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Poetic Edda

How call they the isle  where all the gods
 And Surt shall sword-sweat mingle?"

  Fafnir spake:
15.[1] "Oskopnir is it,  where all the gods
 Shall seek the play of swords;
Bilrost breaks  when they cross the bridge,
 And the steeds shall swim in the flood.

16.[2] "The fear-helm I wore  to afright mankind,
 While guarding my gold I lay;
Mightier seemed I  than any man,
 For a fiercer never I found."

  Sigurth spake:
17. "The fear-helm surely  no man shields
 When he faces a valiant foe;
Oft one finds,  when the foe he meets,
 That he is not the bravest of all."

  Fafnir spake:
18.[3] "Venom I breathed  when bright I lay
 By the hoard my father had;

    Surt: ruler of the fire world; the reference is to the last great battle. Sword-sweat: blood.

  1. ↑ Oskopnir ("Not-Made"): apparently another name for Vigrith, which is named in Vafthruthnismol, 18, as the final battle-ground. Bilrost (or Bifrost): the rainbow bridge which breaks beneath Surt's followers; cf. Grimnismol, 29 and note.
  2. ↑ With this stanza Fafnir returns to the situation. Fear-helm: regarding the "ægis-hjalmr" cf. Reginsmol, prose after stanza 14 and note.
  3. ↑

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