THE DESCENT OF ODIN. FROM THE NORSE TONGUE. The original is to be found in Bartholinus, De Causis contemnendæ Mortis; Hafniæ, 1689, quarto, p. 632. Upreis Odinn allda gautr, &c. UPROSE the king of men with speed, Ver. 4. That leads to Hela's drear abode] Niflheliar, the hell of the Gothic nations, consisted of nine worlds, to which were devoted all such as died of sickness, old age, or by any other means than in battle. Over it presided Hela, the goddess of death. MASON. Hela, in the Edda, is described with a dreadful countenance, and her body half flesh-colour, and half blue. GRAY. Ver. 5. Him the dog of darkness spied] The Edda gives this dog the name of Managarmar. He fed upon the lives of those that were to die. MASON. Hoarse he bays with hideous din, (The groaning earth beneath him shakes), The portals nine of hell arise. Right against the eastern gate, Thrice he traced the Runic rhyme; Thrice pronounced, in accents dread, PROPHETESS. What call unknown, what charms presume To break the quiet of the tomb? Who thus afflicts my troubled sprite, Who is he, with voice unblest, That calls me from the bed of rest? ODIN. A traveller, to thee unknown, Is he that calls, a warrior's son. Thou the deeds of light shalt know; For whom yon glittering board is spread, PROPHETESS. Mantling in the goblet see Leave me, leave me to repose. ODIN. Once again my call obey, Ver. 40. Tell me what is done below] Odin was anxious about the fate of his son Balder, who had dreamed he was soon to die. He was killed by Odin's other son, Hoder, who was himself slain by Vali, the son of Odin and Rinda, consonant with this prophecy. See the Edda. Ver. 51. Once again my call obey] Women were looked upon by the Gothic nations as having a peculiar insight into futurity; and some there were that made profession of magic arts and divination. These travelled round the country, and were received in every house with great respect and honour. Such a woman bore the name of Volva Seidkona or Spakona. What dangers Odin's child await, PROPHETESS. In Hoder's hand the hero's doom; ODIN. Prophetess, my spell obey, Once again arise, and say, Who the' avenger of his guilt, PROPHETESS. In the caverns of the west, The dress of Thorbiorga, one of these prophetesses, is described at large in Eirik's Rauda Sogu (apud Bartholin. lib. i. cap. iv. p. 688). "She had on a blue vest spangled all over with stones, a necklace of glass beads, and a cap made of the skin of a black lamb lined with white cat-skin. She leaned on a staff adorned with brass, with a round head set with stones; and was girt with an Hunlandish belt, at which hung her pouch full of magical instruments. Her buskins were of rough calfskin, bound on with thongs studded with knobs of brass, and her gloves of white cat-skin, the fur turned inwards," &c. They were also called Fiolkyngi, or Fiolkunnug, i. e. Multiscia; and Visindakona, i. e. Oraculorum Mulier; Nornir i. e. Parcæ. GRAY. Ver. 66. Who ne'er shall comb his raven-hair] King Harold made (according to the singular custom of his time) a solemn Nor wash his visage in the stream, ODIN. Yet awhile my call obey ; What virgins these, in speechless woe, PROPHETESS. Ha! no traveller art thou, King of men, I know thee now; Mightiest of a mighty line vow never to clip or comb his hair, till he should have extended his sway over the whole country. Herbert's Iceland. Translat. p. 39. "It is not Ver 75. What virgins these, in speechless woe] certain," says Mr. Herbert, "what Odin means by the question concerning the weeping virgins; but it has been supposed that it alludes to the embassy afterwards sent by Frigga to try to redeem Balder from the infernal regions, and that Odin betrays his divinity by mentioning what had not yet happened." Iceland. Translat. p. 48. |