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Poetic Edda

  Vafthruthnir spake:35.[1] "Winters unmeasured  ere earth was made Was the birth of Bergelmir;This first knew I well,  when the giant wise In a boat of old was borne."
  Othin spake:36. "Ninth answer me well,  if wise thou art called, If thou knowest it, Vafthruthnir, now:Whence comes the wind  that fares o'er the waves Yet never itself is seen?"
  Vafthruthnir spake:37.[2] "In an eagle's guise  at the end of heaven Hræsvelg sits, they say;And from his wings  does the wind come forth To move o'er the world of men."
  Othin spake:38.[3] "Tenth answer me now,  if thou knowest all The fate that is fixed for the gods:
  1. ↑ Snorri quotes this stanza. Bergelmir: on him and his boat cf. stanza 29 and note.
  2. ↑ Snorri quotes this stanza. Hræsvelg ("the Corpse-Eater"): on this giant in eagle's form cf. Voluspo, 50, and Skirnismol, 27.
  3. ↑ With this stanza the question-formula changes, and Othin's questions from this point on concern more or less directly the great final struggle. Line 4 is presumably spurious. Njorth: on Njorth and the Wanes, who gave him as a hostage to the gods at the end of their war, cf. Voluspo, 21 and note.

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