xxii it cannot fail to appear a curious anomaly that, whilst the Grecian Mythology in all its varied details is made familiar to us from our childhood, we have been so long content to remain in great measure ignorant of the religious superstitions of our immediate ancestors; superstitions inferior it may be to those of Greece in refinement, but scarcely so in wildness or sublimity; which contributed so much to form the peculiar character that still distinguishes the inhabitants of Northern Europe; which even yet linger in the traditions of our peasantry, and whose traces are enduringly marked in the names of some of our festivals, and especially of the days of our week. The omission of any serious research into the religion of Odin, by men of such profound learning, as was possessed by many of our early antiquaries, may, not unnaturally, raise a doubt in the minds of some of the degree of advantage or interest likely to result from an enquiry of this nature; but a brief account of the circumstances which attended the overthrow of heathenism and the introduction of Christianity in those countries, where the Scandinavian deities were chiefly worshipped, may otherwise explain the cause of this silence on a subject so likely to have invited learned enquiry. It was not until long after the nations of Southern and Western Europe had been converted to Christianity, that its light began to penetrate into

xxiii the northern kingdoms of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway; but this fact is attributable not so much to the barbarism or ignorance of the inhabitants of those countries, as to their warlike and predatory habits, the natural result of their previous religion, of their position with respect to the rest of Europe and of other concurrent circumstances, too various to admit of consideration here. It would not be difficult to shew that the Scandinavians, from the eighth to the eleventh century, carried on a more active commerce, and could boast a more constant and extensive communication with distant countries than any other nation of Europe. During the greater part of this period, Russia, Sweden, and Denmark, were the only European nations which had any regular commerce with the East. The Northmen or Norwegians traded for furs, round the North Cape, to Permia: Russia, which, from the ninth century, was governed by Scandinavian princes, possessed several flourishing commercial cities, as Kiew, Cholmogorod, and Novogorod. In the North of Germany there were the Slavic trading towns, Vineta, Juliu or Wolliu, Rhethra, and Mecklenburg, and later Lubeck, Hamburgh, and Bremen. In Sweden there were Wisby, in the island of Gothland, and on the continent, Upsala, Sigtuna, and Birca. In Scania there was Halor: in Norway there were Tunsberg and Steinkar, and in Denmark were Sleswick, Ribe, Leira,

xxiv Roeskilde, Ringstedt, Odense, &c.1 Nor were these inconsiderable towns, but places of great extent and opulence, whose grandeur was a favourite theme with contemporary writers. The Norwegians and their descendants discovered and made settlements in Iceland, Greenland, the Orkneys, and, as has been maintained with great semblance of truth, even in America itself. Their Princes and Nobles visited every part of Europe as traders or pirates, and, for a considerable period, the body guard of the Greek Empe-perors was composed of Northmen under the designation of Baranger or Väringer. Their fisheries, particularly the herring-fishery in the Sound, were so considerable, that Arnold of Lübeck, bitterly lamented the sums of gold and silver thus abstracted from Mecklenburg into Scandinavia, and besides all this they had the monopoly of the Arctic whale-fishery.2 Of their piratical expeditions, their conquest of Neustria, England, Sicily, and the devastations which they inflicted on the coasts of Europe and Africa, it is not necessary here to speak: but it may be fairly con eluded, that a people possessing so many sources of wealth, and with such continual communication with the most civilized portions of the world, could not have been so darkly 1 Magnussen’s Nordiske Archæologie. 2 Ibid.

xxv barbarous as the well-grounded detestation of the monkish chronicles has represented them.3 If we consult the Icelandic Sagas, many of which are faithful and unpretending pictures of the manners of the times in which they were written, we shall find that the Scandinavians were by no means unacquainted with the comforts and even the luxuries of life; that they were skilful mechanics; held music and poetry in the highest esteem; have some claim to the invention of oil-painting, and, above all, in their relations with the weaker sex, shewed a degree of refinement and generosity which we may look for in vain amongst the Greeks and Romans in their highest civilization. The detailed descriptions which exist of some of the chief places of religious worship in Sweden, indicate them as possessing much grandeur and indeed magnificence. The courts of the first Dukes of Normandy,4 composed exclusively of the 3 The monk Alberich in his Chronicle, written about the year 875, speaks thus of them: “Est gens Normannorum gratiosa, quocumque venerit, et afiabilis,” whilst on the other hand he describes the Anglo-Saxons in respect of their manners as “feroces.” The great traveller, Pythias, who lived about the time of Alexander the Great, and, later, Tacitus, described the Scandinavians as superior in civilization to the Celts and Germans.    Magnussen. 4 Wace, in his Metrical History of Normandy, speaking of Duke Richard in 1030, says, “Richart ki volt son dreit tenir De Danemarche fist venir Daneis e bons combatturs Ki lui firent si grant meneurs.”

