1.
I ask for attention from all holy families,
greater and lesser sons of Heimdall; you want, Allfather,
that I should accurately reproduce for you
the ancient tales of men,
those I remember as the oldest.
2.
I remember the Jotunn, born in the beginning of time,
those who have raised me in the past;
nine worlds I remember,
the nine root branches of Yggdrasil,
the famous world tree beneath the earth.
3.
It was in the beginning of time, when there was nothing;
no sand, no sea, no cool waves;
there was no earth, no high sky;
there was a gaping hole; grass nowhere.
4.
Before the sons of Bur lifted the lands,
those who formed the famous Midgard;
the sun shone from the south on the rocky ground of the earth,
then the earth was overgrown with green growths.
5.
The sun threw from the south, as the moon’s companion,
its right hand over the edge of the sky;
the sun did not know how it owned halls,
the moon did not know how it owned power,
the stars did not know how they owned places.
6.
Then all the powers went to their seats of the Ting,
the most holy gods, and took counsel thereon;
to the night and its descendants they gave names;
they gave names to morning, noon, afternoon, and evening,
in order to calculate time by years.
7.
There came three Æsir, strong loving Æsir;
they found land for the unable,
Ask and Embla, who were fateless.
8.
They did not possess life-breath, they did not own soul,
neither blood nor voice nor good skin tone;
life-breath they received from Odin, soul they received from Høner,
blood they received from Lodur, and thus good tone.
9.
The Aesir met on the plain of Ida,
who built high altars and houses;
they created esses, forged from gold,
formed pliers and created tools.
10.
They played board games, they were cheerful,
you lacked nothing of gold,
until the three Norns came, very mighty,
from the world of the Jotunn.
11.
I remember that fight, as the first in the world,
when they impaled Guldvejg with spears,
and burned her in Odin’s hall;
three times they burned her thrice reborn,
yet she still lives.
12.
They called her Hejd, where she came to live,
a Völve, skilled in fortune telling;
she created magic spells, she made magic,
wherever she could, she made magic in ecstasy,
always she was the delight of evil women.
13.
Then all the powers went to their Ting-seats,
the hholy gods, and about this they consulted,
whether the Æsir should suffer loss,
or whether all the gods should receive compensation.
14.
Odin threw his spear into the crowd;
this was still the first battle in the world;
the wall around the castle of the Æsir was broken,
the Vanir trod the plain with battle-magic.
15.
Then all the powers went to their seats of power,
the most holy gods, and consulted
about who had mixed the air with deceit
or given Freya to the Jotunn’s race.
16.
Only Thor killed, swelling with anger;
he rarely sits still when he experiences such things;
broken oaths, words and sworn promises,
all solemn agreements that have been made between the parties.
17.
I know an Ash that stands high,
it is called Yggdrasil, a tall tree,
covered with the white mud; from there comes dew
that falls in valleys; it stands forever green over Urd’s well.
18.
From there come Norns, very wise, three from the lake
that stands under the tree; Urd one was called,
the other Vordene, Skuld the third;
they determined the laws, the fate of men,
they determined the lifespan of men.
19.
I know Heimdal’s hearing, hidden under the vault of heaven
by the sacred tree; a river I see flowing,
with mud falling from Allfathers’s pledge.
You know, don’t you?
20.
I was sitting alone outside when the old man came;
the worried ponderer among the Æsir,
and looked me in the eye:
“What do you ask me about? Why do you test me?
I know full well, Odin, where you hid your eye,
in the well of the famous Mimer;
Mimer drinks mead every morning from Allfather’s pledge.”
You know, don’t you?
21.
Allfather gave me chosen rings and necklaces;
I had to show the times and the divination of the staves,
I saw far and knowingly beyond every world.
22.
I saw Valkyries, coming from afar,
prepared to ride to the warrior people;
Skuld held her shield,
Skøgul was the second,
Gunn, Hild, Grøndul and Spearskøgul.
23.
I saw Balder, Odin’s son,
the thread of fate torn;
higher than the field, thin and very fair,
stood the mistletoe.
24.
From this tree, which seemed so tender,
became a dangerous and sorrowful arrow shot; Høder shot,
and Frigg wept over Valhalla’s misfortune.
You know, don’t you?
25.
A prisoner I saw, lying under the tree,
resembling the figure of the insidious Loki;
there Sigun sits, though not very happy,
by her husband’s side.
You know, don’t you?
26.
A river falls through cold valleys,
filled with knives and swords;
it is called Slid – the terrible.
27.
To the north, on the Plain of Darkness, stood a hall of gold,
Sindri’s house; the other stood in Okolne,
the land that never gets cold, the Jotunn’s beer hall,
and he is called Brimer.
28.
A hall I saw so far from the sun,
on the shore of the dead; its door faces north;
drops of poison fall in through the cracks,
that hall is surrounded by snakes.
29.
