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Voluspo

19.[1] An ash I know,  Yggdrasil its name,With water white  is the great tree wet;Thence come the dews  that fall in the dales,Green by Urth's well  does it ever grow.
20.[2] Thence come the maidens  mighty in wisdom,Three from the dwelling  down 'neath the tree;Urth is one named,  Verthandi the next,—On the wood they scored,—  and Skuld the third.Laws they made there,  and life allottedTo the sons of men,  and set their fates.

    that he survives the destruction, assuming in the new age the gift of prophesy (cf. stanza 63). He was given by the gods as a hostage to the Wanes after their war, in exchange for Njorth (cf. stanza 21 and note). Lothur: apparently an older name for Loki, the treacherous but ingenious son of Laufey, whose divinity Snorri regards as somewhat doubtful. He was adopted by Othin, who subsequently had good reason to regret it. Loki probably represents the blending of two originally distinct figures, one of them an old fire-god, hence his gift of heat to the newly created pair.

  1. ↑ Yggdrasil: cf. stanza 2 and note, and Grimnismol, 29-35 and notes. Urth ("The Past"): one of the three great Norns. The world-ash is kept green by being sprinkled with the marvelous healing water from her well.
  2. ↑ The maidens: the three Norns; possibly this stanza should follow stanza 8. Dwelling: Regius has "sæ" (sea) instead of "sal" (hall, home), and many editors have followed this reading, although Snorri's prose paraphrase indicates "sal." Urth, Verthandi and Skuld: "Past," "Present" and "Future." Wood, etc.: the magic signs (runes) controlling the destinies of men were cut on pieces of wood. Lines 3-4 are probably interpolations from some other account of the Norns.

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