xxvi descendants of the Scandinavian conquerors of Neustria, and continually recruited from their kinsmen in the north, were the most polished and chivalrous of the time; and it is notorious that the chiefs who accompanied William to the Conquest of England (within the period of which we are speaking), looked upon the uncouth manners of the Anglo-Saxon nobles with undisguised contempt. The difficulties, therefore, which the first preachers of Christianity in Scandinavia had to encounter, may be attributed rather to the contempt in which these lawless warriors held a creed which threatened them with a life of peace and inactivity, than to barbarous ignorance or even to any bigoted adherence to their ancient religion. When St. Olaf, to whose zeal is due the establishment of Christianity in Norway, proposed to Gauka Thor to be baptized: the chief answered: “That he and his comrade (Stall-broder) were neither Christians nor Heathens, but trusted to their own courage, strength, and fortune, with which until then they had had every reason to be satisfied. But if the king was very anxious they should believe on some god, they were as well content

xxvii to believe on the white Christ5 as on any other.”6 In like manner Arnliot Gellina told the same king: “That he had always been wont to put his trust in nothing but his own strength, which had never failed him, and that he had now thought to trust in the king; but, since he, the king, was so desirous that he should be baptized, although he was not aware what the white Christ was capable of performing, for the king’s sake he would believe on him.”7 It was also said of Hrolf Krake and his warriors, at a much earlier period, that they never offered to the gods, but relied on their own strength. Some, although unin-structed in the doctrines of Christianity, rejected the superstitions of their countrymen, from more exalted motives. “When Thorkel Maane was on the point of death, he directed that he should be taken out into the broad sunshine, and there commending his spirit to the God who created the sun, breathed his last.8 We are told also that Thorkel Krafla and Ingemund the old, worshipped the God who created the sun. The death of the latter was truly heroic. Having received treacherously a mortal wound from one on whom he had 5 So called because those to be baptized were clothed in white. 6 St. Olafs Saga. 7 Ibid. 8 Landmanna Saga.

xxviii previously conferred benefits, he resolutely sought to conceal it in order to enable his murderer to escape from the vengeance of his sons. The most learned of the enquirers into the early history of the north,9 seem to be agreed that the three kingdoms of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, after having long continued separately hereditary under the descendants of Odin, who appear, in Sweden especially, to have exercised at once the functions of king and priest; split by degrees into numerous petty sovereignties, the chiefs of which under the titles of kings, jarls, &c. enjoyed an almost absolute power. Their subjects were divided into Herses (the great land-holders), free peasants, and slaves. The elder son of the Herse inherited his father’s estate, and the others sought to make their fortunes either by piracy (Vikingskab), or by entering into the service of some foreign prince, but chiefly by the former.10 During this state of society the Scald,11 or Bard, formed an important part, not only of the court of each petty prince, but also of the establishment of the more powerful nobles, always accompanying 9 Suhm, Schoning, Finn Magnussen, &c. 10 Magnussen. 11 The word Scald or Scaled, means, literally, a smoother of language, from skaldre to polish; in like manner the Saxon name for a poet was scop or sceop, from sceoppan to shape.    Henry.

