And the wind and the rain with all their might

’Gainst the bosom beat of my jaded horse.

But if no Giant in th’ hour of need

To give me refuge as guest will deign,

Then Skirnir must on his panting steed

Return in haste to Valhalla again.”

To Elivagor he chose the road,

He came to a fiord,[81] and fain would cross:

And there at the brink a ferryman stood

With wrinkled brow, and with aspect cross.