[44]. Beginning with this stanza, the names of the speakers are lacking in the manuscript. The mill: i.e., at slaves’ tasks.
[45]. Nothing further is known of either Byggvir’s swiftness or his cowardice. Hropt: Othin.
[47]. Heimdall: besides being the watchman of the gods (cf. Voluspo, 27), he appears also as the god of light (cf. Thrymskvitha, 14), and possibly also as a complex cultural deity in the [[167]]Rigsthula. He was a son of Othin, born of nine sisters; cf. Hyndluljoth, 37–40. In the last battle he and Loki slay one another. Line 2 is quoted by Snorri; cf. stanza 29, note.
[49]. Skathi: the wife of Njorth, and daughter of the giant Thjazi, concerning whose death cf. Harbarthsljoth, 19, note. Bowels, etc.: according to the prose note at the end of the Lokasenna, the gods bound Loki with the bowels of his son Vali, and changed his other son, Narfi, into a wolf. Snorri turns the story about, Vali being the wolf, who tears his brother to pieces, the gods then using Narfi’s intestines to bind Loki. Narfi—and presumably Vali—were the sons of Loki and his wife, Sigyn. They appear only in this episode, though Narfi (or Nari) is named by Snorri in his list of Loki’s children. Cf. concluding prose, and note. [[168]]
[52]. Laufey’s son: Loki; not much is known of his parents beyond their names. His father was the giant Farbauti, his mother Laufey, sometimes called Nal. There is an elaborate but far-fetched hypothesis explaining these three on the basis of a nature-myth. There is no other reference to such a relation between Skathi and Loki as he here suggests.
[53]. Sif: Thor’s wife; cf. Harbarthsljoth, 48, where her infidelity is again mentioned. The manuscript omits the proper name [[169]]from the preceding prose, and a few editors have, obviously in error, attributed the speech to Beyla.
[54]. Hlorrithi: Thor. Line 5 is probably spurious.
[55]. Beyla: Freyr’s servant, wife of Byggvir; cf. introductory prose and note.
[57]. Mjollnir: concerning Thor’s famous hammer see particularly Thrymskvitha, 1 and note. Shoulder-cliff: head; concerning [[170]]the use of such diction in the Edda, cf. introductory note to Hymiskvitha. The manuscript indicates line 3 as the beginning of a stanza, but this is apparently a scribal error.
[58]. Son of Earth: Thor, son of Othin and Jorth (Earth). The manuscript omits the word “son,” but all editors have agreed in supplying it. The wolf: Fenrir, Loki’s son, who slays Othin (Sigfather: “Father of Victory”) in the final battle. Thor, according to Snorri and to the Voluspo, 56, fights with Mithgarthsorm and not with Fenrir, who is killed by Vithar.