For ah! where would the guerdon be of virtue, if one doubted
Incessantly? for Freya too, whose beauty is undoubted.
The thistle no attention meets, e’en from the butterfly;
But the rose ne’er can rest in peace for th’ homage of the bee.”
“Thy sermon on fidelity, I pray thee, spare us now!”
Said Freya, laughing: “emblem of fidelity, we know,
Is Loptur’s heart: but quickly Thrymur’s demand prefer,
And thy remarks on virtue another time we’ll hear.”
“They are not mine, fair lady!” quoth Lok: “I only come,
As messenger from Thrymur, to Valhall’s azure dome.