Page:Poeticedda00belluoft.djvu/191

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

Lokasenna

 And here in Ægir's hall,
Thine head would I bear  in mine hands away,
 And pay thee the price of thy lies."

  Loki spake:
15.[1] "In thy seat art thou bold,  not so are thy deeds,
 Bragi, adorner of benches!
Go out and fight  if angered thou feelest,
 No hero such forethought has."

  Ithun spake:
16.[2] "Well, prithee, Bragi,  his kinship weigh,
 Since chosen as wish-son he was;
And speak not to Loki  such words of spite
 Here within Ægir's hall."

  Loki spake:
17.[3] "Be silent, Ithun!  thou art, I say,

    variously emended, one often adopted suggestion making the line read, "Little is that for thy lies."

  1. ↑ Adorner of benches: this epithet presumably implies that Bragi is not only slothful, but also effeminate, for a very similar word, "pride of the benches," means a bride.
  2. ↑ Ithun: Bragi's wife; cf. note on introductory prose. The goddesses who, finding that their husbands are getting the worst of it, take up the cudgels with Loki, all find themselves confronted with undeniable facts in their own careers; cf. stanzas 26 (Frigg), 52 (Skathi) and 54 (Sif). Gefjun and Freyja are silenced in similar fashion. Wish-son: adopted son; Loki was the son of the giant Farbauti and the giantess Laufey, and hence was not of the race of the gods, but had been virtually adopted by Othin, who subsequently had good reason to regret it.
  3. ↑

[157]

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.