xxix them to war; undertaking difficult or delicate negociations; and often acting at the same time as bard, counsellor, and warrior. No idea of effeminacy was coupled with this calling, but on the contrary, the best Scald was usually the boldest warrior, and, indeed, it was considered as essential to an accomplished chief to be able to make verses. At table, the Scalds usually occupied the seats of honour, and their songs abounded with allusions to the feats and attributes of the gods of the Edda: so much so, that without an intimate acquaintance with the Scandinavian Mythology, it is impossible thoroughly to understand them. Towards the latter end of the ninth century, ambitious and able princes succeeded, in each of the three kingdoms, in uniting the various petty sovereignties into one; a revolution, however, which, especially in Norway, was not effected without a long and bloody struggle, and the destruction of most of the families of the ancient chiefs. About the same time Christianity began to obtain a firm footing in the north. Bishops and Priests arrived from England and from Rome, introducing, with the religion of Christ, the language and literature of Roman Paganism. The occupation of the Scald was now rapidly departing, and the change of religion, the new form of government, the wars, which arose from civil dissensions, from foreign conquests, from alliances, and from religious disputes, at length effected a complete revolution in

xxx the habits of the people.12 Their fables and legends were by degrees forgotten, and the zealous promoters of Christianity omitted nothing to destroy all reliques of the ancient superstition. The language itself, particularly in Denmark, underwent such a change, that the old Danish13 was no longer intelligible. After Harald Haarfager (or the fair-haired) had completed the subjection of the petty sovereignties in Norway, most of the chiefs who had opposed him fled the country, either from fear of his resentment, or from love of independence, and sought for establishments elsewhere. Iceland had been discovered by a Norwegian a short time previously; and, as its climate had little to terrify men accustomed to the bleak mountains of Norway, or to a life spent chiefly upon the ocean, Ingulf and Hiorlef, about the year 847, found no difficulty in conducting thither a colony, composed, for the most part, of men of the principal families of Norway. The island, although equal in extent to Ireland, possesses but little fertile land, consisting chiefly of vast mountain ridges, the narrow dells between which, however, afford good pasture for cattle; and according to ancient documents, which there 12 P. E. Müller. 13 The language spoken originally by the whole Scandinavian family was called, generally, the Danish.

xxxi is no reason to doubt, it was at this time well wooded. Each chief took possession of the tract which best suited him, and a republican form of government of the most simple kind, was now established. The colonists of this new republic, in changing their country, did not abandon their ancient habits and pursuits. The summer was spent chiefly in piratical expeditions, and, during the long, dreary winter, the principal amusement consisted in festive meetings in the spacious drinking-houses of the wealthy, where, whilst the mead and ale went round, the Scald excited the emulation of his hearers by reciting the feats of their ancestors, or the most renowned events of the passing day, an accurate knowledge of which was considered an essential part of his art.14 Hither repaired many of the most turbulent and celebrated characters of the three northern kingdoms, often from necessity. As might have been expected, they were in perpetual feuds with each other; and, it being considered infamous to suffer bloodshed to pass unavenged, a quarrel between two individuals was invariably taken up by all their relatives and adherents, and was often productive of the most fatal results. It was, however, permitted, and indeed usual, to accept of a pecuniary compensation for the life of a kinsman or follower.15 14 P. E. Müller. 15 The same practice and a very similar state of society continues amongst the Arab tribes to this day, vid. Wellsted’s Arabia.

xxxii Public meetings were frequent in the new republic. Beside marriage and burial feasts, which often lasted whole weeks, there were festivities peculiar to each bailiwick, consisting chiefly in dancing and wrestling; Horse-meetings (Heste-thing), where the amusement was to irritate horses to fight; quarterly meetings; and, above all, one great annual meeting, called All-thing, to be absent from which was considered a serious reproach.16 At these meetings the influence of each individual was in proportion to the number of his adherents, or Thing-men, which, in turn depended on his reputation for courage, strength, or talent; in short, on his power to protect the interests of his followers. Hence the art, to turn a rival into ridicule by means of satirical verses, became a talent highly esteemed, and we find in the Icelandic Sagas, that the most distinguished warriors had often recourse to this weapon, and that the deadly Holmgang17 was not unfrequently preceded by a war of verse. 16 P. E. Müller. 17 Holm signifies an island, or any isolated spot. In the Holm-gang the two combatants were placed within a circle of stones, and he who quitted it alive, without taking the life of his adversary, was looked on as a Nidding,—a term of contempt which none in our language will adequately con vey. The Kniv-gang was still more murderous: the combatants were tied together with a girdle, and with the short knives still worn by the Norwegian peasants, stabbed each other to death. Instances of this latter kind of duel have taken place at no distant period.

