The Poetic Edda
Henry Adams Bellows (translator)
3,671 passages indexed from The Poetic Edda (Henry Adams Bellows (translator)) — Page 49 of 74
License: Public Domain
The Poetic Edda, passage 2538
22. A draught did Grimhild | give me to drink,
Bitter and cold; | I forgot my cares;
For mingled therein | was magic earth,
Ice-cold sea, | and the blood of swine.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3350
Hjor′-leif, father of King Half, 223.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1762
39. Varin’s isle: cf. stanza 27 and note, and Helgakvitha
Hjorvarthssonar, 22. Reproaching a man with having been a woman and
borne children was not uncommon.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2260
4. They cooked a wolf, | they cut up a snake,
They gave to Gotthorm | the greedy one’s flesh,
Before the men, | to murder minded,
Laid their hands | on the hero bold.
The Poetic Edda, passage 736
16. “Five full winters | with Fjolvar was I,
And dwelt in the isle | that is Algrön called;
There could we fight, | and fell the slain,
Much could we seek, | and maids could master.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3551
Sin′-rjōth, wife of Hjorvarth, 272, 273.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3482
Nith′-a-fjoll, a mountain, 16, 26, 27.
The Poetic Edda, passage 61
5. The sun, the sister | of the moon, from the south
Her right hand cast | over heaven’s rim;
No knowledge she had | where her home should be,
The moon knew not | what might was his,
The stars knew not | where their stations were.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1294
26. “From Volsung’s seed | was the hero sprung,
And Hjordis was born | of Hrauthung’s race,
And Eylimi | from the Othlings came,—
And all are thy kinsmen, | Ottar, thou fool!
The Poetic Edda, passage 3307
Half′-dan (the Old), a Danish king, 221–223, 227, 269, 307, 308, 364,
454.
The Poetic Edda, passage 363
12. Some editors have combined this stanza in various ways with the
last two lines of stanza 11, as in the manuscript the first two lines
of the latter are abbreviated, and, if they belong there at all, are
presumably identical with the first two lines of stanza 10.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2238
30. Probably an interpolation.
The Poetic Edda, passage 458
28. “Fifth answer me well, | if wise thou art called,
If thou knowest it, Vafthruthnir, now:
What giant first | was fashioned of old,
And the eldest of Ymir’s kin?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2406
59. “But soon thereafter | Atli too
His life, methinks, | as thou shalt lose,
(His fortune lose | and the lives of his sons;)
Him shall Guthrun, | grim of heart,
With the biting blade | in his bed destroy.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3097
As many proper names occur in the notes but not in the text, and as
frequently the more important incidents connected with the names are
outlined in notes which would not be indicated by textual references
alone, the page numbers include all appearances of proper names in the
notes as well as in the text.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3120
Ā′-lof, daughter of Franmar, 273, 275, 276.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2320
24. Then Brynhild, daughter | of Buthli, spake:
“Atli is guilty | of all the sorrow,
(Son of Buthli | and brother of mine,)
When we saw in the hall | of the Hunnish race
The flame of the snake’s bed | flash round the hero;
(For the journey since | full sore have I paid,
And ever I seek | the sight to forget.)”
