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Poetic Edda

  Thor spake:55. "The way now show me,  since thou takest me not o'er the water."
  Harbarth spake:56.[1] "To refuse it is little,  to fare it is long;A while to the stock,  and a while to the stone;Then the road to thy left,  till Verland thou reachest;And there shall Fjorgyn  her son Thor find,And the road of her children  she shows him to Othin's realm."
  Thor spake:57. "May I come so far in a day?"
  Harbarth spake:58.[2] "With toil and trouble perchance,While the sun still shines,  or so I think."
  Thor spake:59. "Short now shall be our speech,  for thou speakest in mockery only;
  1. ↑ Line 2: the phrases mean simply "a long way"; cf. "over stock and stone." Verland: the "Land of Men" to which Thor must come from the land of the giants. The Arnamagnæan Codex has "Valland" (cf. stanza 24 and note), but this is obviously an error. Fjorgyn: a feminine form of the same name, which belongs to Othin (cf. Voluspo, 56 and note); here it evidently means Jorth (Earth), Thor's mother. The road: the rainbow bridge, Bifrost; cf. Grimnismol, 29 and note.
  2. ↑ Line 2: so Regius; the other manuscript has "ere sunrise."

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