xxxiii The improved administration in those parts of Europe which had long afforded a rich plunder to the northern Sea-kings, had encreased the dangers and diminished the profits of piracy, and the progress of Christianity tended gradually to abolish it altogether, but, in other respects, the state of society in Iceland remained unchanged. The manner of life of the islanders was calculated to cherish a spirit of poetry when once it had been awakened. They had scarcely any corn, and their pastoral occupations gave them but little employment, excepting during the hay harvest, when all quarrels were by law suspended. Their warlike operations were also, necessarily, upon a limited scale. A contest in which ten men fell was considered bloody, and their expeditions were rarely prolonged beyond a few weeks at a time. For security’s sake, however, they lived assembled together in large farm-houses; and spent the winter-evenings in story-telling or in talking over their feuds. To be skilled in the art of narrating adventures was therefore the most esteemed talent, and the surest method of securing everywhere a warm reception.18 18 P. E. Müller.

xxxiv P. Erasmus Müller from whose interesting work this brief review of the state of society in Iceland, from the ninth to the thirteenth century, is almost literally taken, gives, amongst others, the following extracts, in illustration of the simplicity of those manners, and of the powerful influence of the Scalds. “As Bolle Bollesen, a bold Icelander, was on a journey through the land, a peasant by the way mocked him, and afterwards fell upon him. But Bolle overcame him, and from this feat and journey a new Saga arose, which soon spread through the Bailiwick, and greatly augmented Bolle’s reputation.”19 In Gisle Sursson’s Saga a stranger is introduced, who says to his neighbour in the public assembly, “Shew me the men of celebrity about whom Sagas have been written.” In fact, almost all the Sagas are composed of narratives of the feuds of individuals or families, or of descriptions of particular places. They are often, however, of high interest, not merely because they furnish original pictures of a singular state of society, but also because of the very ancient and curious accounts which they contain of the distant countries visited by their heroes; the high importance, frequently, of the events in which they took part; and the light which is thrown on the contemporary manners and history of various nations 19 Laxdala Saga.

xxxv of the period, and, particularly, of those of Great Britain and Ireland. In the words of Müller: “The Scalds belong to the heroic age of the north, which existed in Iceland long after it was extinct everywhere else.” And in another place: “The importance attached by the Scandinavians to the delineation of character is evident from the language itself, which is much richer than any other of Europe in all terms expressive of characteristic qualities, whether of mind or body, so as to be able to convey the strength, weakness, obstinacy, quarrelsome or peaceable disposition of every individual in its finest shades.” It was not, therefore, until sometime after the race of Scalds was extinct in the three great Scandinavian kingdoms, that those of Iceland attained their highest perfection. Their fame spread abroad, and the successful examples of Eigil Skalagrimson and of some others, encouraged them to perfect themselves, and to travel from court to court in search of fame and profit. We accordingly hear of them in the courts of England, Ireland, Scotland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, the courts of the Orkneys, and in various other places. In the year 1000, Christianity was established by law in Iceland. Fifty years afterwards the first school was founded there, and Latin books introduced. The preceding cultivation of mind, and the circumstances of the climate, were the causes, probably, why more attention was paid

xxxvi to literature there than in the busy, turbulent kingdoms of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. The Kristnis-Saga informs us that towards the end of the eleventh century, many Icelanders were learned enough to have been made priests; and, in fact, several were so; and in the twelfth century, Iceland possessed several considerable collections of books.20 The new learning which accompanied the introduction of Christianity, did not stand in the same opposition to the old as it did in the other parts of the north. Christianity had not been imposed on Iceland by force, but was introduced partly through the influence of the principal persons of the island, and partly by the example of the mother-country; nor did the influence of the bishops depend upon their power over the mind of a superstitious king, but rather on their personal qualities or on their kindred. So early even as the commencement of the thirteenth century an Interdict was but little regarded; and in 1213, the Archbishop of Drontheim was obliged to use the utmost caution in proceeding against the chiefs of the republic, who had cruelly maltreated one of their bishops.21 During several centuries the Icelandic bishops were selected from the principal families of the island. Their temporary residence in a foreign country 20 P. E. Müller. 21 Ibid.

