' 'Ran? We don't run, we swim?' 'Are we being fed?' 'Bubbles! Wheee! Bubbles!' Real sentimental.

Anyway, to fill the void in my... er... tank... I purchased two new fish. One is a black Moor and the other is a white common with cool orange spots around his eyes.

After much searching through the Norse mythology I have named the white one:
Heimdall

Pronunciation:
haym'-dahl

Heimdall is the god of light, the son of nine mothers (variously given as the daughters of Geirrendour the Giant or of Aegir). He was born at the end of the world and raised by the force of the earth, seawater and the blood of a boar. Because of his shining, golden teeth he is also called Gullintani ("gold tooth"). His hall is Himinbjorg, The Cliffs of Heaven, and his horse is Gulltop. Heimdall carries the horn Gjallar.

He is the watchman of the gods and guards Bifrost, the only entrance to Asgard, the realm of the gods. It is Heimdall's duty to prevent the giants from forcing their way into Asgard. He requires less sleep than a bird and can see a hundred miles around him, by night as well as by day. His hearing is so accurate that no sound escapes him: he can even hear the grass grow or the wool on a sheep's back. At the final conflict of Ragnarok he will kill his age-old enemy, the evil god Loki, but will die himself from his wounds.

As the god Rig ("ruler"), Heimdall created the three races of mankind: the serfs, the peasants, and the warriors. It is interesting to note why Heimdall fathered them, and not Odin as might be expected. Furthermore, Heimdall is in many attributes identical with Tyr.

And the black one:

Nott

In Norse myth, Nott is the personification of night, and the daughter of Narvi. Nott was married three times and with each husband she had one child. Her first husband was Naglfari, and their son was Aud. Her second husband was Annar, father of Earth. Her third husband was Delling, the personification of twilight, father of Dagur (Day). She and her son were given horse-drawn chariots by the gods and were placed in the sky to round the world every two half-days. Notts chariot is pulled by the horse Hrimfaxi ("frost-maned") which covers the earth with dew early in the morning.