Зображення сторінки
PDF
ePub

This is said in Eiríksmál:

What dream is that? quoth Odin,-
I thought to rise ere day-break
To make Valhall ready

For troops of slain;

I roused the champions,
Bade them rise swiftly
Benches to strew,

To wash beer-flagons;
The Valkyrs to pour wine,
As a Prince were coming.

[blocks in formation]

So sang Bragi:

Thus

'Tis seen, on my shield's surface,

How the Son of the Father of Peoples
Craved to try his strength full swiftly
'Gainst the rain-beat Snake earth-circling.

sang Eínarr:

Since less with Bestla's Offspring

Prevail most lordly princes

Than thou, my task is singing

Thy praise in songs of battle.

Thus sang Thorvaldr Blending-Skald:

Now have I much

In the middle grasped
Of the son of Borr,
Of Búri's heir.

III. "Now you shall hear how the skalds have termed the
art of poesy in these metaphorical phrases which have been
recorded before: for example, by calling it Kvasir's Gore
and Ship of the Dwarves, Dwarves' Mead, Mead of the
Æsir, Giants' Father-Ransom, Liquor of Ódrerir and of
Bodn and of Són, and Fullness of these, Liquor of Hnit-
björg, Booty and Find and Gift of Odin, even as has been
sung in these verses which Einarr Tinkling-Scale wrought:
I pray the high-souled Warder
Of earth to hear the Ocean

Of the Cliff of Dwarves, my verses:
Hear, Earl, the Gore of Kvasir.

And as Einarr Tinkling-Scale sang further:

The Dwarves' Crag's Song-wave rushes
O'er all the dauntless shield-host
Of him who speeds the fury

Of the shield-wall's piercing sword-bane.

Even as Ormr Steinthórsson sang:

The body of the dame

And my dead be borne
Into one hall; the Drink
Of Dvalinn, Franklins, hear.

And as Refr sang:

I reveal the Thought's Drink
Of the Rock-Folk to Thorsteinn;
The Billow of the Dwarf-Crag
Plashes; I bid men hearken.

Even as Egill sang:

The Prince requires my lore,
And bound his praise to pour,
Odin's Mead I bore

To English shore.

And as Glúmr Geirason sang:

Let the Princely Giver hearken:
I hold the God-King's liquor;

Let silence, then, be granted,
While we sing the loss of thanes.

And as Eyvindr sang:

A hearing I crave

For the High One's Liquor,

While I utter

Gillingr's Atonement;

While his kin

In the Kettle-Brewing
Of the Gallows-Lord
To the gods I trace.

Even as Einarr Tinkling-Scale sang:

The Wave of Odin surges;
Of Ódrerir's Sea a billow

'Gainst the tongue's song-glade crashes;
Aye our King's works are goodly.

[blocks in formation]

Now that which Bodn's Billow
Bodes forth will straight be uttered:
Let the War-King's host make silence
In the hall, and hear the Dwarves' Ship.

And as Eilífr Gudrúnarson sang:

Grant shall ye gifts of friendship,
Since grows of Són the Seedling
In our tongue's fertile sedge-bank:
True praise of our High Lord.

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]

Egill, hear the Heart-streams
Of Odin beat in cadence
'Gainst my palate's skerry;
The God's Spoil to me is given.

Ormr Steinthórsson:

No verse of mine men need to fear,
No mockery I intertwine

In Odin's Spoil; my skill is sure

In forging songs of praise.

Úlfr Uggason:

I show to host-glad Áleifr

The Heart-Fjord's Shoal of Odin,—
My song: him do I summon

To hear the Gift of Grímnir.

Poesy is called Sea, or Liquid of the Dwarves, because Kvasir's blood was liquid in Ódrerir before the mead was made, and then it was put into the kettle; wherefore it is called Odin's Kettle-Liquor, even as Eyvindr sang and as we have recorded before:

While his kin

In the Kettle-Brewing
Of the Gallows-Lord
To the gods I trace.'

I See page 105.

« НазадПродовжити »