xxxvii had not entirely extinguished their nationality; and they were content to encourage the new literature without seeking to eradicate the old. As the Roman letters and the art of writing came into general use, it was natural that the more enlightened should be desirous to secure their ancient traditions from oblivion. We find, accordingly, that Are Frode, who lived about this time, and somewhat later, Sæmund Frode,22 are considered the earliest Icelandic historians; and, in the ensuing century, Snorro Sturleson, and the monks Gunnlang and Oddur, composed their histories chiefly from oral traditions. It has thus been attempted to show how the peculiar situation and state of society of Iceland, may explain the seemingly improbable fact, that the traditions of the ancient religion and history of the great Scandinavian family should have been preserved and cherished amongst these its least favoured children, when they were altogether forgotten by those of the more flourishing branches. But revolutions found their way hither also. By means of intermarriages, most of the estates in Iceland fell at length into the hands of a few families; and towards the beginning of the twelfth century, there were chiefs in the island so powerful, that two, at feud, rode to the Thing, the one 22 Frode signifies the wise.

xxxviii with 700, and the other with 1200 followers.23 In this altered state of things a solitary individual could possess but little weight, and the influence of public opinion rapidly diminished. From the middle of the twelfth century the three sons of the turbulent Sturle; namely, Snorro, the historian, Thord, and Sieghvart, were the leading men of the island; and the history of the republic ends with the parricidical contests of this family, which caused their own destruction and that of their country. In the year 1262, Iceland was united to the crown of Norway. By this revolution it was indeed freed from the miseries brought upon it by its turbulent chiefs; but all interest in public affairs thenceforth died away, and no Sagas were written, because there was nothing to write about. They were replaced by dry chronicles, which also ceased with the great plague in 1350, and were not resumed until so late as the seventeenth century.24 During the latter troubles of the republic, the prosperity of the island had much suffered; the wealth of individuals disappeared; large estates fell to the crown and were neglected; commerce died away under monopolies and injudicious regulations; travels abroad ceased; and, lastly, fire and water, the sea and volcanoes combined to sink this devoted land to that state of poverty and misery in which it now languishes. 23 P. E. Müller. 24 Ibid.

xxxix Thus, gradually, and by a natural course of events, all memory of the ancient manners, history, and religion of the north, was lost to the world. The old Scandinavian language, however, was still preserved pure in Iceland; and the poor, but not wholly illiterate, peasant, treasured up in his cabin the smoky parchments in which were preserved the events of the olden times, and often excited the wonder of his family by reading to them the wild relations of the Scalds, or the more precious relics of the Northern Mythology. Until the latter end of the sixteenth century all knowledge of the religion of heathen Scandinavia, possessed by other nations, was confined to what could be gleaned from the works of Paulus Diaconus, Adam of Bremen, and Saxo Grammaticus. The first was a Lombard of the latter end of the eighth century; the second a Canon of Bremen, who wrote in the eleventh; and the last the secretary of Bishop Absalom in the twelfth, more celebrated for the elegance of his Latin and for his classical attainments, than for historical correctness; and whose information respecting the Northern Mythology is obscured and disfigured by his practice of decorating its deities with the inappropriate names of the gods of Rome. In 1594 appeared a Danish translation of Snorro Sturleson’s Chronicle of the Kings of Norway, written in the thirteenth century in Icelandic, which threw an entirely new light on this hitherto

xl obscure subject, and excited the further researches of the learned in the north. One of the most ardent in this pursuit was Arngrim Johnsen, who died in 1648, and who, by his writings and industry in procuring and decyphering old Icelandic manuscripts, obtained a great mass of information on the subject. Contemporary with him, and his worthy coadjutor, was Bryniulf Svendsen, Bishop of Iceland, who died in 1675. The former discovered and sent to Olaus Wormius, in 1628, a parchment copy of the Prose Edda, now in the library of the University at Copenhagen, and scarcely ten years afterwards, Bryniulf discovered copies on parchment both of the Prose and Poetic Eddas, and sent both to the Royal Library at Copenhagen. The curiosity of the learned was now greatly excited, and the cabin of every peasant in Iceland was ransacked in search of parchments. The result was the discovery of a vast number of Sagas; some consisting of biographical relations of persons who existed between the ninth and thirteenth centuries; others extravagant fictions; and others again a compound of both: nearly all of which have found their way into the libraries of Copenhagen, Upsala, and Stockholm; and the most valuable are now in course of publication.25 Men of profound learning in Denmark and 25 P. E. Müller.

