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Rigsthula

6.[1] Thus was he there  for three nights long,Then forward he went  on the midmost way,And so nine months  were soon passed by.
7.[2] A son bore Edda,  with water they sprinkled him,With a cloth his hair  so black they covered;Thræll they named him,  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
8.[3] The skin was wrinkled  and rough on his hands,Knotted his knuckles,  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Thick his fingers,  and ugly his face,Twisted his back,  and big his heels.
9.[4] He began to grow,  and to gain in strength,Soon of his might  good use he made;
  1. ↑ The manuscript does not indicate that these lines form a separate stanza, and as only one line and a fragment of another are left of stanza 7, the editions have grouped the lines in all sorts of ways, with, of course, various conjectures as to where lines may have been lost.
  2. ↑ After line 1 the manuscript has only four words: "cloth," "black," "named," and "Thræll." No gap is anywhere indicated. Editors have pieced out the passage in various ways. Water, etc.: concerning the custom of sprinkling water on children, which long antedated the introduction of Christianity, cf. Hovamol, 159 and note. Black: dark hair, among the blond Scandinavians, was the mark of a foreigner, hence of a slave. Thræll: Thrall or Slave.
  3. ↑ In the manuscript line 1 of stanza 9 stands before stanza 8, neither line being capitalized as the beginning of a stanza. I have followed Bugge's rearrangement. The manuscript indicates no gap in line 2, but nearly all editors have assumed one, Grundtvig supplying "and rough his nails."
  4. ↑ The manuscript marks line 2 as the beginning of a stanza.

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