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Poetic Edda

7.[1] "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."
  Skirnir spake:8.[2] "Then give me the horse  that goes through the dark And magic flickering flames;And the sword as well  that fights of itself Against the giants grim."
  Freyr spake:9. "The horse will I give thee  that goes through the dark And magic flickering flames,And the sword as well  that will fight of itself If a worthy hero wields it."
  1. ↑ Snorri's paraphrase of the poem is sufficiently close so that his addition of another sentence to Freyr's speech makes it probable that a stanza has dropped out between 7 and 8. This has been tentatively reconstructed, thus: "Hither to me  shalt thou bring the maid, / And home shalt thou lead her here, / If her father wills it  or wills it not, / And good reward shalt thou get." Finn Magnusen detected the probable omission of a stanza here as early as 1821.
  2. ↑ The sword: Freyr's gift of his sword to Skirnir eventually proves fatal, for at the last battle, when Freyr is attacked by Beli, whom he kills bare-handed, and later when the fire-demon, Surt, slays him in turn, he is weaponless; cf. Voluspo, 53 and note. Against the giants grim: the condition of this line makes it seem like an error in copying, and it is possible that it should be identical with the fourth line of the next stanza.

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