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Poetic Edda

I would crush to marrow  this croaker of ill,
 And beat all his body to bits."

  Loki spake:
44.[1] "What little creature  goes crawling there,
 Snuffling and snapping about?
At Freyr's ears ever  wilt thou be found,
 Or muttering hard at the mill."

  Byggvir spake:
45.[2] "Byggvir my name,  and nimble am I,
 As gods and men do grant;
And here am I proud  that the children of Hropt
 Together all drink ale."

  Loki spake:
46. "Be silent, Byggvir!  thou never couldst set
 Their shares of the meat for men;
Hid in straw on the floor,  they found thee not
 When heroes were fain to fight."

  Heimdall spake:
47.[3] "Drunk art thou, Loki,  and mad are thy deeds,
 Why, Loki, leavst thou this not?

  1. ↑ Beginning with this stanza, the names of the speakers are lacking in the manuscript. The mill: i.e., at slaves' tasks.
  2. ↑ Nothing further is known of either Byggvir's swiftness or his cowardice. Hropt: Othin.
  3. ↑ Heimdall: besides being the watchman of the gods (cf. Voluspo, 27), he appears also as the god of light (cf. Thrymskvitha, 14), and possibly also as a complex cultural deity in the

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