The Poetic Edda, passage 866
6. Neither manuscript has any superscriptions, but most editors have
supplied them as above. From this point through stanza 11 the editors
have varied considerably in grouping the lines into stanzas. The
manuscripts indicate the third lines of stanzas 7, 8, 9, and 10 as
beginning stanzas, but this makes more complications than the present
arrangement. It is possible that, as Sijmons suggests, two lines have
been lost after stanza 6.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2317
21. “In the court was greater | gladness then
The day my Sigurth | Grani saddled,
And went forth Brynhild’s | hand to win,
That woman ill, | in an evil hour.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2744
4. Slaves, etc.: some editions have “swords in plenty.” Scarlet: the
word apparently means “slaughter-red,” “blood-red,” but it may mean
something entirely different.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2185
11. Speech-runes learn, | that none may seek
To answer harm with hate;
Well he winds | and weaves them all,
And sets them side by side,
At the judgment-place, | when justice there
The folk shall fairly win.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1094
13. “Answer me, Alvis! | thou knowest all,
Dwarf, of the doom of men:
What call they the moon, | that men behold,
In each and every world?”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2855
67. “No hope shall this give thee, | thy gifts I shall take
not,
Requital I spurned | when my sorrows were smaller;
Once grim did I seem, | but now greater my grimness,
There was nought seemed too hard | while Hogni was living.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1546
25. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a stanza, and
many editors have adopted this grouping.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2654
32. “Thou didst see and listen, | the while I said
The mighty grief | that was mine and theirs;
Each man lives | as his longing wills,—
Oddrun’s lament | is ended now.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 900
2. “Of their weapons they talk, | and their might in war,
The sons of the glorious gods;
From the gods and elves | who are gathered here
No friend in words shalt thou find.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 2291
Prose. This prose passage has in the manuscript, written in red, the
phrase “Of Sigurth’s Death” as a heading; there is no break between it
and the prose introducing Guthrunarkvitha I, the heading for that poem
coming just before stanza 1. This note is of special interest as an
effort at real criticism. The annotator, troubled by the two versions
of the story of Sigurth’s death, feels it incumbent on him not only to
point the fact out, but to cite the authority of “German men” for the
form which appears in this poem. The alternative version, wherein
Sigurth is slain in bed, appears in Sigurtharkvitha en skamma,
Guthrunarhvot, and Hamthesmol, and also in the Volsungasaga, which
tells how Gotthorm tried twice to kill Sigurth but was terrified by the
brightness of his eyes, and succeeded only after the hero had fallen
asleep. That the annotator was correct in citing German authority for
the slaying of Sigurth in the forest is shown by the Nibelungenlied and
the Thithrekssaga. The “old” Guthrun lay is unquestionably
Guthrunarkvitha II.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3495
Ō′-in, father of Andvari, 360.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1813
Gothmund rode home with his tidings of the host; then Granmar’s sons
summoned an army. Many kings came there; there were Hogni, Sigrun’s
father, and his sons Bragi and Dag. There was a great battle, and all
Granmar’s sons were slain and all their allies; only Dag, Hogni’s son,
was spared, and he swore loyalty to the Volsungs. Sigrun went among the
dead and found Hothbrodd at the coming of death. She said:
The Poetic Edda, passage 1708
40. “A Valkyrie wast thou, | loathly witch,
Evil and base, | in Allfather’s home;
The warriors all | must ever fight,
Woman subtle, | for sake of thee.
The Poetic Edda, passage 973
8. Bragi: cf. note on introductory prose. Why Loki taunts him with
cowardice (stanzas 11–13–15) is not clear, for poetry, of which Bragi
was the patron, was generally associated in the Norse mind with
peculiar valor, and most of the skaldic poets were likewise noted
fighters.
The Poetic Edda, passage 849
29. His might the giant | again would match,
For stubborn he was, | with the strength of Thor;
None truly strong, | though stoutly he rowed,
Would he call save one | who could break the cup.
The Poetic Edda, passage 72
16. Alf and Yngvi, | Eikinskjaldi,
Fjalar and Frosti, | Fith and Ginnar;
So for all time | shall the tale be known,
The list of all | the forbears of Lofar.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3222
Feim′-a, daughter of Karl, 210.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1485
12. Völund home | from his hunting came,
From a weary way, | the weather-wise bowman;
A brown bear’s flesh | would he roast with fire;
Soon the wood so dry | was burning well,
(The wind-dried wood | that Völund’s was).
The Poetic Edda, passage 1057
3. Freyja: Njorth’s daughter, and sister of Freyr; cf. Lokasenna,
introductory prose and note, also Skirnismol, introductory prose.
