Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/125

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

Grimnismol

 Who shall have seats in the hall;The half of the dead  each day does she choose, And half does Othin have.
15.[1] The tenth is Glitnir;  its pillars are gold, And its roof with silver is set;There most of his days  does Forseti dwell, And sets all strife at end.
16.[2] The eleventh is Noatun;  there has Njorth For himself a dwelling set;The sinless ruler  of men there sits In his temple timbered high.
17.[3] Filled with growing trees  and high-standing grass Is Vithi, Vithar's land;

    hall, Sessrymnir ("Rich in Seats"). Freyja, the sister of Freyr, is the fairest of the goddesses, and the most kindly disposed to mankind, especially to lovers. Half of the dead: Mogk has made it clear that Freyja represents a confusion between two originally distinct divinities: the wife of Othin (Frigg) and the northern goddess of love. This passage appear to have in mind her attributes as Othin's wife. Snorri has this same confusion, but there is no reason why the Freyja who was Freyr's sister should share the slain with Othin.

  1. ↑ Glitnir ("the Shining"): the home of Forseti, a god of whom we know nothing beyond what Snorri tells us: "Forseti is the son of Baldr and Nanna, daughter of Nep. All those who come to him with hard cases to settle go away satisfied; he is the best judge among gods and men."
  2. ↑ Noatun ("Ships'-Haven"): the home of Njorth, who calms the waves; cf. stanza 11 and Voluspo, 21.
  3. ↑ Vithi: this land is not mentioned elsewhere. Vithar avenged his father, Othin, by slaying the wolf Fenrir.

[91]

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.