The Shepherd (sung).—“Whence, and what art thou? doomed to die,
Or dead revisitest the sky?
For ride by night, or ride by day,
Thou ne’er shalt come to Gymer’s may.”
Skirnir (sung).—“I grieve not, I; a better part
Fits him, who boasts a ready heart.
At hour of birth our lives were shaped;
The doom of fate can ne’er be ’scaped.”
Gerda (sung).—“What sounds unknown mine ears invade,
Frighting this mansion’s peaceful shade?
The earth’s foundation rocks withal,
And trembling shakes all Gymer’s hall.”
The Attendant (sung).—“Dismounted stands a warrior sheen;
His courser crops the herbage green.”
Gerda (sung).—“Haste, bid him to my bower with speed,
To quaff unmix’d the pleasant mead:
And good betide us![[105]] for I fear
My brother’s murderer is near.—
What art thou? Elf, or Asian son?
Or from the wiser Vanians sung?
Alone to visit our abode
O’er bickering flames why hast thou rode?”
Skirnir (sung).—“Nor Elf am I, nor Asian son;
Nor from the wiser Vanians sprung:
Yet o’er the bickering flames I rode
Alone to visit your abode.
Eleven apples here I hold,
Gerda, for thee, of purest gold;
Let this fair gift thy bosom move
To grant young Freyr thy precious love.”
Gerda (sung).—“Eleven apples take not I
From man, as price of chastity!
While life remains, no tongue shall tell,
That Freyr and I together dwell.”
Skirnir (sung).—“Gerda, for thee this wonderous ring
Burnt on young Balder’s pile I bring;
On each ninth night shall other eight
Drop from it, all of equal weight.”
Gerda (sung).—“I take not, I, that wonderous ring,
Though it from Balder’s pile you bring.
Gold lack not I in Gymer’s bower;
Enough for me my father’s dower.”
Skirnir (sung).—“Behold this bright and slender brand
Unsheath’d and glittering in my hand;
Deny not, maiden! lest thine head
Be sever’d by the trenchant blade.”