Section 1n

Of Byleist (or Byleipt) no more is known. 52. Surt : the ruler of the fire-world. The scourge of branches : fire. This is one of the relatively rare instances in the Eddic poems of the type of poetic diction which characterizes the skaldic verse. 53. Hlin : apparently another name for Frigg, Othin's wife. After losing her son Baldr, she is fated now to see Othin slain by the wolf Fenrir. Beli's slayer : the god Freyr, who killed the giant Beli with his fist; cf. Skirnismol , 16 and note. On Freyr, who belonged to the race of the Wanes, and was the brother of Freyja, see especially Skirnismol , passim . The Joy of Frigg : Othin.] p. 23 54. Then comes Sigfather's | mighty son, Vithar, to fight | with the foaming wolf; In the giant's son | does he thrust his sword Full to the heart: | his father is avenged. 55. Hither there comes | the son of Hlothyn, The bright snake gapes | to heaven above; . . . . . . . . . . Against the serpent | goes Othin's son. 56. In anger smites | the warder of earth,-- Forth from their homes | must all men flee;- Nine paces fares | the son of Fjorgyn, And, slain by the serpent, | fearless he sinks. [54. As quoted by Snorri the first line of this stanza runs: "Fares Othin's son | to fight with the wolf." Sigfather ("Father of Victory"): Othin. His son, Vithar, is the silent god, famed chiefly for his great shield, and his strength, which is little less than Thor's. He survives the destruction. The giant's son : Fenrir. 55. This and the following stanza are clearly in bad shape. In Regius only lines I and 4 are found, combined with stanza 56 as a single stanza. Line I does not appear in the Hauksbok version, the stanza there beginning with line 2. Snorri, in quoting these two stanzas, omits 55, 2-4, and 56, 3, making a single stanza out of 55, I, and 56, 4, 2, I, in that order. Moreover, the Hauksbok manuscript at this point is practically illegible. The lacuna (line 3) is, of course, purely conjectural, and all sorts of arrangements of the lines have been attempted by editors, Hlothyn : another name for Jorth ("Earth"), Thor's mother; his father was Othin. The snake : Mithgarthsorm; cf. stanza 5c and note. Othin's son : Thor. The fourth line in Regius reads "against the wolf," but if this line refers to Thor at all, and not to Vithar, the Hauksbok reading, "serpent," is correct. 56. The warder of earth : Thor. The son of Fjorgyn : again [fp. 24] Thor, who, after slaying the serpent, is overcome by his venomous breath, and dies. Fjorgyn appears in both a masculine and a feminine form. in the masculine 1t is a name for Othin; in the feminine, as here and in Harbarthsljoth , 56, it apparently refers to Jorth.] p. 24 57.