Voluspa - The Prophecy of the Seeress
Translation by Henry Adams Bellows
- Hearing I ask
from the holy races,
From Heimdall's sons, both high and
low;
Thou wilt, Valfather, that well I relate
Old tales I remember of men long ago.
- I remember yet
the giants of yore,
Who gave me bread in the days gone
by;
Nine worlds I knew, the nine in the
tree
With mighty roots beneath the mold.
- Of old was the age
when Ymir lived;
Sea nor cool waves nor sand there were;
Earth had not been, nor heaven above,
But a yawning gap, and grass nowhere.
- Then Bur's sons lifted
the level land,
Mithgarth the mighty there they made;
The sun from the south warmed the stones
of earth,
And green was the ground with growing
leeks.
- 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.
- Then sought the gods
their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, and council held;
Names then gave they to noon and twilight,
Morning they named, and the waning
moon,
Night and evening, the years to number.
- At Ithavoll met
the mighty gods,
Shrines and temples they timbered high;
Forges they set, and they smithied
ore,
Tongs they wrought, and tools they
fashioned.
- In their dwellings at peace
they played at tables,
Of gold no lack did the gods then know,--
Till thither came up giant-maids three,
Huge of might, out of Jotunheim.
- Then sought the gods
their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, and council held,
To find who should raise the race of
dwarfs
Out of Brimir's blood and the legs
of Blain.
- 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.
- Nyi and Nithi,
Northri and Suthri,
Austri and Vestri, Althjof, Dvalin,
Nar and Nain, Niping, Dain,
Bifur, Bofur, Bombur, Nori,
An and Onar, Ai, Mjothvitnir.
- Vigg and Gandalf)
Vindalf, Thrain,
Thekk and Thorin, Thror, Vit and Lit,
Nyr and Nyrath,-- now have I told--
Regin and Rathsvith-- the list aright.
- Fili, Kili, Fundin,
Nali,
Heptifili, Hannar, Sviur,
Frar, Hornbori, Fræg and Loni,
Aurvang, Jari, Eikinskjaldi.
- The race of the dwarfs
in Dvalin's throng
Down to Lofar the list must I tell;
The rocks they left, and through wet
lands
They sought a home in the fields of
sand.
- There were Draupnir
and Dolgthrasir,
Hor, Haugspori, Hlevang, Gloin,
Dori, Ori, Duf, Andvari,
Skirfir, Virfir, Skafith, Ai.
- 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.
- Then from the throng
did three come forth,
From the home of the gods, the mighty
and gracious;
Two without fate on the land they found,
Ask and Embla, empty of might.
- Soul they had not,
sense they had not,
Heat nor motion, nor goodly hue;
Soul gave Othin, sense gave Hönir,
Heat gave Lothur and goodly hue.
- An ash I know,
Yggdrasil its name,
With water white is the great tree
wet;
Thence come the dews that fall in the
dales,
Green by Urth's well does it ever grow.
- Thence come the maidens
mighty in wisdom,
Three from the dwelling down 'neath
the tree;
Urth is one named, Verthandi the next,--
On the wood they scored,-- and Skuld
the third.
Laws they made there, and life allotted
To the sons of men, and set their fates.
- The war I remember,
the first in the world,
When the gods with spears had smitten
Gollveig,
And in the hall of Hor had burned her,
Three times burned, and three times
born,
Oft and again, yet ever she lives.
- Heith they named her
who sought their home,
The wide-seeing witch, in magic wise;
Minds she bewitched that were moved
by her magic,
To evil women a joy she was.
- On the host his spear
did Othin hurl,
Then in the world did war first come;
The wall that girdled the gods was
broken,
And the field by the warlike Wanes
was trodden.
- Then sought the gods
their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, and council held,
Whether the gods should tribute give,
Or to all alike should worship belong.
- Then sought the gods
their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, and council held,
To find who with venom the air had
filled,
Or had given Oth's bride to the giants'
brood.
- In swelling rage
then rose up Thor,--
Seldom he sits when he such things
hears,--
And the oaths were broken, the words
and bonds,
The mighty pledges between them made.
- I know of the horn
of Heimdall, hidden
Under the high-reaching holy tree;
On it there pours from Valfather's
pledge
A mighty stream: would you know yet
more?
- Alone I sat when
the Old One sought me,
The terror of gods, and gazed in mine
eyes:
"What hast thou to ask? why comest
thou hither?
Othin, I know where thine eye is hidden."
- I know where Othin's
eye is hidden,
Deep in the wide-famed well of Mimir;
Mead from the pledge of Othin each
mom
Does Mimir drink: would you know yet
more?
- Necklaces had I
and rings from Heerfather,
Wise was my speech and my magic wisdom;
. . . . . . . . . .
Widely I saw over all the worlds.
- On all sides saw I
Valkyries assemble,
Ready to ride to the ranks of the gods;
Skuld bore the shield, and Skogul rode
next,
Guth, Hild, Gondul, and Geirskogul.
Of Herjan's maidens the list have ye
heard,
Valkyries ready to ride o'er the earth.
- I saw for Baldr,
the bleeding god,
The son of Othin, his destiny set:
Famous and fair in the lofty fields,
Full grown in strength the mistletoe
stood.
- From the branch which seemed
so slender and fair
Came a harmful shaft that Hoth should
hurl;
But the brother of Baldr was born ere
long,
And one night old fought Othin's son.
- His hands he washed not,
his hair he combed not,
Till he bore to the bale-blaze Baldr's
foe.
