Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/149

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

Skirnismol

Before its blade  the old giant bends,—
 Thy father is doomed to die.

26.[1] "I strike thee, maid,  with my magic staff,
 To tame thee to work my will;
There shalt thou go  where never again
 The sons of men shall see thee.

27.[2] "On the eagle's hill  shalt thou ever sit,
 And gaze on the gates of Hel;
More loathsome to thee  than the light-hued snake
 To men, shall thy meat become.

28.[3] "Fearful to see,  if thou comest forth,
 Hrimnir will stand and stare,
 (Men will marvel at thee;)

    after stanza 4 and note. Lines 3 and 4 of this stanza, and the first two of stanza 22, are missing in the Arnamagnæan Codex.

    The first two lines are abbreviated in both manuscripts.

  1. ↑ With this stanza, bribes and threats having failed, Skirnir begins a curse which, by the power of his magic staff, is to fall on Gerth if she refuses Freyr.
  2. ↑ Eagle's hill: the hill at the end of heaven, and consequently overlooking hell, where the giant Hræsvelg sits "in an eagle's guise," and makes the winds with his wings; cf. Vafthruthnismol, 37, also Voluspo, 50. The second line is faulty in both manuscripts; Hildebrand's emendation corrects the error, but omits an effective touch; the manuscript line may be rendered "And look and hanker for hell." The Arnamagnæan Codex breaks off with the fourth line of this stanza.
  3. ↑ Hrimnir: a frost-giant, mentioned elsewhere only in Hyndluljoth, 33. Line 3 is probably spurious. Watchman of the gods: Heimdall; cf. Voluspo, 46.

[115]

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.