The poetic Edda

1. This stanza is quoted by Snorri, the second line being omitted in most of the Prose Edda manuscripts.

2. Probably the first and second lines had originally nothing to do with the third and fourth, the last two not referring to host or guest, but to the general danger of backing one’s views with the sword. [30]

6. Lines 5 and 6 appear to have been added to the stanza. [31]

12. Some editors have combined this stanza in various ways with the last two lines of stanza 11, as in the manuscript the first two lines of the latter are abbreviated, and, if they belong there at all, are presumably identical with the first two lines of stanza 10. [32]

13.The heron: the bird of forgetfulness, referred to in line 1. Gunnloth: the daughter of the giant Suttung, from whom Othin won the mead of poetry. For this episode see stanzas 104–110.

14.Fjalar: apparently another name for Suttung. This stanza, and probably 13, seem to have been inserted as illustrative. [34]

25. The first two lines are abbreviated in the manuscript, but are doubtless identical with the first two lines of stanza 24.

27. The last two lines were probably added as a commentary on lines 3 and 4. [36]

36. The manuscript has “little” in place of “a hut” in line 1, but this involves an error in the initial-rhymes, and the emendation has been generally accepted.

37. Lines 1 and 2 are abbreviated in the manuscript, but are doubtless identical with the first two lines of stanza 36.

39. In the manuscript this stanza follows stanza 40. [37]

40. The key-word in line 3 is missing in the manuscript, but editors have agreed in inserting a word meaning “generous.”

41. In line 3 the manuscript adds “givers again” to “gift-givers.” [39]

55–56. The first pairs of lines are abbreviated in the manuscript. [40]

61. The fifth line is probably a spurious addition. [41]

62. This stanza follows stanza 63 in the manuscript, but there are marks therein indicating the transposition.

65. The manuscript indicates no lacuna (lines 1 and 2). Many editors have filled out the stanza with two lines from late paper manuscripts, the passage running:

“A man must be watchful | and wary as well,

And fearful of trusting a friend.”

[42]

70. The manuscript has “and a worthy life” in place of “than to lie a corpse” in line 1, but Rask suggested the emendation as early as 1818, and most editors have followed him. [43]

73–74. These seven lines are obviously a jumble. The two lines of stanza 73 not only appear out of place, but the verse-form is unlike that of the surrounding stanzas. In 74, the second line is clearly interpolated, and line 1 has little enough connection with lines 3, 4 and 5. It looks as though some compiler (or copyist) had inserted here various odds and ends for which he could find no better place.

75. The word “gold” in line 2 is more or less conjectural, the manuscript being obscure. The reading in line 4 is also doubtful. [44]

76. In the manuscript this stanza follows 78, the order being: 77, 78, 76, 80, 79, 81. Fitjung (“the Nourisher”): Earth.

79. This stanza is certainly in bad shape, and probably out of place here. Its reference to runes as magic signs suggests that it properly belongs in some list of charms like the Ljothatal (stanzas 147–165). The stanza-form is so irregular as to show either that something has been lost or that there have been interpolations. The manuscript indicates no lacuna; Gering fills out the assumed gap as follows:

“Certain is that | which is sought from runes,

The runes—,” etc.

[45]

81. With this stanza the verse-form, as indicated in the translation, abruptly changes to Malahattr. What has happened seems to have been something like this. Stanza 80 introduces the idea of man’s love for woman. Consequently some reciter or compiler (or possibly even a copyist) took occasion to insert at this point certain stanzas concerning the ways of women. Thus stanza 80 would account for the introduction of stanzas 81 and 82, which, in turn, apparently drew stanza 83 in with them. Stanza 84 suggests the fickleness of women, and is immediately followed—again with a change of verse-form—by a list of things equally untrustworthy (stanzas 85–90). Then, after a few more stanzas on love in the regular measure of the Hovamol (stanzas 91–95), is introduced, by way of illustration, Othin’s story of his [46]adventure with Billing’s daughter (stanzas 96–102). Some such process of growth, whatever its specific stages may have been, must be assumed to account for the curious chaos of the whole passage from stanza 81 to stanza 102.

84. Lines 3 and 4 are quoted in the Fostbræthrasaga.

85. Stanzas 85–88 and 90 are in Fornyrthislag, and clearly come from a different source from the rest of the Hovamol.

87. The stanza is doubtless incomplete. Some editors add from a late paper manuscript two lines running:

“In a light, clear sky | or a laughing throng,

In the howl of a dog | or a harlot’s grief.”

[47]

88. This stanza follows stanza 89 in the manuscript. Many editors have changed the order, for while stanza 89 is pretty clearly an interpolation wherever it stands, it seriously interferes with the sense if it breaks in between 87 and 88. [48]

96. Here begins the passage (stanzas 96–102) illustrating the falseness of woman by the story of Othin’s unsuccessful love-affair with Billing’s daughter. Of this person we know nothing beyond what is here told, but the story needs little comment. [49]

102. Rask adds at the beginning of this stanza two lines from a late paper manuscript, running:

“Few are so good | that false they are never

To cheat the mind of a man.”