Völuspá-The Song of the Sybil
(W H Auden & P B Taylor Translation)
Heidi men call me when their
homes I visit,
A far seeing Volva, wise in talismans.
Caster of spells, cunning in magic.
To wicked women welcome
always.
Arm rings and necklaces, Odhinn you gave me
To learn my lore, to learn my magic:
Wider and
wider through all worlds I see.
Outside I sat by myself when you came,
Terror of the gods, and gazed in my eyes.
What do you ask of me? Why tempt me?
Odhinn, I know where your eye is concealed,
Hidden away in the well of Mimir:
Mimir each morning his mead drinks
From Valfather's pledge. Well would you know more?
Of Heimdal
too and his horn I know.
Hidden under the holy tree
Down on it pours a precious stream from Valfather's pledge
Well would you know more?
Silence I ask of the sacred folk,
Silence of the kith and kin of Heimdal:
At your
will Valfather, I shall well relate
The old songs of men I remember best.
I tell of giants from times
forgotten.
Those who fed me in former days:
Nine worlds I can reckon, nine roots of the tree.
The wonderful
ash, way under the ground
When Ymir lived long ago
Was no sand or sea, no surging waves.
Nowhere was there
earth nor heaven above.
Bur a grinning gap and grass nowhere.
The sons of Bur then built up the lands.
Moulded in magnificence middle-Earth:
Sun stared from the south on the stones of their hall,
From the ground there
sprouted green leeks.
Sun turned from the south, sister of Moon,
Her right arm rested on the rim of Heaven;
She had no inkling where her hall was,
Nor Moon a notion of what might he had,
The planets knew not where their
places were.
The high gods gathered in council
In their hall of judgement. all the rulers:
To Night and
to Nightfall their names gave,
The Morning they named and the Mid-Day,
Mid-Winter, Mid-Summer, for the assigning
of years.
At Ida's Field the Aesir met:
Temple and altar they timbered and raised,
Set up a forge
to smithy treasures,
Tongs they fashioned and tools wrought;
Played chess in the court and cheerful were;
Gold they lacked not,
the gleaming metal
Then came three, the Thurs maidens,
Rejoicing in their strength, from Giant-home.
The
high Gods gathered in council.
In their hall of judgement: Who of the dwarves
Should mould man by master craft
From Brimir's blood and Blain' s limbs?
Motsognir was their mighty ruler,
Greatest of dwarves, and Durin
after him :
The dwarves did as Durin directed,
Many man forms made from the earth.
Nyi and Nidi, Nordri, Sudri,
Austri and Vestri, Althjof, Dvalin, Bivor,
Bavor Bombur, Nori, An and Anar, Ai, Mjodvitnir, Veignr and Gandalf,
Vindalf,
Thorin, Thror and Thrain, Thekkur, Litur, Vitur, Nar and Nyradur,
Fili, Kili, Fundin, Nali Hefti, Vili, Hanar, Sviur,
Billing, Bruni, Bildur,
and Buri, Frar, Hornbori Fraegur, Loni, Aurvangur, Jari, Eikinskjaldi:
(All Durin's
folk I have duly named,)
I must tell of the dwarves in Dvalin' s host;
Like lions they were in Lofar's
time:
In Juravale's marsh they made their dwelling,
From their Stone hall set out on journeys,
There
was Draupnir and Dolgthrasir, Har, Haugspori, Hlevangur, Gloi, Dori,
Ori, Dufur, Andvari, Skirvir, Virvir Skafidur, Ai,
Alf and Yngvi,
Eikinskjaldi, Fjalar and Frosti, Finn and Ginnar: Men will remember while
men live
The long
line of Lofar's forbears.
Then from the host three came,
Great, merciful, from the God's home:
Ash and
Elm on earth they found,
Faint, feeble, with no fate assigned them
Breath they had not, nor blood nor senses,
Nor language possessed, nor life-hue:
Odhinn gave them breath, Haenir senses,
Blood and life hue Lothur gave.
I
know an ash tree, named Yggdrasil:
Sparkling showers are shed on its leaves
That drip dew, into the dales below,
By Urd's well it waves evergreen,
Stands over that still pool,
Near it a bower whence now there come
The
Fate Maidens, first Urd,
Then Verdandi, the second
Skuld ,third of the Norns: scorer of runes,
The laws that
determine the lives of men
They fixed forever and their fate sealed.
The first war in the world I well remember,
When Gullveig was spitted on spear-points
And burned in the hall of. the high god:
Thrice burned, thrice reborn,
Often laid low, she lives yet,
The gods hastened to their hall of judgement,
Sat in council to discover who
Had
tainted all the air with corruption
And Odhinn's maid offered to the giants,
At the host Odhinn hurled his
spear
In the first world-battle; broken was the plankwall
Of the gods fortress: the fierce Vanes
Caused war
to occur in the fields.
The gods hastened to their hall of judgement,
Sat in council to discover who
Had
tainted all the air with corruption
And Odhinn's maid offered to the giants.
One Thorr felled in his fierce
rage;
Seldom he sits when of such he hears:
Oaths were broken, binding vows,
Solemn agreements sworn between
them.
Valkyries I saw, coming from afar,
Eagerly riding to aid the Goths;
Skuld bore one shield,
Skogul another
Gunn, Hild, Gondul and Spearskogul:
Duly have I named the daughters of Odhinn,
The valiant riders
the Valkyries.
