Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/412
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Poetic Edda
How call they the isle where all the gods And Surt shall sword-sweat mingle?"
Fafnir spake:15.[1] "Oskopnir is it, where all the gods Shall seek the play of swords;Bilrost breaks when they cross the bridge, And the steeds shall swim in the flood.
16.[2] "The fear-helm I wore to afright mankind, While guarding my gold I lay;Mightier seemed I than any man, For a fiercer never I found."
Sigurth spake:17. "The fear-helm surely no man shields When he faces a valiant foe;Oft one finds, when the foe he meets, That he is not the bravest of all."
- ↑ Oskopnir ("Not-Made"): apparently another name for Vigrith, which is named in Vafthruthnismol, 18, as the final battle-ground. Bilrost (or Bifrost): the rainbow bridge which breaks beneath Surt's followers; cf. Grimnismol, 29 and note.
- ↑ With this stanza Fafnir returns to the situation. Fear-helm: regarding the "ægis-hjalmr" cf. Reginsmol, prose after stanza 14 and note.
- ↑
Surt: ruler of the fire world; the reference is to the last great battle. Sword-sweat: blood.
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