Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/57

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Voluspo

54.[1] Then comes Sigfather's  mighty son,Vithar, to fight  with the foaming wolf;In the giant's son  does he thrust his swordFull to the heart:  his father is avenged.
55.[2] Hither there comes  the son of Hlothyn,The bright snake gapes  to heaven above;.........Against the serpent  goes Othin's son.
56.[3] In anger smites  the warder of earth,—Forth from their homes  must all men flee;—Nine paces fares  the son of Fjorgyn,And, slain by the serpent,  fearless he sinks.
  1. ↑ As quoted by Snorri the first line of this stanza runs: "Fares Othin's son  to fight with the wolf." Sigfather ("Father of Victory"): Othin. His son, Vithar, is the silent god, famed chiefly for his great shield, and his strength, which is little less than Thor's. He survives the destruction. The giant's son: Fenrir.
  2. ↑ This and the following stanza are clearly in bad shape. In Regius only lines 1 and 4 are found, combined with stanza 56 as a single stanza. Line 1 does not appear in the Hauksbok version, the stanza there beginning with line 2. Snorri, in quoting these two stanzas, omits 55, 2-4, and 56, 3, making a single stanza out of 55, 1, and 56, 4, 2, 1, in that order. Moreover, the Hauksbok manuscript at this point is practically illegible. The lacuna (line 3) is, of course, purely conjectural, and all sorts of arrangements of the lines have been attempted by editors. Hlothyn: another name for Jorth ("Earth"), Thor's mother; his father was Othin. The snake: Mithgarthsorm; cf. stanza 50 and note. Othin's son: Thor. The fourth line in Regius reads "against the wolf," but if this line refers to Thor at all, and not to Vithar, the Hauksbok reading, "serpent," is correct.
  3. ↑ The warder of earth: Thor. The son of Fjorgyn: again

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