xli Sweden undertook the illustration of these relics of antiquity, and the names of Stephanius, Olaus Wormius, Resenius, Th. Bartholin, Thormod Torfæus, Arnas Magnæus, Gudmund Andersen, Verelius, Scheffer, Rudbeck, Keysler, Dalin, and Goranson, are familiar to those who have ever turned their attention to the subject. A Frenchman, Monsieur Mallet, however, was the first author who gave to this subject a popular dress, and his coadjutor, Erichsen, contributed not a little to the correctness and learning of his work,26 which was translated into English by Dr. Percy. In 1771, Suhm published his work “On the Heathen Religion and Worship in the North,” the most clear and comprehensive which had appeared on the subject, and by his ingenious deductions drew the attention of the learned, particularly in Denmark and Germany, still more strongly to the subject, which now seems to have been exhausted, by a long list of writers of eminence.27 In England, however, it appears hitherto to have awakened but little interest. Mr. Cottle translated into English the Edda of Sæmund. The 26 Monumens de la Mythologie et de la Poesie des Celtes, &c. 1756. 27 Schlözer, Herder, Thorlacius, Finn Johnsen, Thorkelin, Sandtvig, Gräter, Abrahamsen, Bastholm, Nyerup, Grundtvig, Finn Magnussen, Rafn, Mohne, Möller, Müller, Ling, Henneberg, Vonder Hagen, &c.

xlii Honourable William Herbert, in the second volume of his Miscellaneous Poetry, has given, in elegant verse, translations of detached pieces of Icelandic poetry, with illustrative notes, and Dr. Henderson has appended to his “Journey through Iceland” a treatise on Icelandic poetry; but beside these, Sir W. Scott’s account of the Eyrbiggia Saga, Weber’s N. Romances, and the translation of Mallet’s Northern Antiquities, the writer is not aware of any work in English tending to throw material light on this interesting subject.28 It may not be out of place here to give a concise account of the two Eddas. There are two works which bear the title of Edda;29 the one in verse, and the other in prose. The first may be considered a symbolical work on the Scandinavian Mythology: the latter a kind of commentary on the former. The Elder, or Poetical Edda, was long attributed to the Icelander Sæmund, surnamed Frode or the learned, who was a priest in Iceland towards the latter end of 28 To this list should be added the short account of the religion of Odin, in Mr. S. Turner’s Hist, of Anglo-Saxons, and the still more concise summary in this book of the church, also some articles which appeared in the early numbers of the Foreign Quarterly Review. 29 Various interpretations have been given of the meaning of the word “Edda,” which in Icelandic signifies simply “the Great-Grandmother.”

xliii the eleventh century, and from his great love for the heathen traditions, and the songs of the old Scalds, acquired amongst his countrymen the reputation of a magician, which he still retains. There is every reason to believe, however, that the greater part if not the whole of the poems of the Elder Edda are of a very much earlier date, and that Sæmund had the merit of collecting them from oral traditions, or possibly from Runic manuscripts, and of thus preserving them from oblivion. Of these anonymous poems or songs there are extant about forty, the meaning of many passages in which is very obscure, but not so much so but that those, well versed in the Icelandic language, render them nearly in the same manner. Some of these songs treat of Theogony and Cosmogony; some of the adventures of the gods; one is composed of riddles; others treat of magic, sorcery, enchantments; a part of the Havamal, of Ethics; the remainder, of the feats of heroes. The Prose, or, as it is more usually entitled, the Younger Edda, is, undoubtedly, of much later date, but it does not appear that Snorro Sturlesen was more than the compiler and continuer of it; and it may be attributed with more probability to the same Sæmund who was wrongly esteemed the author of the Poetic Edda. It is composed of First—Mythological Fables or, as they have been termed, Parables, containing (a) “Gylfa-Ginning” or “the manner in which Gylfe was deceived,”

xliv which Dr. Percy has translated into English from Mallet’s French translation, (b) Braga-rœdur, or the conversation of Bragi with Ægir. Second—The Kenningar, a collection of epithets and metaphors employed by the Scalds, illustrated by fragments from their compositions and from the Elder Edda. Third—The Scalda, or Poet’s book, containing three treatises: (a) On the Icelandic characters and alphabet; (b) on grammatical, rhetorical, and poetical figures; (c) on prosody.30 30 The above account of the two Eddas is taken from Professor Finn Magnussen’s translation of the Poetic Edda.