|
|
Page 1 of 7 Voluspaa is the first poem of the Poetic Edda. It tells the story of the creation of the world and its coming end related by a volva or seeress addressing Odin.
The prophecy commences with an address to Odin. The seeress then starts relating the story of the creation of the world in an abridged form. She explains how she came by her knowledge and that she understands the source of Odin's omniscience, and other secrets of the gods of Asgard. She deals with present and future happenings, touching on many of the Norse myths, such as the death of Baldr and the binding of Loki. Ultimately the seeress tells of the end of the world, Ragnarök, and its second coming.
Read more in Wikipedia
1.
Hearing I ask
from the holy races,
From Heimdall's sons,
both high and low;
Thou wilt, Valfather,
that well I relate
Old tales I remember
of men long ago.
2.
I remember yet
the giants of yore,
Who gave me bread
in the days gone by;
Nine worlds I knew,
the nine in the tree
With mighty roots
beneath the mold.
3.
Of old was the age
when Ymir lived;
Sea nor cool waves
nor sand there were;
Earth had not been,
nor heaven above,
But a yawning gap,
and grass nowhere.
4.
Then Bur's sons lifted
the level land,
Mithgarth the mighty
there they made;
The sun from the south
warmed the stones of earth,
And green was the ground
with growing leeks.
5.
The sun, the sister
of the moon, from the south
Her right hand cast
over heaven's rim;
No knowledge she had
where her home should be,
The moon knew not
what might was his,
The stars knew not
where their stations were.
6.
Then sought the gods
their assembly-seats,
The holy ones,
and council held;
Names then gave they
to noon and twilight,
Morning they named,
and the waning moon,
Night and evening,
the years to number.
7.
At Ithavoll met
the mighty gods,
Shrines and temples
they timbered high;
Forges they set, and
they smithied ore,
Tongs they wrought,
and tools they fashioned.
8.
In their dwellings at peace
they played at tables,
Of gold no lack
did the gods then know,--
Till thither came
up giant-maids three,
Huge of might,
out of Jotunheim.
9.
Then sought the gods
their assembly-seats,
The holy ones,
and council held,
To find who should raise
the race of dwarfs
Out of Brimir's blood
and the legs of Blain.
10.
There was Motsognir
the mightiest made
Of all the dwarfs,
and Durin next;
Many a likeness
of men they made,
The dwarfs in the earth,
as Durin said.
|
|
|
Ancient wisdom |
Greetings to the host,
The guest has arrived,
In which seat shall he sit?
Rash is he who at unknown doors
Relies on his good luck. |
|
|
Voluspaa 
