THE XTNK W0lll.lt*. 



2D 



Vafthrudnir. 



Who is the man 



That in my hall 



Speaks to me ? 



Thou shalt not 



Get out of it 



Unless thou art the wiser. 



Odin. 



1 am called Gagnrad, 1 



I have now come from my walking 



Thirsty to thy hall ; 



Needing thy bidding 



And thy welcome, Jo tun; 



Lon<' time have I travelled. 



Vafthrudnir. 



Why standing on the floor 



Dost thou speak to me ? 



Take a seat in the hall. 



Then we shall try 



Who knows more, 



The guest or the old wise one. 



Odin. 



When a poor man 



Comes to a rich one 



Let him speak useful things or be 



silent ; 



Great babbling 

 I think turns to ill 

 For one who meets a cold-ribbed 2 



man. 



We are told in the Voluspa that Odin, in the quest of 

 in formation, went to visit the Volva, or Sybil, Heid, who was 

 possessed of supernatural powers of knowledge and foresight. 

 She asks for a hearing from the sons of Heimdal, or mankind, 

 and then proceeds to tell what she recollects : 



I remember Jotnar 

 Early born, 

 Who of yore 

 Raised me; 3 



I remember nine worlds, 



Nine ividi* 



The famous world-tree (Yggdrasil) 



Beneath the earth. 



The nine worlds were 1, Muspel ; 2, Asgard ; 3, Vana- 

 heim (home of the Vanir) ; 4, Midgard ; 5, Alfheim (world of 

 the Alfar); 6, Mannheim (home of men); 7, Jotimheim (the 

 home of the Jotnar) ; 8, Hel ; 9, Niflheim. 



The first beginnings of all things were apparently as obscure 

 to the Volva as to others ; nothing existed before the Creation. 

 The world was then a gaping void (Ginnungagap), and there 

 the Jotun Ymir, or the Hrim Thursar, lived. On each side of 



1 The one who gives useful advice. 



2 When the heart, which is near the 

 ribs, is cold, the rihs are also cold ; 

 therefore this means cold-hearted. 



3 Foeda means both to give birth to, 

 to raise, and to feed. 



* Ividi, a very obscure word (onlv 



found here in the whole Northern litera- 

 ture), which has been translated dif- 

 ferently without any particle of authority 

 in any case, and in each case only as a 

 mere guess. The word rid means tree, 

 perhaps the world-tree, Yggdrasil, which 

 d its routs under the world. 



