Who ne’er his prowess boasts; then Hermod flew
Into the copse, and, some say, Odin too.
Well, well! the transports of that blissful night
The genial bard engender’d, Qvaser[78] hight;
His mother was a damsel of sixteen,
Fair-hair’d, blue-eyed, of loveliest shape and mien;
She brought him forth amidst the myrtle grove,
And gave him to the gods, a pledge of love.
“He grew to manhood fast, was wise and strong,
And from his mother learn’d the art of song.