One Night Old

10 ‘Don’t be silent, seeress! I want to question you,
until all is known, I want to know more:
who’ll achieve vengeance on Hod for this wickedness,
who’ll bring Baldr’s killer to the funeral pyre?’

11 ‘Rind will give birth to Vali in western halls,*
Odin’s son will fight when one night old;
he won’t wash his hands nor comb his hair
until he’s brought to the pyre Baldr’s enemy.
Reluctantly I told you, now I’ll be silent.’

12 ‘Don’t be silent, seeress! I want to question you,
until all is known, I want to know more:
who are those girls who weep for their pleasure*
and who throw up to the sky the corners of their neckerchiefs?’

13 ‘You are not Way-tame, as I thought,
rather you are Odin, the old Gaut.’
‘You are not a seeress nor a wise woman,
rather you’re the mother of three ogres.’


- Poetic Edda, Baldrs draumar