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Baldrs Draumar

His hands he shall wash not,  his hair he shall comb not,Till the slayer of Baldr  he brings to the flames.Unwilling I spake,  and now would be still."
  Othin spake:12.[1] "Wise-woman, cease not!  I seek from theeAll to know  that I fain would ask:What maidens are they  who then shall weep,And toss to the sky  the yards of the sails?"
  The Wise-Woman spake:13.[2] "Vegtam thou art not,  as erstwhile I thought;Othin thou art,  the enchanter old."  Othin spake:"No wise-woman art thou,  nor wisdom hast;Of giants three  the mother art thou."
  The Wise-Woman spake:14.[3] "Home ride, Othin,  be ever proud;For no one of men  shall seek me more
  1. ↑ The manuscript marks the third line as the beginning of a stanza; something may have been lost. Lines 3-4 are thoroughly obscure. According to Bugge the maidens who are to weep for Baldr are the daughters of the sea-god Ægir, the waves, whose grief will be so tempestuous that they will toss the ships up to the very sky. "Yards of the sails" is a doubtfully accurate rendering; the two words, at any rate in later Norse nautical speech, meant respectively the "tack" and the "sheet" of the square sail.
  2. ↑ Possibly two separate stanzas. Enchanter: the meaning of the original word is most uncertain.
  3. ↑

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