Introductory Note
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Bellows, Henry Adams
To the son of Svafrthorin;
She is it that holds | and has for her own
The rule of the hall so rich.”
Svipdag spake:
25. “Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,
For now the truth would I know:
What call they the gate? | for among the gods
Ne’er saw man so grim a sight.”
Fjolsvith spake:
26. “Thrymgjol they call it; | ’twas made by the three,
The sons of Solblindi;
And fast as a fetter | the farer it holds,
Whoever shall lift the latch.”
Svipdag spake:
27. “Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,
For now the truth would I know: [242]
What call they the house? | for no man beheld
‘Mongst the gods so grim a sight.”
Fjolsvith spake:
28. “Gastropnir is it, | of old I made it
From the limbs of Leirbrimir;
I braced it so strongly | that fast it shall stand
So long as the world shall last.”
Svipdag spake:
29. “Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,
For now the truth would I know:
What call they the tree | that casts abroad
Its limbs o’er every land?”
Fjolsvith spake:
30. “Mimameith its name, | and no man knows
What root beneath it runs;
And few can guess | what shall fell the tree,
For fire nor iron shall fell it.”
Svipdag spake:
31. “Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,
For now the truth would I know: [243]
What grows from the seed | of the tree so great,
That fire nor iron shall fell?”
Fjolsvith spake:
32. “Women, sick | with child, shall seek