THE COMPARATIVe VǪLUSPÁ
Stanzas 22-24
Joseph S. Hopkins for Mimisbrunnr.info, August 2022
The present page consists of an entry of Mimisbrunnr.info’s The Comparative Vǫluspá. The Mimisbrunnr.info team designed The Comparative Vǫluspá as a resource to assist in the study of both the poem and its English language translations. You can read about the project’s approach and goals here.
The Comparative Vǫluspá features six public domain English editions of Vǫluspá presented in reverse chronological order, specifically those of Lee M. Hollander (first edition, 1928), Henry Adams Bellows (1923), Olive Bray (1908), Guðbrandur Vigfússon and York Powell (1883), Benjamin Thorpe (1866), and Sharon Turner (1836). We precede these with Gustav Neckel’s 1914 Old Norse edition of the poem, which is also in the public domain in the United States, and which we’ve used as a basis for the project’s stanza order.
Please note that if this is your first encounter with the poem, The Comparative Vǫluspá can serve as an introduction, but you stand to benefit from Carolyne Larrington’s revised edition (2014) as your foundation. Not only do Larrington’s notes reflect contemporary scholarship but her revised edition contains two separate translations of the poem from two notably different manuscripts of the poem. Translators often combine these manuscripts and this can lead to significant confusion for non-specialists.
STANZA 22:
Heiði hana héto
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Heiði hana héto, hvard til húsa kom,
vǫlo vel spáa, vitti hon ganda;
seið hon, hvars hon kunni, seið hon hug leikinn,
æ var hon angan illrar brúðar.
Heath she was hight where to houses she came,
the wise seeress, the witchcraft plied—
cast spells where she could, cast spells on the mind;
to wicked women she was welcome ever.
Heith they named her who sought their home,
The wide-seeing witch, in magic wise;
Minds she bewitched that were moved by her magic,
To evil women a joy she was.
Men called her ‘Witch,’ when she came to their dwellings,
flattering seeress; wands she enchanted,
spells many wove she, light-hearted wove them,
and of evil women was ever the joy.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
Wheresoever she came to a house they called her Haid,
the soothsaying Sibyl; she charmed diving rods,
she knew witchcraft, she was aye the delight of the evil Bride [Hell].
Heidi they called her, whithersoe'r she came,
the well-foreseeing Vala: wolves she tamed,
magic arts she knew, magic arts practised;
ever was she the joy of evil people.
a. Turner, 1836:
They called her Heid,
Whatever house they came to.
Vola of good omen
Dishonoured the divine mysteries.
She knew the magic arts.
She could use enchantments,
Always troubling like an evil woman.
STANZA 23:
Þa gengo regin
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Þa gengo regin ǫll á rǫkstóla,
ginnheilog goð, ok um þat gættoz:
hvárt skyldo æsir afráð gialda
eða skyldo goðin ǫll gildi eiga.
Then gathered together the gods for counsel,
the holy hosts, and held converse:
should the Æsir a truce with tribute buy,
or should all gods share in the feast.
Then sought the gods their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, and council held,
Whether the gods should tribute give.
Or to all alike should worship belong.
d. Bray, 1908:
Then went all the Powers to their thrones of doom,
the most holy gods, and o’er this took counsel:
whether the Æsir should pay a were-gild
and all Powers together make peaceful offering.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
Then all the Powers, the most high Gods,
assembled to their judgment-seats and took counsel together,
whether the Anses should pay tribute,
or were they to exchange hostages and make a league.
Then went the powers all to their judgment-seats,
the all-holy gods, and thereon held council,
whether the Æsir should avenge the crime,
or all the gods receive atonement.
Then the Deities
Went each to their judicial stools.
Considering whether mischiefs from bad counsel
Would occur from the Asæ;
Or whether all the Gods
Should reserve their banquets to themselves.
STANZA 24:
Fleygði Óðinn ok
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Fleygði Óðinn ok í fólk um skaut:
þat var enn fólkvíg fyrst í heimi:
brotinn var borðveggr borgar ása,
knátto vanir vígská vǫllo sporna.
His spear did Óthin speed o'er the host:
the first of feuds was thus fought in the world;
was broken in battle the breastwork of Ásgarth,
fighting Vanir the field trampled.
On the host his spear did Othin hurl,
Then in the world did war first come;
The wall that girdled the gods was broken,
And the field by the warlike Wanes was trodden.
d. Bray, 1908:
But Odin hurled and shot ‘mid the host;
and still raged the first great war in the world.
Broken then were the bulwarks of Asgard,
the Wanes, war wary, trampled the field,
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
Woden hurled spears and shot into the host.
This was the first war in the world.
The paled-wall of the Burgh of the Anses was broken,
the Wanes [Gods] marched over the plains that rung with war.
Broken was the outer wall of the Æsir's burgh,
The Vanir, foreseeing conflict tramp o'er the plains,
Odin cast [his spear], and mid the people hurled it:
that was the first warfare in the world.
Odin hastened,
And sent his darts into the crowd.
This was the first slaughter of men in the world.
The wall of the city of Asæ was broken.
Vaner made the fields to be trampled by war.