THE COMPARATIVe VǪLUSPÁ
Stanzas 25-27
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 25:
Þa gengo regin
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Þa gengo regin ǫll á rǫkstóla,
ginnheilog goð, ok um þat gættoz:
hverir hefði lopt allt lævi blandit
eða ætt iǫtuns Óðs mey gefna.
Then gathered together the gods for counsel,
the holy hosts, and held converse:
who filled the air with foul treason,
and to uncouth etins Óthin's wife given.
Then sought the gods their assembly-seats.
The holy ones, and council held,
To find who with venom the air had filled.
Or had given Oth's bride to the giants’ brood.
Then went all the Powers to their thrones of doom,
the most holy gods, and o’er this took counsel:
who all the air had mingled with poison
and Freyja had yielded to the race of Jötuns.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
Then all the Powers, the most high Gods,
assembled to their judgment-seats and took counsel together
to know who had charged the air with noisome venom
and given the Maid of Od [Freyja] to Giant-kind.
Then went the powers all to their judgment-seats,
the all-holy gods, and thereon held council:
who had all the air with evil mingled?
or to the Jötun race Od's maid had given?
a. Turner, 1836:
Then all the gods went to their judicial stools:
The Holy Deities: to consider
Who would mingle the æther and the sea;
Or give the Virgin Odi
To the race of the Jotna (the giants).
STANZA 26:
Þórr einn þar
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Þórr einn þar vá, þrunginn móði
— hann sialdan sitr, er hann slíkt um fregn! —:
á gengoz eiðar, orð ok sœri,
mál ǫll meginlig, er á meðal fóro.
Thewy Thór then overthrew the foe,—
he seldom sits when of such he hears:
were sword oaths broken, and solemn vows,
gods' plighted troth, the pledges given.
In swelling rage then rose up Thor, —
Seldom he sits when he such things hears, —
And the oaths were broken, the words and bonds,
The mighty pledges between them made.
d. Bray, 1908:
Alone fought the Thunderer with raging heart—
seldom he rests when he hears such tidings.
Oaths were broken, words and swearing,
all solemn treaties made betwixt them.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
Thor alone was swelling with wrath,
he seldom sits still when he hears such news.
Then were utterly broken all oaths and plighted faith
and mighty leagues sworn between them.
There alone was Thor with anger swollen.
He seldom sits, when of the like he hears.
Oaths are not held sacred; nor words, nor swearing,
nor binding compacts reciprocally made.
Thor was one there; turgid with bile:
He rarely sat,
When he perceived such things.
Oath and compacts were cut thro',
And all the controversies which intervened.
STANZA 27:
Veit hon Heimdallar
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Veit hon Heimdallar hlióð um fólgit
und heiðvǫnom helgom baðmi;
á sér hon ausaz aurgom forsi
af veði Valfǫðrs — vitoð ér enn, eða hvat?
Where Heimdall's horn is hid, she knows,
under heaven-touching holy world-tree;
on it are shed showery falls
from Fiolnir's pledge: know ye further, or how?
I know of the horn of Heimdall, hidden
Under the high-reaching holy tree;
On it there pours from Valfather's pledge
A mighty stream: would you know yet more?
d. Bray, 1908:
I know where Heimdal’s hearing is hidden
under the heaven-wont holy tree,
which I see ever showered with falling streams
from All-father’s pledge. —Would ye know further, and what?
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
I [the Sibyl] know the trumpet-blast of Heimdal,
hide beneath the wide-shadowing Holy Tree.
I see a stream rush in rapids over the pledge of Wal-Father.
—Know ye yet or what?
She knows that Heimdall's horn is hidden
under the heaven-bright holy tree.
A river she sees flow, with foamy fall,
from Valfather's pledge. Understand ye yet, or what?
She knew;
Heimdallur had the secret song;
Under the same sacred zone
She beheld the river
Flowing with its dark torrent.
From the compact of Valfodur.
Know you more? It is this.