Vafthruthnir spake:
41. All the champions every day contend in Óðin's courtyard;
they choose the slaughter and ride from the field,
thenceforth sit reconciled.*
Othin spake:
42. "Twelfth answer me now | how all thou knowest
Of the fate that is fixed for the gods;
Of the runes of the gods | and the giants' race
The truth indeed dost thou tell,
(And wide is thy wisdom, giant!)"
Vafthruthnir spake:
43. "Of the runes of the gods | and the giants' race
The truth indeed can I tell,
(For to every world have I won;)
To nine worlds came I, | to Niflhel beneath,
The home where dead men dwell."
Othin spake:
44. "Much have I fared, | much have I found,
Much have I got of the gods:
What shall live of mankind | when at last there comes
The mighty winter to men?"
Vafthruthnir spake:
45. "In Hoddmimir's wood | shall hide themselves
Lif and Lifthrasir then;
The morning dews | for meat shall they have,
Such food shall men then find."
[41. The champions**: those brought to Valhall by the Valkyries. After the day's fighting they are healed of their wounds and all feast together.
43. Nine worlds: cf. Voluspo, 2. Niflhel: "Dark-Hell."
44. The mighty winter: Before the final destruction three winters follow one another with no intervening summers.
45. Snorri quotes this stanza. Hoddmimir's wood: probably {footnote p. 81} this is the ash-tree Yggdrasil, which is sometimes referred to as "Mimir's Tree,"
because Mimir waters it from his well; cf. Voluspo, 27 and note, and Svipdagsmol, 30 and note. Hoddmimir is presumably another name for Mimir. Lif ("Life")
and Lifthrasir ("Sturdy of Life"?): nothing further is known of this pair, from whom the new race of men is to spring.]
* This stanza has been edited to replace the mistranslation done by Bellows, it is taken from Jean Young's translation of the Prose Edda.
** Bellows uses hero in his version of the Snorri translation this has been changed to "champion" to reflect the changed stanza from Jean Young.
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Vafþrúðnir kvað:
41. "Allir einherjar Óðins túnum í
höggvask hverjan dag, val þeir kjósa
ok ríða vígi frá, sitja meirr of sáttir saman."
Óðinn kvað:
42. "Seg þú þat it tolfta, hví þú tíva rök
öll, Vafþrúðnir, vitir, frá jötna rúnum
ok allra goða segir þú it sannasta,
inn alsvinni jötunn."
Vafþrúðnir kvað:
43. "Frá jötna rúnum ok allra goða
ek kann segja satt, því at hvern hef ek
heim of komit;
níu kom ek heima fyr Niflhel neðan;
hinig deyja ór helju halir."
Óðinn kvað:
44. "Fjölð ek fór, fjölð ek freistaðak,
fjölð ek of reynda regin:
Hvat lifir manna, þá er inn mæra líðr
fimbulvetr með firum?"
Vafþrúðnir kvað:
45. "Líf ok Lifþrasir, en þau leynask munu
í holti Hoddmímis;
morgindöggvar þau sér at mat hafa,
en þaðan af aldir alask."
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