Page:Icelandic Poetry or the Edda of Sæmund (1797).pdf/241

SONG

OF THE

RAVENS.

I.
Odin’s strength^[1] may never fail;
Asori still in wit prevail;
Vani sons be counted wise;
Fates may weave the Destinies;
Dryas^[2] calamities increase;
Woes of mortals never cease;
Peace by Thursi^[3] be withstood;
Nymphs imbrue their hands in blood.

1. “Odin's strength,”—Perhaps the meaning of this verse is, that the powers and virtues which are attributed to Odin and the rest, availed nothing in the calamity which then threatened the Asi state.
2. Dryas, a fabulous gigantic woman, by whom the Heavens are supposed to be prefigured.
3. Thursi, the Geloni.