Page:Icelandic Poetry or the Edda of Sæmund (1797).pdf/269

ODIN.
Sorceress! obey my spell;
Arise and other secrets tell.
By whom shall hapless Balder fall,
Reft from Odin’s chearful hall?

VOLVA.
Long in fate it is decreed,
Brother shall by brother bleed.
Eyeless Hoder soon shall throw,
The unsuspected misseltoe:
Then shall hapless Balder fall,
Reft from Odin’s chearful hall.
More, unwilling I relate—
Leave me, mortal! to my fate.

ODIN.
Longer from thy slumbers stay;
Volva! rise and tell me, pray—
When time shall Hoder’s guilt reveal,
What arm shall wield the avenging steel?