1. Once were the gods | together met,
And the goddesses came | and council held,
And the far-famed ones | the truth would find,
Why baleful dreams | to Baldr had come.
2. Then Othin rose, | the enchanter old,
And the saddle he laid | on Sleipnir's back;
Thence rode he down | to Niflhel deep,
And the hound he met | that came from hell.
3. Bloody he was | on his breast before,
At the father of magic | he howled from afar;
Forward rode Othin, | the earth resounded
Till the house so high | of Hel he reached.
4. Then Othin rode | to the eastern door,
There, he knew well, | was the wise-woman's grave;
Magic he spoke | and mighty charms,
Till spell-bound she rose, | and in death she spoke:
5. "What is the man, | to me unknown,
That has made me travel | the troublous road?
I was snowed on with snow, | and smitten with rain,
And drenched with dew; | long was I dead."
[1. Lines 1-3 are identical with Thrymskvitha, 13, 1-3. Baldr: concerning this best and noblest of the gods, the son of Othin
and Frigg, who comes again among the survivors after the final battle, cf. Voluspo, 32 and 62, and notes. He is almost never
mentioned anywhere except in connection with the story of his death, though Snorri has one short passage praising his virtue
and beauty. After stanza 1 two old editions, and one later one, insert four stanzas from late paper manuscripts.
2. Sleipnir: Othin's eight-legged horse, the son of Loki and the stallion Svathilfari; cf. Lokasenna, 23, and Grimnismol, 44,
and notes. Niflhel: the murky ("nifl") dwelling of Hel, goddess of the dead. The hound: Garm; cf. Voluspo, 44.
3. Father of magic: Othin appears constantly as the god of magic. Hel: offspring of Loki and the giantess Angrbotha, as were
the wolf Fenrir and Mithgarthsorm. She ruled the world of the unhappy dead, either those who had led evil lives or, according to
another tradition, those who had not died in battle. The manuscript marks line 3 as the beginning of a stanza,
and thus the editions vary in their grouping of the lines of this and the succeeding stanzas.]
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1. Senn váru æsir allir á þingi
ok ásynjur allar á máli,
ok um þat réðu ríkir tívar,
hví væri Baldri ballir draumar.
2. Upp reis Óðinn, alda gautr,
ok hann á Sleipni söðul of lagði;
reið hann niðr þaðan niflheljar til;
mætti hann hvelpi, þeim er ór helju kom.
3. Sá var blóðugr um brjóst framan
ok galdrs föður gól of lengi;
fram reið Óðinn, foldvegr dunði;
hann kom at hávu Heljar ranni.
4. Þá reið Óðinn fyrir austan dyrr,
þar er hann vissi völu leiði;
nam hann vittugri valgaldr kveða,
unz nauðig reis, nás orð of kvað:
5. "Hvat er manna þat mér ókunnra,
er mér hefir aukit erfitt sinni?
Var ek snivin snævi ok slegin regni
ok drifin döggu, dauð var ek lengi."
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