NOTES TO THE TWENTY-FIRST CANTO.
In the original, this Canto is written in the classic hexameter, which seems to suit wonderfully well the Danish and Swedish languages.
Specimen of the metre.
Men da Maane bag Field var flygtet, haeftig forfulgt af
Maanegarm, den bevingede Trold, som stedse den aengster,
Meest usynlig for Menneskers Bli̱k, dog stundum i Regnsky
Synlig som Ulv, naar i Dunsterne brun han viser sit Hoved.
I have given my translation in the ten syllabled heroic couplet.
[77] Horseleg and Goatbeard; names of the two giants mentioned in the 17th Canto as having behaved rudely to Gerda.
[78] Quaser in the Icelandic language signifies breath or inspiration. The story of Quaser is probably an oriental one of some poet, who was murdered by those who were jealous of his talents, and were dwarfs in genius compared to him.
[79] The story of the stone, which Odin casts among the giants to incite them to discord, resembles much a circumstance mentioned in the poem of Apollonius of Rhodes, called “The Argonauts” in the 3d Canto. “But the giants, springing from the furrows which he had traced, covered with their arms the field he had ploughed. Jason, returning, rushes toward them, and throws amongst them an enormous stone; many are crushed by it; others, disputing for its possession, slay one another.” In fact, the amour of Odin with Gunliod has some sort of resemblance in the beginning to that of Jason and Medea.