[62] The story of the game of blind man’s buff, called by the Northmen blind cow, in which Skada catches Niord, and is united to him in marriage, is borrowed from the prosaic Edda. I can find no satisfactory solution of this mythe; it may mean, however, that the spring weather, after much shuffling and shifting about, settles down at last into a mild serenity and constancy (during summer). But the matrimonial bliss of Niord and his consort will not be of long duration. Towards the autumnal equinox, Skada’s capricious temper will break out, she will begin her mischievous pranks again, and set winds and waves by the ears as usual. Skada’s catching Niord by the leg in the game of blind man’s buff, may mean the force of a tempest, which sometimes lifts men off their legs.
NOTES TO THE SEVENTEENTH CANTO.
Specimen of the metre.
Dybt udi Fieldehallen et Kammer blev han vaer;
En deilig Mö han öined paa Bolstrene, klar:
I söden Sövn hun slumred med stille Pigesind,
Og Morgenröden blomstred paa hendes Liliekind.
In my translation of this and of the two next Cantos, I have adopted, as a metre, the line of fourteen syllables.
[63] That the Jotuns should appear to the Asar to be giants in size, and as having the heads of wolves, bears, etc., has been accounted for in my preface to this work, which I hope the reader will consult and bear in mind.