Freyja’s house was Sessrymnir (“Rich in Seats”) built in Folkvang
(“Field of the Folk”); cf. Grimnismol, 14. Feather-dress: this flying
equipment of Freyja’s is also used in the story of Thjazi, wherein Loki
again borrows the “hawk’s dress” of Freyja, this time to rescue Ithun;
cf. Harbarthsljoth, 19 and note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 1005
49. Skathi: the wife of Njorth, and daughter of the giant Thjazi,
concerning whose death cf. Harbarthsljoth, 19, note. Bowels, etc.:
according to the prose note at the end of the Lokasenna, the gods bound
Loki with the bowels of his son Vali, and changed his other son, Narfi,
into a wolf. Snorri turns the story about, Vali being the wolf, who
tears his brother to pieces, the gods then using Narfi’s intestines to
bind Loki. Narfi—and presumably Vali—were the sons of Loki and his
wife, Sigyn. They appear only in this episode, though Narfi (or Nari)
is named by Snorri in his list of Loki’s children. Cf. concluding
prose, and note.
The Poetic Edda, passage 645
7. “To me more dear | than in days of old
Was ever maiden to man;
But no one of gods | or elves will grant
That we both together should be.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 1445
17. Most editors have here begun a new series of stanza numbers, but if
the Grougaldr and the Fjolsvinnsmol are to be considered as a single
poem, it seems more reasonable to continue the stanza numbers
consecutively. Bugge thinks a stanza has been lost before 17, including
Fjolsvith’s name, so that the “he” in line 1 might have something to
refer to. However, just such a prose link as I have suggested in the
note on stanza 16 would serve the purpose. Editors have suggested
various rearrangements in the lines of stanzas 17–19. The substance,
however, is clear enough. The giant Fjolsvith (“Much-Wise”), the warder
of the house in which Mengloth dwells, sees Svipdag coming and stops
him with the customary threats. The assignment of the speeches in
stanzas 17–20, in the absence of any indications in the manuscripts, is
more or less guesswork.
The Poetic Edda, passage 475
45. “In Hoddmimir’s wood | shall hide themselves
Lif and Lifthrasir then;
The morning dews | for meat shall they have,
Such food shall men then find.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3391
Hrīm′-gerth, a giantess, 189, 271, 278–283.
The Poetic Edda, passage 2601
2. “It troubles me, Guthrun, | Gjuki’s daughter,
What Herkja here | in the hall hath told me,
That thou in the bed | with Thjothrek liest,
Beneath the linen | in lovers’ guise.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 704
30. In Regius and in nearly all the editions the first two lines of
this stanza are followed by lines 3–5 of stanza 35. I have followed
Niedner, Sijmons, and Gering. The two words here translated vile things
are obscure; Gering renders the phrase simply “Kobolde.”
The Poetic Edda, passage 3475
Myrk′-wood, a forest in Nithuth’s land, 255, 256.
The Poetic Edda, passage 167
49. Identical with stanza 44. In the manuscripts it is here
abbreviated.
The Poetic Edda, passage 128
6. Possibly an interpolation, but there seems no strong reason for
assuming this. Lines 1–2 are identical with lines 1–2 of stanza 9, and
line 2 may have been inserted here from that later stanza.
The Poetic Edda, passage 3434
Kolg′-a, daughter of Ægir, 299.
The Poetic Edda, passage 119
63. Then Hönir wins | the prophetic wand,
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
And the sons of the brothers | of Tveggi abide
In Vindheim now: | would you know yet more?
The Poetic Edda, passage 2151
34. Some editions turn this speech from the third person into the
second, but the manuscript is clear enough.
The Poetic Edda, passage 66
10. There was Motsognir | the mightiest made
Of all the dwarfs, | and Durin next;
Many a likeness | of men they made,
The dwarfs in the earth, | as Durin said.