NOTES TO THE SEVENTEENTH CANTO.
Specimen of the metre.
Dybt udi Fieldehallen et Kammer blev han vaer;
En deilig Mö han öined paa Bolstrene, klar:
I söden Sövn hun slumred med stille Pigesind,
Og Morgenröden blomstred paa hendes Liliekind.
In my translation of this and of the two next Cantos, I have adopted, as a metre, the line of fourteen syllables.
[63] That the Jotuns should appear to the Asar to be giants in size, and as having the heads of wolves, bears, etc., has been accounted for in my preface to this work, which I hope the reader will consult and bear in mind.
[64] Of all the giant race, the Hrimthusser were reckoned the most ferocious, rough, and uncouth. The names of Horseleg and Goatbeard are humourously given by the poet to two of them, whom he represents as testifying their admiration of Gerda in a clownish and indelicate manner.
[65] This change was the consequence of the return of Iduna to Valhalla.
[66] In the original, Blaamandsland (blue man’s land): so Africa was called by the Scandinavians.