THE COMPARATIVe VǪLUSPÁ
Stanzas 61-63
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 61:
Ðar muno eptir
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Ðar muno eptir undrsamligar
gullnar tǫflor í grasi finnaz,
þærs í árdaga áttar hǫfðo.
Then in the grass the golden tablets,
the farm-famed ones, will be found again,
which they had owned in olden days,
(the foremost gods and Fiolnir's kin).
In wondrous beauty once again
Shall the golden tables stand mid the grass,
Which the gods had owned in the days of old,
Then shall be found the wondrous-seeming
golden tables hid in the grass,
those they had used in days of yore.
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
There shall be found
in the grass
wonderful golden tables,
their own in days of yore.
There shall again the wondrous
golden tables in the grass be found,
which in days of old had possessed
the ruler of the gods, and Fiölnir's race.
a. Turner, 1836:
These things done, the wonderful dice
Are found in gilt in the grass,
Which those of the former days possessed.
STANZA 62:
Muno ósánir akrar
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Muno ósánir akrar vaxa,
bǫls mun allz batna, mun Balr koma:
búa þeir Hǫðr ok Baldr Hropts sigtóptir,
vel, valtívar — vitoð ér enn, eða hvat?
On unsown acres the ears will grow,
all bale will be bettered; will Baldr come then.
Both he and Hoth with Hrópt will dwell
and the war-gods alway: do ye wit more, or how?
Then fields unsowed bear ripened fruit.
All ills grow better, and Baldr comes back;
Baldr and Hoth dwell in Hropt's battle-hall,
And the mighty gods: would you know yet more?
d. Bray, 1908:
And there unsown shall the fields bring forth;
all harm shall be healed; Baldr will come—
Höd and Baldr shall dwell in Valhöll,
at peace the war gods. —Would ye know further, and what?
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
The fields un-sown shall yield their increase.
All sorrows shall be healed.
Balder shall come back.
Balder and Hod shall dwell in Woden’s mansions of Bliss,
in the holy places of the blessed Gods.—Know ye yet or what?
Unsown shall the fields bring forth,
all evil be amended; Baldr shall come;
Hodr and Baldr, the heavenly gods,
Hropt's glorious dwellings shall inhabit.
Understand ye yet, or what?
There were fields without sowing;
All adverse things became prosperous.
Baldur will come again.
Haudur and Baldur:
Hroptr and Sigroptr:
The Asæ will dwell without evils.
Do you yet understand?
STANZA 63:
Ðá kná Hœnir
x. Neckel’s Old Norse edition, 1914:
Ðá kná Hœnir hlautvið kiósa,
ok burir byggia brœðra tveggia
vindheim víðan — vitoð ér enn, eða hvat?
Will high-souled Hœnir handle the blood-wands,
and Ygg's brother's sons forever will dwell
in wide Wind-home: do ye wit more, or how?
Then Hönir wins the prophetic wand,
***
And the sons of the brothers of Tveggi abide
In Vindheim now: would you know yet more?
d. Bray, 1908:
Then Hönir shall cast the twigs of divining,
and the sons shall dwell of Odin's brothers
in Wind-home wide. —Would ye know further, and what?
c. Guðbrandur Vigfússon & York Powell, 1883:
Not in translation.
Then can Hoenir choose his lot,
and the two brother's sons inhabit
the spacious Vindheim.
Understand ye yet, or what?
Then Heinir shares the power of choosing Vidar,
And the sons of the two brothers
Inhabit the vast mansion of the winds.
Do you know more?