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Helgakvitha Hjorvarthssonar

Was there one who the ships  of the warrior warded, Or did many together go?"
  Hrimgerth spake:28.[1] "Thrice nine there were,  but one rode first, A helmed maid white of hue;Their horses quivered,  there came from their manes Dew in the dales so deep, (Hail on the woods so high, Thence men their harvest have, But ill was the sight I saw.)"
  Atli spake:29.[2] "Look eastward, Hrimgerth,  for Helgi has struck thee Down with the runes of death;Safe in harbor floats  the prince's fleet, And safe are the monarch's men."
  Helgi spake:30.[3] "It is day, Hrimgerth,  for Atli held thee Till now thy life thou must lose;
  1. ↑ Again something is clearly wrong, and the last three lines look like interpolations, though some editors have tried to reconstruct two full stanzas. The passage suggests the identification of the Valkyries with the clouds.
  2. ↑ Some editions give this speech to Helgi. Eastward: Atli and Helgi have held Hrimgerth in talk till sunrise, and the sun's rays turn her into stone. But dwarfs rather than giants were the victims of sunlight; cf. Alvissmol, stanzas 16 and 35.
  3. ↑

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