Page:Icelandic Poetry or the Edda of Sæmund (1797).pdf/55

GANRADE.
Among the sons of mortal birth
The stream that parts the Gods and earth,
Is Ifing^[1] call’d. Thro’ regions wide
It ever rolls its ample tide:
Nor does the petrifying wind,
Its waves in icy fetters bind.

VAFTHRUDNIS.
Tell, mighty Ganrade! now the name,
Borne by that wide-extended plain;
Where, deck’d with many a shining car,
Gods and great Surtur^[2] rush to war.

1. Ifing. This seems to be an allegorical river signifying discord and perpetual enmity, which separates bad men from the seats of the blest and the Gods. Its literal meaning is anger.
2. Surtur, the adverfary of Odin, who dwells at the antartic pole.