Page:The Prose Edda (1916 translation by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur).pdf/113

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THE BEGUILING OF GYLFI
81
Surtr fares from southward    with switch-eating flame;
On his sword shimmers    the sun of the war-gods;
The rocks are falling,    and fiends are reeling,
Heroes tread Hel-way,    heaven is cloven.
Then to the Goddess    a second grief cometh,
When Odin fares    to fight with the Wolf,
And Beli's slayer,    the bright god, with Surtr;
There must fall    Frigg's beloved.
Odin's son goeth    to strife with the Wolf,—
Vídarr, speeding    to meet the slaughter-beast;
The sword in his hand    to the heart he thrusteth
Of the fiend's offspring; avenged is his Father.
Now goeth Hlödyn's    glorious son
Not in flight from the Serpent,    of fear unheeding;
All the earth's offspring    must empty the homesteads,
When furiously smiteth    Midgard's defender.
The sun shall be darkened,    earth sinks in the sea,—
Glide from the heaven    the glittering stars;
Smoke-reek rages    and reddening fire:
The high heat licks    against heaven itself.

And here it says yet so:

Vígrídr hight the field    where in fight shall meet
Surtr and the cherished gods;
An hundred leagues    it has on each side:
Unto them that field is fated."

LII. Then said Gangleri: "What shall come to pass