Othin spake:
36. "Ninth answer me well, | if wise thou art called
If thou knowest it, Vafthruthnir, now:
Whence comes the wind | that fares o'er the waves
Yet never itself is seen?"
Vafthruthnir spake:
37. "In an eagle's guise | at the end of heaven
Hræsvelg sits, they say;
And from his wings | does the wind come forth
To move o'er the world of men."
Othin spake:
38. "Tenth answer me now, | if thou knowest all
The fate that is fixed for the gods:
Whence came up Njorth | to the kin of the gods,--
(Rich in temples | and shrines he rules,--)
Though of gods he was never begot?"
Vafthruthnir spake:
39. "In the home of the Wanes | did the wise ones create him,
And gave him as pledge to the gods;
At the fall of the world | shall he fare once more
Home to the Wanes so wise."
Othin spake:
40. "Eleventh answer me well,
who issue forth from the stronghold
to hack each other every day?
Slaughter they choose | and ride to war
sit the glorious ones in reconciliation together."*
[37. Snorri quotes this stanza. Hræsvelg ("the Corpse-Eater") on this giant in eagle's form cf. Voluspo, So, and Skirnismol, 27.
38. With this stanza the question-formula changes, and Othin's questions from this point on concern more or less directly the great
final struggle. Line 4 is presumably spurious. Njorth: on Njorth and the Wanes, who gave him as a hostage to the gods at the end of
their war, cf. Voluspo, 21 and note.
40. In both manuscripts, apparently through the carelessness of some older copyist, stanzas 40 and 41 are run together: "Eleventh answer me
well, what men in the home mightily battle each day? They fell each other, and fare from the fight all healed full soon to sit.
" Luckily Snorri quotes stanza 41 in full, and the translation is from his version. Stanza 40 should probably run something like this:
"Eleventh answer me well, if thou knowest all / The fate that is fixed for the gods: / What men are they who in Othin's home / Each day
to fight go forth?"]
* This stanza has been edited to replace the empty gaps, all of the stanza after the opening "Eleventh answer me well" is taken from
Bugge's edition as a literal translation by Dr. Marion Ingham.
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Óðinn kvað:
36. "Seg þú þat it níunda, alls þik svinnan kveða,
ok þú, Vafþrúðnir, vitir, hvaðan vindr of kemr,
svá at ferr vág yfir;
æ menn han sjalfan of sjá."
Vafþrúðnir kvað:
37. "Hræsvelgr heitir, er sitr á himins enda,
jötunn í arnar ham;
af hans vængjum kvæða vind koma
alla menn yfir."
Óðinn kvað:
38. "Seg þú þat it tíunda, alls þú tíva rök
öll, Vafþrúðnir, vitir, hvaðan Njörðr of kom
með ása sonum - hofum ok hörgum
hann ræðr hundmörgum -
ok varð-at hann ásum alinn."
Vafþrúðnir kvað:
39. "Í Vanaheimi skópu hann vís regin
ok seldu at gíslingu goðum, í aldar rök
hann mun aftr koma heim með vísum vönum."
Óðinn kvað:
40. "Seg þú þat et ellifta,
hvar ýtar túnum í höggvask hverjan dag;
val þeir kjósa ok ríða vígi frá,
sitja meir of sáttir saman."
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