Baldrs draumar
Baldr's Dreams
Old Norse Poetry
English translation (1928) by Lee M Hollander.
Transcription by Eiður Eyþórsson.
I
About this translation
This translation of Baldrs draumar by Lee M. Hollander comes from his 1928, 1st edition of The Poetic Edda. In that work, the poem is presented in English translation, accompanied by Hollander’s notes and commentary.
Hollander’s work has been preserved as closely as possible to the form in which it was originally presented. The poem and its accompanying commentary remain unchanged.
Hollander’s notes on individual stanzas have been moved so that they now appear directly beneath the relevant stanza; in the printed edition, they were placed at the bottom of each page. At the end of this page, you will find Hollander’s original introductory to Baldrs draumar.
Here Begins Baldrs draumar
1
To the thing forthwith fared all gods,
and all goddesses gathered together.
Among them mooted the mighty æsir¹
why Baldr the Bright had baleful dreams.²
¹ The abruptness of the beginning may be due to direct loan (from þrym. 13) of the preceding lines.
² For this myth, cf. Vsp. 24–26 and notes.
2
Up rose Óthin, oldest of gods,³
and on Sleipnir⁴ the saddle laid:
to the nether world rode, to Niflhel⁵ dark.
A hound he met which from Hel did come.⁶
³ Conjectural.
⁴ ‘The Runner,’ Óthin’s steed. Cf. Grímn. 44, note.
⁵ ‘Dark Hel’; cf. Vaf. 43.
⁶ Viz. Garm; cf. Vsp. 36.
3
About his breast was he blood-besprent,
and long did bark at Baldr’s father.
Rode Óthin on— the earth did quake—
till the halls so high of Hel he neared.
4
Then Óthin rode to the eastern gate,
to the haunted howe of the hoary seeress;
there spells he chanted to charm up the dead,
till unwilling arose the witch and spake:
5
“What man is this, to me unknown,
who maketh me fare such fear-fraught ways?
Was I buried in snow and beaten by rain
and drenched with dew, dead was I long.”
6
Óthin said:
“Vegtam⁷ my name, I am Valtam’s son;
say of misty Hel as of Mithgarth I:
for whom are the benches bright with arm-rings,
and the dais decked with dazzling gold?”⁸
⁷ ‘The Wayfarer.’ Valtam, ‘the Warrior.’
⁸ The usual preparations for the advent of an honored guest.
7
The seeress said:
“For Baldr the beer brewed here standeth,
a shield⁹ lies over the shining drink;
in sorrow are sunk the sons of Óthin.¹⁰
I was loath to speak, now let me cease.”
⁹ In the sense of a paten covering the caldron?
¹⁰ I.e. the gods.
8
Óthin said:
“Cease not, seeress! till said thou hast,
answer the asker till all he knows:
who will Baldr slay, the blameless god,
and send hither the son of Óthin?”
9
The seeress said:
“Hoth¹¹ will the hero hitherward send,
he will Baldr slay, the blameless god,
and end the life of Óthin’s son.
I was loath to speak, now let me cease.”
¹¹ Cf. Vsp. 25ff.
10
Óthin said:
“Cease not, seeress, till said thou hast,
answer the asker till all he knows:
the hateful deed who will avenge,
and Baldr’s slayer who send to Hel?”
11
The seeress said:
“Rind bears Váli in Western Halls;
but one night old will Váli slay him:
neither cleanses his hands nor combs his hair,
till Baldr’s slayer he sends to Hel.
I was loath to speak, now let me cease.”
12
Óthin said:
“Cease not, seeress, till said thou hast:
answer the asker till all he knows:
who are the girls that greet so sore,
and their kerchief corners cast to the sky?”¹²
¹² Answer: the waves. Probably, there is a pun intended, for the words of the original here translated ‘kerchief corners’ may also mean ‘the corners of the sail’.—Similar riddles are propounded by Gestumblindi (Óthin) in the Hervararsaga chap. 9 To account for the riddle being introduced here it has been suggested that the lines refer to the sail of the ship bearing dead Baldr’s body (Gylfag. chap. 49), which dips into the sea.
13
The seeress said:
“Thou art not Vegtam, as I had thought,
but rather Óthin, oldest of gods.”
Óthin said:
“Thou art no seeress nor sage woman,
but rather of thurses three the mother.”
14
The seeress said:
“Homeward hie thee, happy in mind:
no chanted spells will charm me up
until Loki is loose from his bonds¹³
and the day will come of the doom of the gods.”
¹³ Cf. Vsp. 27 and Lok. Final Prose.
III
Introductory note
This little poem purports to be a supplement to the Vǫluspǫ́, elaborating the Baldr episode. As there, a seeress is summoned by Óthin from her grave at the gate of Hel, to which she returns after giving the desired prophecy.
At first sight the poem seems forceful and of one piece, but a closer examination shows that it yields no new information beyond that contained in the Vǫluspǫ́ and that it has grave structural defects, at least in its present form. Certain verbal similarities to the Vǫluspǫ́ and the Þrymiskviða (where the passages involved are integral) lend color to the suspicion of several scholars that it is not an original but the work of a skilful imitator of the ancient manner—say of the Twelfth Century; whereas other students, with less probability, insist on a much earlier origin (Tenth Century).
The text which is, on the whole, in excellent condition, is preserved only in Cod. Arn. and was, apparently, not known to Snorri. The metre is a regular fornyrðislag.
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