1798.] 
Odin. *Gangrath, monarch, is my name, 
Needing hofpitality, 
To thy palace-gate I come; 
Long and rugged is the way 
Which my weary feet have trodden. 
Vaf. Gangrath, on the ftool beneath 
Let thy loitering limbs repofe: 
Then begin our ftrife of fpeech. 
Odin. Whena fon of meannefs comes 
“To the prefence of the great, 
Let him fpeak the needful word 5 
But forbeny each idle phrafe, 
If he feek a liftening ear. 
“af. Since upon thy ldwly feat, 
Still chou court the learned ftrife— 
Tell me, how is nam/’d the fteed, 
- On whofe +back the morning comes? 
Odin. {Skin-faxi is the fkiey fteed 
Who bears aloft the fmiling day 
To all the regions of mankind: 
His the ever-fhining mane, 
Vaf. Since upon thy lowly feat, 
Still thou court the learned ftrife— 
Tell me, how is aam’d the fteed 
From the eaft who bears the night. 
||Frauglt with fhowering joys of love ? 
Odin. Hrimfax is the fable fteed, 
From the eaft who brings the night 
Fraught with showering joys of love: 
As he champs the foamy bit, 
Drops of dew are fcatter’d round, 
To adorn the vales of earth. 
Vaf. Since upon thy lowly feat, 
Still thou court the learned ftrife— 
Tell me, how is nani’d the flood, 
From the dwellings of the Juses 
That divides the haunt of Goths ? 
Odin. § Ifing’s deep and murky wave, 
Parts the ancient fons of earth 
From the dwellings of the Goths, 
Open flows the mighty flood, 
Nor fhall ice arreft its courfe 
While the wheel of ages rolls. 
Vaf. Since, &c. 
Tell me how is nam’d the field 

* Gangrath means feek-advice. If this was 
the travelling name of Odin, it would eafily 
afiume in Greek the form Anacharfis. 
tin the Grecian mythology, the gods of , 
day are charioteers; but in the Gothic, not- 
withftanding Goranfon, they feem to have 
been cavaliers. 
} Skin-faxi means fhiny-locks; butto this 
horfe is never aicribed the fupremacy among 
horfes. Onthe contrary, the faga quoted in 
Percy’s edition of ** Mallet’s Northern Anti- 
uitiesy” Vol. il. page 109, exprefsly fays: 
“¢ The afh Ydrafil is the firft of trees; Sieip- 
ner, of horfes; Bifroft, of bridges,” é&c. 
\| The line Wors oc nyt reginn, literally night 
eke blifs fhowers, 1s mifrendered by the Danith 
interpreter. It is only capable of the fenfe 
ere given, as will appear by confulting the 
word WVyt in the vecabulary of the Edda Sz- 
mundar. 
§ The river Ifing was in Polith Prufija. 
Montuty Mac. No. xxxix. 
| Original Poetry. ! 
be 
453 
Where the Goths fhall ftrive in vain, 
With the flame-clad *Surtur’s might ? 
Odin. +Vigrith is the fatal field: 
Where the Goths to Surtur bend. 
He who rides a hundred leagues 
Has not croft the ample plain. 
Vaft, Gangrath, truly thou art wife j« 
Mount the footitep of my throne, 
_ And on equal cufhion plac’d 
Thence renew the ftrife of tongues, 
Big with danger, big with death. 
PART Il.t 
Odin. Firft, if thou can tell, declare 
Whence the earth and whence the fky ? 
Faft. §¥mer’s fleth produc’d the earth 5 
“Ymer’s bone, it’s rocky ribs 5 
Ymer’s fkull, the fkiey vault; 
Ymer’s teeth, the mountain-ice 5 ' 
Ymer’s fweat, the ocean-falt 
Odin. Next, if thou can tell, declare 
Who was parent to the moon 
That fhines upon the fleep of man? 
And who is parent to the fun ? 
Vaft. Know that ||Mundilfer is hight 
Father to the moon and fnn: 
Age on age fhall roll away 
While they mark the months and years. 
Odin. If fo far thy wifdom reach, 
Tell me whence atofe the day, 
That {miles upon the toil of man? 
And who is.parent to the night ? 
Vaft. @Delling is the fire of day, 
But from Naurvi fprang the night, 
Fraught with fhowering joys of love, 
Who bids the moon to wax and wane, 
Marking months and years to man. 
Odin. If fo far thy wifdom reach, 
Tell me whence the winter comes? 
Whence the foothing fummer’s birth 
‘Showers of fruitage who beftows? 
\Vaft. Vindfual is the name of him 
Who begot the winter’s god ; 
Summer from Suafuthur fprang : 

_ * The laft day of the week was confecrated 
to Surtur, and named from him. 
-,. t Vigrith feemingly means drunkenness 
aad Surtur the funeral flame: The allegory in 
, this cafe intimates that a lofs of the faculties 
is the harbinger of death. Grater however 
tranflates it by moife of battle, hurly-burly: and 
is perhaps in the right. It might however 
be fought in real geography. 
{ The former half of this Saga exhibits 
fymptoms of a higher antiquity, more allu-~ 
fions to local nature, and a mythology lefs 
evolved. | . 
§ Ymer anfwers to chaos: it means every 
or eternity. 
| Mundilfer means gift-befowing. The 
allegory therefore defcribes Beneficence as 
producing the fun and moon. 
@ Delling, tevilight; Naurvi, north; Vind= 
fual, wind-fwell; Suafuthur, much-footbing; 
Bergelmer, old man of the mountain; Thrugel - 
mer, old man of the deep: Aurgelmer, original 
ld wan. 
3M Both 

i 
