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Poetic Edda

For mingled therein  was magic earth,Ice-cold sea,  and the blood of swine.
23.[1] In the cup were runes  of every kind,Written and reddened,  I could not read them;A heather-fish  from the Haddings' land,An ear uncut,  and the entrails of beasts.
24.[2] Much evil was brewed  within the beer,Blossoms of trees,  and acorns burned,Dew of the hearth,  and holy entrails,The liver of swine,—  all grief to allay.
25.[3] Then I forgot,  when the draught they gave me,There in the hall,  my husband's slaying;On their knees the kings  all three did kneel,Ere she herself  to speak began:
  1. ↑ The Volsungasaga quotes stanzas 23-24. Heather-fish: a snake. Haddings' land: the world of the dead, so called because, according to Saxo Grammaticus, the Danish king Hadingus once visited it. It is possible that the comma should follow "heather-fish," making the "ear uncut" (of grain) come from the world of the dead.
  2. ↑ Dew of the hearth: soot.
  3. ↑ In the manuscript, and in some editions, the first line is in the third person plural: "Then they forgot,  when the draught they had drunk." The second line in the original is manifestly in bad shape, and has been variously emended. I forgot: this emendation is doubtful, in view of stanza 30, but cf. note to stanza 22. The kings all three: probably Atli's emissaries, though the interpolated lines of stanza 20 name four of them. I suspect that line 4 is wrong, and should read: "Ere he himself (Atli)  to speak began." Certainly stanzas 26-27

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