[21]. Snorri quotes line 1; cf. note on stanza 29.
[23]. There is no other reference to Loki’s having spent eight years underground, or to his cow-milking. On one occasion, however, he did bear offspring. A giant had undertaken to build the gods a fortress, his reward being Freyja and the sun and moon, provided the work was done by a given time. His sole helper was his horse, Svathilfari. The work being nearly done, and the gods fearing to lose Freyja and the sun and moon, Loki [[160]]turned himself into a mare, and so effectually distracted Svathilfari from his task that shortly afterwards Loki gave birth to Othin’s eight-legged horse, Sleipnir. In such contests of abuse a man was not infrequently taunted with having borne children; cf. Helgakvitha Hundingsbana I, 39–45. One or two of the last three lines may be spurious.
[24]. Samsey: perhaps the Danish island of Samsö. Othin was the god of magic, but there is no other reference to his ever having disguised himself as a witch.
[25]. Frigg: Othin’s wife; cf. note to introductory prose.
[26]. Fjorgyn: Othin; cf. Voluspo, 56 and note. Vili and Ve: Othin’s brothers, who appear merely as, with Othin, the sons of Bur and Bestla; cf. Voluspo, 4. The Ynglingasaga says that, during one of Othin’s protracted absences, his two brothers took Frigg as their mistress. Vithrir: another name for Othin. [[161]]
[27]. On the death of Baldr, slain through Loki’s cunning by the blind Hoth, cf. Voluspo, 32 and note.
[29]. Freyja: daughter of Njorth and sister of Freyr; cf. note on introductory prose. Snorri, in speaking of Frigg’s knowledge of the future, makes a stanza out of Lokasenna, 21, 1; 47, 2; 29, 3–4, thus: “Mad art thou, Loki, | and little of wit, / Why, Loki, leavst thou this not? / The fate of all | does Frigg know well, / Though herself she says it not.”
[30]. According to Snorri, Freyja was a model of fidelity to her husband, Oth. [[162]]
[32]. Before each of stanzas 32–42 the manuscript indicates the speaker, through the initial letter of the name written in the margin. Thy brother: Freyr; there is no other indication that such a relation existed between these two, but they themselves were the product of such a union; cf. stanza 36 and note.
[33]. Njorth: father of Freyr and Freyja, and given by the Wanes as a hostage, in exchange for Hönir, at the close of the first war; cf. Voluspo, 21 and note, also Skirnismol, introductory prose and note. Babes: cf. stanza 23 and note. Bugge suggests that this clause may have been a late insertion. [[163]]