And Odin’s son
Of life bereave.
By compulsion I have spoken;
Now I will be silent.”
Sæmund’s Edda (Thorpe’s tr.).
Despite the Vala’s evident reluctance to speak further, Odin was not yet satisfied, and he prevailed upon her to tell him who would avenge the murdered god and call his slayer to account. For revenge and retaliation were considered as a sacred duty by the races of the North.
Then the prophetess told him, as Rossthiof had already predicted, that Rinda, the earth-goddess, would bear a son to Odin, and that Vali, as this child would be named, would neither wash his face nor comb his hair until he had avenged upon Hodur the death of Balder.
“In the caverns of the west,
By Odin’s fierce embrace comprest,
A wondrous boy shall Rinda bear,