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Poetic Edda
Of the gods and elves who are gathered here, Each one as thy lover has lain."
Freyja spake:31. "False is thy tongue, and soon shalt thou find That it sings thee an evil song;The gods are wroth, and the goddesses all, And in grief shalt thou homeward go."
Loki spake:32.[1] "Be silent, Freyja! thou foulest witch, And steeped full sore in sin;In the arms of thy brother the bright gods caught thee When Freyja her wind set free."
Njorth spake:33.[2] "Small ill does it work though a woman may have A lord or a lover or both;But a wonder it is that this womanish god Comes hither, though babes he has borne."
- ↑ Before each of stanzas 32-42 the manuscript indicates the speaker, through the initial letter of the name written in the margin. Thy brother: Freyr; there is no other indication that such a relation existed between these two, but they themselves were the product of such a union; cf. stanza 36 and note.
- ↑ Njorth: father of Freyr and Freyja, and given by the Wanes as a hostage, in exchange for Hönir, at the close of the first war; cf. Voluspo, 21 and note, also Skirnismol, introductory prose and note. Babes: cf. stanza 23 and note. Bugge suggests that this clause may have been a late insertion.
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