Page:The Elder Edda and the Younger Edda - tr. Thorpe - 1907.djvu/38

 meet Surt and the gentle Gods; a hundred rasts it is on every side. That plain is to them decreed.

19. Wise art thou, O guest! Approach the Jötuns bench, and sitting let us together talk; we will our heads in the hall pledge, guest! for wise utterance.

20. Tell me first, if thy wit suffices, and thou, Vafthrûdnir! knowest, whence first came the earth, and the high heaven, thou, sagacious Jötun?

21. From Ymir's flesh the earth was formed, and from his bones the hills, the heaven from the skull of that ice-cold giant, and from his blood the sea.

22. Tell me secondly, if thy wit suffices, and thou, Vafthrûdnir! knowest, whence came the moon, which over mankind passes, and the sun likewise?

23. Mundilfœri hight he, who the moon's father is, and eke the sun's: round heaven journey each day they must, to count years for men.

24. Tell me thirdly, since thou art called wise, and if thou, Vafthrûdnir! knowest, whence came the day, which over people passes, and night with waning moons? 12