NOTES TO THE TWENTIETH CANTO.
Specimen of the metre.
Da Asaskokke
I taette Flokke
Fra Oesten rede,
Med Svaerd af Skede, etc.
I have chosen the octosyllabic couplet for my translation.
The mythologic formation of the island of Sealand (of which Copenhagen is the present capital), and which forms the subject of this Canto, is thus given in the poetic Edda:
“Gladly drew Gefion
From the powerful Gyllfe
Denmark’s annexation,
So that it smoked after the springing oxen.
Four heads and eight eyes
Had the oxen, who drew
The piece of earth after them,
To form the favourite island.”
[75] The etymology of Sealand, called formerly and more properly Sœlund, is from the Danish words sœ (sea) and lund (grove).
[76] Œresund is the appellation for what other nations call the Sound par excellence; for sund means a channel or strait.