There I saw lying men and outlaw murderers,
and those who seduce other people’s wives,
wading in the heavy streams; there Nidhugg sucks on old corpses,
the wolf tears men to pieces.
You know, don’t you?
30.
In the east the old sat in the iron forest
and gave birth to the lineages of Fenrir;
among them a single one
who in troll-shape shall destroy the sun.
31.
It fills itself with the blood of dead men,
makes the dwellings of the powerful red with blood,
the sun turns black for three summers thereafter,
and all the winds turn evil.
You know, don’t you?
32.
The giantess’ shepherd sat on a hill
and played his harp, the cheerful Egter;
above him in the sacrificial grove, the beautiful red rooster,
whose name is Fjalar, crowed.
33.
Over Æsir the Golden Comb crowed;
it woke the men at the house of the Allfather;
the other crowed underground,
a black-and-red rooster in the halls of Hel.
34.
Now Garm glares before the Gnipa cave,
the chain will break and the wolf will break free;
much knowledge I have, I see further ahead,
of the powers, the war gods’ irrevocable fate.
35.
Brothers will fight and become each other’s murderers;
sons of sisters will corrupt the family;
the world is hard, much fornication, axe-time, sword-time,
shields will be split, storm-time, wolf-time, before the world falls;
no man will spare the other.
36.
Mimer’s sons play, the end of the world begins
at the sound of the shrill Gjallarhorn;
loudly blows Heimdal, the horn is raised high,
Odin speaks to Mimer’s head.
37.
Yggdrasil trembles from root to canopy,
the old tree creaks, and the Jotunn is loose;
all are sent to Hel before Surt’s sword extinguishes the tree.
38.
What is going on among the Æsir, what is going on among the Elves?
The whole Jotunn-world is noisy, the Æsir are at the Ting;
the dwarves are groaning before the stone door, the mountain-wall experts.
You know, don’t you?
39.
Now Garm glares loudly before the Gnipa cave,
the chain will break and the wolf will break free;
much knowledge I have, I see further ahead,
of the powers, the war gods’ irrevocable fate.
40.
Hrym comes from the east, he holds his shield before him;
The Midgard serpent writhes in Jotunn-wrath,
the serpent whips the waves, and the eagle screams;
The dragon Nidhugg tears apart the corpses, Naglfar comes loose.
41.
A ship comes from the east, the fire-Jotunns will come across the sea,
and Loki sits at the helm; all the Jotunns go forth with the wolf;
in the company of them is Bylejst’s brother.
42.
Surt comes from the south with fire;
his sword shines brighter than the sun;
rocks shatter, and witches fall,
men rush to Hel, and the sky is split open.
43.
Then Frigg’s second sorrow will come true,
when Odin goes forth to fight the wolf,
and Freyr goes forth against Surt; then Odin will fall.
44.
Now Garm glares loudly before the Gnipa cave,
the chain will break and the wolf will break free;
much knowledge I have, I see further ahead,
of the powers, the war gods’ irrevocable fate.
45.
Then comes Allfather’s mighty son, Vidar,
to fight with the wolf;
he lets his sword cleave the heart of Loki’s son
with both hands; then the father is avenged.
46.
Then comes the renowned Thor,
Odin’s son goes to fight the serpent;
The protector of Midgard strikes in anger;
All men will disappear from the inhabited world;
Nine feet Thor walks, doomed by the serpent’s venom,
without fearing his legacy.
47.
The sun darkens, the earth sinks into the sea,
from the sky the bright stars disappear;
fire bursts, the high flame plays against the sky itself.
48.
Now Garm glares loudly before the Gnipa cave,
the chain will break and the wolf will break free;
much knowledge I have, I see further ahead,
of the powers, the war gods’ irrevocable fate.
49.
I see the land rise for the second time from the sea,
lush green; waterfalls gushing,
the eagle flies over, it catches salmon in the mountains.
50.
The Aesir meet on the Ida Plain and speak of the mighty
Midgard Serpent,
and there remember the great events and Odin’s old runes.
51.
There again will be found in the grass the wondrous golden pieces
which they had possessed in the past.
52.
Unsown fields will sprout, all misfortune will be healed,
Balder will come; the two, Hød and Balder, will inhabit Odin’s battlefields.
You know, don’t you?
53.
Then Høner will instate sacrificial twigs,
and the sons of the two brothers will inhabit heaven.
You know, right?
54.
A hall I see standing, fairer than the sun, covered with gold,
on Gimli; there shall guiltless multitudes dwell and enjoy happiness for all eternity.
55.
Then the mighty one will come to his divine judgment,
the strong one from above, he who rules over all.
56.
There comes the dark dragon flying,
the glistening lizard down from the black mountains;
Nidhugg carries corpses in his wings –
he flies over the plain.
Now I will swallow.
The text has been newly translated and modernized by Hasse Sørensen, with input from original sources and the Danish prose translation of Völuspá by Hans Albrectsen.