’Twere best I seek my couch; but first, I pray,
Let me the bower, where thou dost sleep, survey.
A present from my sov’reign lord I bear
For thee, which I would fain deposit there.”
Laughing, she pointed out her chamber-door,
Then went herself his supper to procure;
For Gerda was by nature good and kind,
And Skirnir’s jovial frankness pleased her mind.
Skirnir now stood alone; her couch he view’d,
Near which a vase of alabaster stood,