Poetic Edda - Cottle Trans.
LOK
Peace, thou ill-form'd, haggard thing,
(15) Cups thou know'st not how to bring:
When din of battle bray'd around,
Thou in a stuff'd straw-bed wert found.
HEIMDALLER
Thus in dregs of folly sunk,
Art thou miscreant! mad or drunk?
Cups intemperate always teach,
Virulent abusive speech.
LOK
Peace, Heimdaller! sordid fate,
Mark'd thy lot from earliest date:
(16) On thee the dew of heaven distill'd,
Station'd in th' opprobrious field.
SKADA
Lok! thy tongue will never fail;
(17) Sporting with a wanton tail.
On a bleak rock's craggy steep,
Where frost winds stormy vigils keep,
Thee, vindictive Gods shall bind,
With cords of strong intestine kind.
LOK
Tho' on a bleak rock's craggy steep,
Where frost winds stormy vigils keep,
Gods vindictive me may bind,
With cords of strong intestine kind:
Yet know, I sent with this right hand,
Thy hoary sire to Hela's strand.
SKADA
Tho' thou sent'st to Hela's strand,
Thiaz with accursed hand;
Yet from my halls and rich domain,
A tempest on thy head shall rain.
LOK
Kinder speeches from thy tongue,
Sooth'd the ears of Lofeyia's son;
When thou heard'st his midnight tread,
Gently stealing to thy bed.
Honest Lok will not conceal ---
If crimes exist, he must reveal.
Beyla coming forwards, offers to Lok a cup of mead, and thus addresses him:
LIII.
Lo! gentle Lok! I intercede,
And pledge thee with this cup of mead,
That she of all th' Asori train,
Free from thy slander may remain.
Lok drinks the mead, and answers.
LIV.
Not e'en thyself can I pass by;
Thy crime is infidelity:
To Elorrid's bed a rival came,
And Lok was the intruder's name.
BEYLA
Lo! the mountains quake with fear!
Elorrid approaches near:
Now thy calumny shall cease,
And Gods and men recover peace.
LOK
Silence, Beyla! Beygguer's wife!
Thou hast led a Sorceress life.
Monster foul! repudiate jade!
No more the asori race degrade.
Thor enters and speaks.
LVII.
Cease, foul prater! mortals' scorn!
High my vengeful mallet's borne:
Ev'ry hope of life is fled ----
Soon it smites thy guilty head!
LOK
Son of Earth! but late I came ---
Why should rage convulse thy frame?
Such vaunting words will not be spoke,
When 'tis with the wolf to cope;
Sneakingly you'll skulk away,
And leave your aged sire a prey.
THOR
Cease foul prater! mortals' scorn!
High my vengeful mallet's borne;
Ev'ry hope of life is fled ---
Soon it smites thy guilty head!
To the East I'll hurl thee then;
Far from the cheerful haunts of men.
LOK
To tell the Gods, what there you did,
Time and circumstance forbid:
How neck to heel, in narrow bound,
The pigmy Thor a refuge found.
THOR
Cease, foul prater! mortals' scorn!
High my vengeful mallet's borne:
Ev'ry hope of life is fled ---
Soon it smites thy guilty head!
LOK
Altho' thy mallet me destroy,
You a banquet will enjoy:
Thongs of Sæhrimner once you eat,
And thought them a delicious treat:
Starving then, enforc'd you said,
Fighting valor must be fed.
THOR
Cease, foul prater! mortals' scorn!
High my vengeful mallet's borne:
Ev'ry hope of life is fled ---
Lo! it smites thy guilty head!
Then to Hela thee I'll send,
In prison there thy days to end.
LOK
I, the truth with fearless tongue,
To Asi and Alfori sung:
To thee, great Thor! alone I yield ---
Fierce in the ensanguin'd field.
Ager made a feast this night;
But never more shall guest invite:
Flames his mansion shall surround,
And creeping up his back be found.
Lok, after this, took the form of a salmon, and plunged into the cataract of Franangrensis. There they took, and bound him with the intestines of his son Narer: but his other son, Nafier, was turned into a wolf. Skada brought a snake, and suspended it over the face of Lok, that the venom might drop on him. Sigyne, the wife of Lok, caught the venom in a bowl; and when it was full, carried it out: in the mean time it fell upon Lok. Then he was seized with a great tremor, by which the whole earth was shaken; that to this day, is called an Earthquake.
Notes:
15. Cups thou, &c. --- Beygguer was not then in his proper office, for he was the Cook and Steward of Freya. He had been forced perhaps to take upon him the employment of waiting on the guests, on account of the death of Ager's servant, whom Lok had killed. There is one objection to this however, because the cups were said to be borne about by invisible agency. [Back]
16. "On thee the dew." --- It has been observed before, that Heimdaller was the Watchman of the Gods. [Back]
17. "Sporting with, &c." --- This is simile taken from a dog, who wags his tail when he is pleased. Lok in like manner, was pleased with the opportunity he then had of abusing the Gods. [Back]
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