Baldur I saw the bleeding God,
His fate still hidden, Odhinn's Son:
Tall on
the plain a plant grew,
A slender marvel, the mistletoe.
From that fair shrub, shot by Hodur,
Flew the fatal dart that felled
the god, .
But Baldur' s brother was born soon after:
Though one night old, Odhinn's Son
Took a vow
to avenge that death.
His hands he washed not nor his hair combed .
Till Baldur's bane was borne to the
pyre:,
Deadly the bow drawn by Vali,
The strong string of stretched gut,
But Frigga wept in Fensalir
For
the woe of Valhalla. Well, would you know more?
I see one in bonds by the boiling springs;
Like Loki he looks,
loathsome to view:
There Sigyn sits, sad by her husband,
In woe by her man. Well would you know more?
From
the east through Venom Valley runs
Over jagged rocks the River Gruesome.
North, in Darkdale, stands
the dwelling place
Of Sindri's kin, covered with gold;
A hall also in Everfrost,
The banquet hall of Brimir
the giant.
A third I see, that no sunlight reaches,
On Dead Man's Shore: the doors face northward,
Through its smoke vent venom drips,
Serpent skins enskein that hall.
Men wade there tormented by
the stream,
Vile murderers, men forsworn
And artful seducers of other mens wives:
Nidhogg sucks blood from
the bodies of the dead
The wolf rends them. Well, would you know more?
In the east dwells a crone,
in Ironwood:
The brood of Fenris are bred there
Wolf-monsters, one of whom
Eventually shall devour the sun.
The
giants watchman, joyful Eggthur
Sits on his howe and harps well:
The red cock, called All-Knower
Boldly crows
from Birdwood.
Goldencomb to the gods crows
Who wakes the warriors in Valhalla:
A soot red hen
also calls
From Hel's hall, deep under the ground.
Loud howls Garm before Gnipahellir,
Bursting his fetters, Fenris
runs:
Further in the future afar I behold
The twilight of the gods who gave victory.
Brother shall strike brother
and both fall,
Sisters' sons defiled with incest;
Evil be on earth, an age of. whoredom,
Of sharp sword-play
and shields clashing,
A wind-age, a wolf-age till the world ruins:
No man to another shall mercy show.
The
waters are troubled, the waves surge up:
Announcing now the knell of Fate,
Heimdal winds his horn aloft,
On
Hel's road all men tremble
Yggdrasil trembles, the towering ash
Groans in woe; the wolf is loose:
Odhinn speaks
with the head of Mimir
Before he is swallowed by Surt's kin.
From the east drives Hrym, lifts up
his shield
The squamous serpent squirms with rage
The great worm with the waves contending
The pale-beaked
eagle pecks at the dead,
Shouting for joy: the ship Naglfar
Sails out from the east, at its helm Loki
With the children of
darkness, the doom-bringers
Offspring of monsters, allies of the wolf,
All who Byleists's brother follow.
What
of the gods? What of the elves?
Gianthome groans the gods are in council
The dwarves grieve before their door of
stone,
Masters of walls. Well, would you know more?
Surt with the bane of branches comes
From the south, on his sword
the sun of the Valgods,
Crags topple, the crone falls headlong,
Men tread Hel's road, the Heavens split open.
A
further woe falls upon Hlin
As Odhinn comes forth to fight the wolf;
The killer of Beli battles with Surt:
Now
shall fall Frigga's beloved.
Now valiant comes Valfather's son,
Vidar, to vie with Valdyr in battle,
Plunges
his sword into he son of Hvedrung,
Avenging his father with a fell thrust.
Now the son of Hlodyn and Odhinn
comes
To fight with Fenris; fiercest of warriors
He mauls in his rage all Middle-Earth;
Men in fear all flee
their homesteads;
Nine paces back steps Bur's son
Retreats from the worm of taunts unafraid.
Now
death is the portion of doomed men,
Red with blood the buildings of gods,
The sun turns black in the summer after,
Winds whine. Well, would know more?
Earth sinks in the sea, the sun turns black,
Cast down from Heaven
are the hot stars,
Fumes reek, into flames burst,
The sky itself is scorched with fire.
I see
Earth rising a second time
Out of the foam, fair and green;
Down from the fells fish to capture,
Wings the
eagle; waters flow.
At lda's Field the Aesir meet:
They remember the worm of Middle-Earth,
Ponder
again the great twilight
And the ancient runes of the high god
Boards shall be found of a beauty to
wonder at,
Boards of gold in the grass long after,
The chess boards they owned in the olden days,
Unsown
acres shall harvests bear,
Evil be abolished, Baldur return
And Hropt's hall with Hod rebuild,
Wise gods.
Well, would you know more?
Haenir shall wield the wand of prophecy,
The sons two brothers set up their dwelling
In wide Windhome. Well, would you know more?
Fairer than sunlight, I see a hall
A hall thatched with gold in
Gimle:
Kind Lords shall live there in delight for ever.
Now rides the Strong One to Rainbow Door,
Powerful from heaven,
the All-Ruler:
From the depths below a drake comes flying
The dark dragon from Darkfell,
Bears on his pinions
the bodies of men,
Soars overhead I sink now.
