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Poetic Edda

And the far-famed ones  the truth would find,Why baleful dreams  to Baldr had come.
2.[1] Then Othin rose,  the enchanter old,And the saddle he laid  on Sleipnir's back;Thence rode he down  to Niflhel deep,And the hound he met  that came from hell.
3.[2] Bloody he was  on his breast before,At the father of magic  he howled from afar;Forward rode Othin,  the earth resoundedTill the house so high  of Hel he reached.
4. Then Othin rode  to the eastern door,There, he knew well,  was the wise-woman's grave;Magic he spoke  and mighty charms,Till spell-bound she rose,  and in death she spoke:

    Frigg, who comes again among the survivors after the final battle, cf. Voluspo, 32 and 62, and notes. He is almost never mentioned anywhere except in connection with the story of his death, though Snorri has one short passage praising his virtue and beauty. After stanza 1 two old editions, and one later one, insert four stanzas from late paper manuscripts.

  1. ↑ Sleipnir: Othin's eight-legged horse, the son of Loki and the stallion Svathilfari; cf. Lokasenna, 23, and Grimnismol, 44, and notes. Niflhel: the murky ("nifl") dwelling of Hel, goddess of the dead. The hound: Garm; cf. Voluspo, 44.
  2. ↑ Father of magic: Othin appears constantly as the god of magic. Hel: offspring of Loki and the giantess Angrbotha, as were the wolf Fenrir and Mithgarthsorm. She rules the world of the unhappy dead, either those who had led evil lives or, according to another tradition, those who had not died in battle. The

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