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Vafthruthnismol

 Thou wouldst thy wisdom make known:
What name has the field  where in fight shall meet
 Surt and the gracious gods?"

  Othin spake:
18.[1] "Vigrith is the field  where in fight shall meet
 Surt and the gracious gods;
A hundred miles  each way does it measure.
 And so are its boundaries set."

  Vafthruthnir spake:

19.[2] "Wise art thou, guest!  To my bench shalt thou go,
 In our seats let us speak together;
Here in the hall  our heads, O guest,
 Shall we wager our wisdom upon."

  Othin spake:

20.[3] "First answer me well,  if thy wisdom avails,
 And thou knowest it, Vafthruthnir, now:
In earliest time  whence came the earth,
 Or the sky, thou giant sage?"

    Surt: the ruler of the fire-world (Muspellsheim), who comes to attack the gods in the last battle; cf. Voluspo, 52.

  1. ↑ Vigrith: "the Field of Battle." Snorri quotes this stanza. A hundred miles: a general phrase for a vast distance.
  2. ↑ With this stanza Vafthruthnir, sufficiently impressed with his guest's wisdom to invite him to share his own seat, resigns the questioning to Othin.
  3. ↑ The fragmentary version of this poem in the Arnamagnæan Codex begins in the middle of the first line of this stanza.

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