Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/53

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

Voluspo

43.^[1] Then to the gods crowed Gollinkambi,He wakes the heroes in Othin's hall;And beneath the earth does another crow,The rust-red bird at the bars of Hel.

44.^[2] Now Garm howls loud before Gnipahellir,The fetters will burst, and the wolf run free;Much do I know, and more can seeOf the fate of the gods, the mighty in fight.

45.^[3] Brothers shall fight and fell each other,And sisters' sons shall kinship stain;

the poems. Fjalar, the cock whose crowing wakes the giants for the final struggle.

↑ Gollinkambi ("Gold-Comb"): the cock who wakes the gods and heroes, as Fjalar does the giants. The rust-red bird: the name of this bird, who wakes the people of Hel's domain, is nowhere stated.
↑ This is a refrain-stanza. In Regius it appears in full only at this point, but is repeated in abbreviated form before stanzas 50 and 59. In the Hauksbok version the full stanza comes first between stanzas 35 and 42, then, in abbreviated form, it occurs four times: before stanzas 45, 50, 55 and 59. In the Hauksbok line 3 runs: "Farther I see and more can say." Garm: the dog who guards the gates of Hel's kingdom; cf. Baldrs Draumar, 2 ff, and Grimnismol, 44. Gniparhellir ("the Cliff-Cave"): the entrance to the world of the dead. The wolf: Fenrir; cf. stanza 39 and note.
↑ From this point on through stanza 57 the poem is quoted by Snorri, stanza 49 alone being omitted. There has been much discussion as to the status of stanza 45. Lines 4 and 5 look like an interpolation. After line 5 the Hauksbok has a line running: "The world resounds, the witch is flying." Editors have arranged these seven lines in various ways, with lacunae freely indicated. Sisters' sons: in all Germanic countries the relations between uncle and nephew were felt to be particularly close.

[19]

[Voluspo_43-1] Gollinkambi ("Gold-Comb"): the cock who wakes the gods and heroes, as Fjalar does the giants. The rust-red bird: the name of this bird, who wakes the people of Hel's domain, is nowhere stated.

[Voluspo_44-2] This is a refrain-stanza. In Regius it appears in full only at this point, but is repeated in abbreviated form before stanzas 50 and 59. In the Hauksbok version the full stanza comes first between stanzas 35 and 42, then, in abbreviated form, it occurs four times: before stanzas 45, 50, 55 and 59. In the Hauksbok line 3 runs: "Farther I see and more can say." Garm: the dog who guards the gates of Hel's kingdom; cf. Baldrs Draumar, 2 ff, and Grimnismol, 44. Gniparhellir ("the Cliff-Cave"): the entrance to the world of the dead. The wolf: Fenrir; cf. stanza 39 and note.

[Voluspo_45-3] From this point on through stanza 57 the poem is quoted by Snorri, stanza 49 alone being omitted. There has been much discussion as to the status of stanza 45. Lines 4 and 5 look like an interpolation. After line 5 the Hauksbok has a line running: "The world resounds, the witch is flying." Editors have arranged these seven lines in various ways, with lacunae freely indicated. Sisters' sons: in all Germanic countries the relations between uncle and nephew were felt to be particularly close.

[1]

[2]

[3]