But in Fensalir did Frigg weep sore
For Valhall's need: would you know
yet more?
- One did I see
in the wet woods bound,
A lover of ill, and to Loki like;
By his side does Sigyn sit, nor is
glad
To see her mate: would you know yet
more?
- From the east there pours
through poisoned vales
With swords and daggers the river Slith.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
- Northward a hall
in Nithavellir
Of gold there rose for Sindri's race;
And in Okolnir another stood,
Where the giant Brimir his beer-hall
had.
- A hall I saw,
far from the sun,
On Nastrond it stands, and the doors
face north,
Venom drops through the smoke-vent
down,
For around the walls do serpents wind.
- I saw there wading
through rivers wild
Treacherous men and murderers too,
And workers of ill with the wives of
men;
There Nithhogg sucked the blood of
the slain,
And the wolf tore men; would you know
yet more?
- The giantess old
in Ironwood sat,
In the east, and bore the brood of
Fenrir;
Among these one in monster's guise
Was soon to steal the sun from the
sky.
- There feeds he full
on the flesh of the dead,
And the home of the gods he reddens
with gore;
Dark grows the sun, and in summer soon
Come mighty storms: would you know
yet more?
- On a hill there sat,
and smote on his harp,
Eggther the joyous, the giants' warder;
Above him the cock in the bird-wood
crowed,
Fair and red did Fjalar stand.
- Then to the gods
crowed Gollinkambi,
He wakes the heroes in Othin's hall;
And beneath the earth does another
crow,
The rust-red bird at the bars of Hel.
- Now Garm howls loud
before Gnipahellir,
The fetters will burst, and the wolf
run free;
Much do I know, and more can see
Of the fate of the gods, the mighty
in fight.
- Brothers shall fight
and fell each other,
And sisters' sons shall kinship stain;
Hard is it on earth, with mighty whoredom;
Axe-time, sword-time, shields are sundered,
Wind-time, wolf-time, ere the world
falls;
Nor ever shall men each other spare.
- Fast move the sons
of Mim, and fate
Is heard in the note of the Gjallarhorn;
Loud blows Heimdall, the horn is aloft,
In fear quake all who on Hel-roads
are.
- Yggdrasil shakes,
and shiver on high
The ancient limbs, and the giant is
loose;
To the head of Mim does Othin give
heed,
But the kinsman of Surt shall slay
him soon.
- How fare the gods?
how fare the elves?
All Jotunheim groans, the gods are
at council;
Loud roar the dwarfs by the doors of
stone,
The masters of the rocks: would you
know yet more?
- Now Garm howls loud
before Gnipahellir,
The fetters will burst, and the wolf
run free
Much do I know, and more can see
Of the fate of the gods, the mighty
in fight.
- From the east comes Hrym
with shield held high;
In giant-wrath does the serpent writhe;
O'er the waves he twists, and the tawny
eagle
Gnaws corpses screaming; Naglfar is
loose.
- O'er the sea from the north
there sails a ship
With the people of Hel, at the helm
stands Loki;
After the wolf do wild men follow,
And with them the brother of Byleist
goes.
- Surt fares from the south
with the scourge of branches,
The sun of the battle-gods shone from
his sword;
The crags are sundered, the giant-women
sink,
The dead throng Hel-way, and heaven
is cloven.
- Now comes to Hlin
yet another hurt,
When Othin fares to fight with the
wolf,
And Beli's fair slayer seeks out Surt,
For there must fall the joy of Frigg.
- Then comes Sigfather's
mighty son,
Vithar, to fight with the foaming wolf;
In the giant's son does he thrust his
sword
Full to the heart: his father is avenged.
- Hither there comes
the son of Hlothyn,
The bright snake gapes to heaven above;
. . . . . . . . . .
Against the serpent goes Othin's son.
- In anger smites
the warder of earth,--
Forth from their homes must all men
flee;-
Nine paces fares the son of Fjorgyn,
And, slain by the serpent, fearless
he sinks.
- The sun turns black,
earth sinks in the sea,
The hot stars down from heaven are
whirled;
Fierce grows the steam and the life-feeding
flame,
Till fire leaps high about heaven itself.
- Now Garm howls loud
before Gnipahellir,
The fetters will burst, and the wolf
run free;
Much do I know, and more can see
Of the fate of the gods, the mighty
in fight.
- Now do I see
the earth anew
Rise all green from the waves again;
The cataracts fall, and the eagle flies,
And fish he catches beneath the cliffs.
- The gods in Ithavoll
meet together,
Of the terrible girdler of earth they
talk,
And the mighty past they call to mind,
And the ancient runes of the Ruler
of Gods.
- In wondrous beauty
once again
Shall the golden tables stand mid the
grass,
Which the gods had owned in the days
of old,
. . . . . . . . . .
- Then fields unsowed
bear ripened fruit,
All ills grow better, and Baldr comes
back;
Baldr and Hoth dwell in Hropt's battle-hall,
And the mighty gods: would you know
yet more?
- Then Hönir wins
the prophetic wand,
. . . . . . . . . .
And the sons of the brothers of Tveggi
abide
In Vindheim now: would you know yet
more?
- More fair than the sun,
a hall I see,
Roofed with gold, on Gimle it stands;
There shall the righteous rulers dwell,
And happiness ever there shall they
have.
- There comes on high,
all power to hold,
A mighty lord, all lands he rules.
. . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . .
- From below the dragon
dark comes forth,
Nithhogg flying from Nithafjoll;
The bodies of men on his wings he bears,
The serpent bright: but now must I
sink.
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