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Svipdagsmol

II. FJOLSVINNSMOL

The Lay of Fjolsvith

17.[1] Before the house  he beheld one coming To the home of the giants high.
  Svipdag spake:"What giant is here,  in front of the house, And around him fires are flaming?"
  Fjolsvith spake:18. "What seekest thou here?  for what is thy search? What, friendless one, fain wouldst thou know?By the ways so wet  must thou wander hence, For, weakling, no home hast thou here."
  Svipdag spake:19. "What giant is here,  in front of the house, To the wayfarer welcome denying?"

    Mengloth, and at last he came to a great house set all about with flames. And before the house there was a giant."

  1. ↑ Most editors have here begun a new series of stanza numbers, but if the Grougaldr and the Fjolsvinnsmol are to be considered as a single poem, it seems more reasonable to continue the stanza numbers consecutively. Bugge thinks a stanza has been lost before 17, including Fjolsvith's name, so that the "he" in line 1 might have something to refer to. However, just such a prose link as I have suggested in the note on stanza 16 would serve the purpose. Editors have suggested various rearrangements in the lines of stanzas 17-19. The substance, however, is clear enough. The giant Fjolsvith ("Much-Wise"), the warder of the house in which Mengloth dwells, sees Svipdag coming and stops him with the customary threats. The assignment of the

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