Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/194

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

Poetic Edda

  Loki spake:24.[1] "They say that with spells  in Samsey once Like witches with charms didst thou work;And in witch's guise  among men didst thou go; Unmanly thy soul must seem."
  Frigg spake:25.[2] "Of the deeds ye two  of old have done Ye should make no speech among men;Whate'er ye have done  in days gone by, Old tales should ne'er be told."
  Loki spake:26.[3] "Be silent, Frigg!  thou art Fjorgyn's wife, But ever lustful in love;For Vili and Ve,  thou wife of Vithrir, Both in thy bosom have lain."

    turned himself into a mare, and so effectually distracted Svathilfari from his task that shortly afterwards Loki gave birth to Othin's eight-legged horse, Sleipnir. In such contests of abuse a man was not infrequently taunted with having borne children; cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 39-45. One or two of the last three lines may be spurious.

  1. ↑ Samsey: perhaps the Danish island of Samsö. Othin was the god of magic, but there is no other reference to his ever having disguised himself as a witch.
  2. ↑ Frigg: Othin's wife; cf. note to introductory prose.
  3. ↑ Fjorgyn: Othin; cf. Voluspo, 56 and note. Vili and Ve: Othin's brothers, who appear merely as, with Othin, the sons of Bur and Bestla; cf. Voluspo, 4. The Ynglingasaga says that, during one of Othin's protracted absences, his two brothers took Frigg as their mistress. Vithrir: another name for Othin.

[160]

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.