Voluspa (literally “The Witch’s Prophecy”) is told through the person of a deceased witch or soothsayer (volva), awakened by the god Odin and interviewed for information on the beginning and end of the world. The poem contains the somewhat infamous “Catalogue of the Dwarves” (st. 10–16), a list purporting to name all these creatures, which was mined by J. R. R. Tolkien for the names of characters in his imaginary world. Two versions of Voluspa are preserved, one in the Codex Regius alongside the bulk of the remainder of the Eddic poems, and one in isolated context in Hauksbok, a later manuscript. The poem is also quoted extensively in Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda, and occasionally the text in the other manuscripts can be corrected from that source. The following translation follows the text of Codex Regius, and does not include the additional stanzas from Hauksbok, which are likely to be later interpolations.
The poem is highly allusive, and the witch often refers to stories that she does not tell in their entirety. In particular, the story of the first war (st. 21–24) is told in only the vaguest detail, but seems to have involved fighting between the Aesir gods and the Vanir gods. In stanzas 25–26, we also see an allusion to a story that is told more fully in the Prose Edda (see translation by Faulkes under “Further Reading” in the Introduction), of a giant who built a wall around Asgard but demanded Odin’s wife as his price. The gods accepted his service, but cheated him out of his prize; in stanza 26 Thor seems to reject their deceitfulness and calls for a straight fight.
The use of a spear made from the mistletoe “tree” to kill the god Balder (st. 31–32) has been interpreted in various ways; most scholars have seen it as evidence that this poem was composed in Iceland (where there are few trees, and mistletoe might be mistakenly thought to be a tree).
Large bold capitals have been inserted at the beginning of stanzas when the witch abruptly changes subject.
HEED MY WORDS, all classes of men, you greater and lesser children of Heimdall. You summoned me, Odin, to tell what I recall of the oldest deeds of gods and men.
I remember the giants born so long ago; in those ancient days they raised me. I remember nine worlds, nine giantesses, and the seed from which Yggdrasil sprang.
It was at the very beginning, it was Ymir’s time, there was no sand, no sea, no cooling waves, no earth, no sky, no grass, just Ginnungagap.
But Odin and his brothers created the earth, it was they who made Midgard. The sun shone from the south upon the stones of their hall, and the land turned green with growing plant-life.
The sun, companion of the moon, shone from the south, as the heavenly horses pulled it east to west. The sun did not yet know where it rested at evening, the stars did not yet know their places in the sky, the moon did not yet know what kind of power it had.
Then all the gods went to their thrones, those holy, holy gods, and came to a decision: they named the night and the hours, the morning, the midday, the afternoon and evening, so they could tell the time.
The gods had their meeting at Ithavoll, where they built temples and high shrines; they made workshops, they made treasures, they made tongs and other tools.
They played in the grass, they were cheerful; they had no lack of gold, till three giantesses came, fiendish giantesses from Jotunheim.
Then all the gods went to their thrones, those holy, holy gods, and came to a decision: they would make the lord of the dwarves out of Ymir’s blood and his rotting limbs.
Then they made Motsognir, he was the lord of all the dwarves, and next they made Durin. They made many man-like little creatures, dwarves of the earth, and Durin named them:
Nyi and Nithi, Northri and Suthri, Austri and Vestri, Althjof, Dvalin, Bivor, Bavor, Bombur, Nori, An and Anar, Ai, Mjothvitnir,
Veig and Gandalf, Vindalf, Thrain, Thekk and Thorin, Thror, Vit, and Lit, Nar and Nyrath, Regin and Rathsvith, now I’ve named the dwarves correctly;
Fili, Kili, Fundin, Nali, Hepti, Vili, Hannar, Sviur, Frar, Hornbori, Fraeg and Loni, Aurvang, Jari, Oakenshield.
Now the names of Dvalin’s family, the dwarves descended from Lofar, as men tell: The ones who left their stone halls for a home on Joruvoll:
These were Draupnir and Dolgthrasir, Har, Haugspori, Hlevang, Gloi, Skirfir, Virfir, Skafith, Ai,
Alf and Yngvi, Oakenshield, Fjalar and Frosti, Fith and Ginnar. The names of these dwarves, the descendants of Lofar, will be famous as long as the world exists.
THREE GODS, powerful and passionate, left Asgard for Midgard. They found Ask and Embla, weak, fateless, in that land.
They had no breath, no soul, no hair, no voice, they looked inhuman. Odin gave them breath, Honir gave them souls, Loth gave them hair and human faces.
I know an ash tree, named Yggdrasil, a high tree, speckled with white clay; dewdrops fall from it upon the valleys; it stands, forever green, above Urth’s well.
Three wise women live there, by that well under that tree. Urth is named one, another is Verthandi, the third is named Skuld. They carve men’s fates, they determine destiny’s laws, they choose the lifespan of every human child, and how each life will end.
I remember the first murder ever in the world, when Gullveig was pierced by spears and burned in Odin’s hall. They burned her three times, she was reborn three times; often killed—not a few times!— still she would live again.
They named her Heith when she came into their homes, a sorceress who foresaw good things. She knew magic, she knew witchcraft, she practiced witchcraft. She was the pride of an evil family.
Then all the gods went to their thrones, those holy, holy gods, and came to a decision, about whether they should endure Gullveig’s depradations or whether they should seek revenge.
Odin let a spear fly and shot it into the fray; that was the first war ever in the world. The outer wall of Asgard was broken. The Vanir knew war-magic, they trampled the valleys.
Then all the gods went to their thrones, those holy, holy gods, and came to a decision: all the air would be poisoned with their deceit, or Odin’s wife would have to be married to a giant.
Thor alone was in the mood to fight; he does not take it lightly when he hears of such things: broken promises, broken oaths and vows, such false speech as even the gods had uttered.
I KNOW WHERE HEIMDALL hid his ear under the heaven-bright holy branches of Yggdrasil. I see a river that feeds the muddy waterfall where Odin’s eye hides. Have you learned enough yet, Allfather?
I sat alone when that ancient one came to me, Odin of the Aesir, and he looked into my eye. What do you seek from me, Odin? Why do you seek me, Odin? Odin, I know where you hid your eye in the shining waters of the well of Mimir. But Mimir can drink every morning from those waters where your own eye drowns. Have you learned enough yet, Allfather?
Odin opened my eyes to rings and necklaces, in exchange he got wisdom and prophecy. I saw more and more, looking out over all the worlds.
I saw Valkyries come from far away, ready to ride to the homes of the gods. Skuld held a shield, and Skogul another, Gunn, Hild, Gondul, and Geirskogul. Now the Valkyries are counted, ready to ride to the earth, the Valkyries.
I saw Balder, the bloodied victim, Odin’s son, resigned to his fate. There stood the mistletoe, growing slender and fair, high above the plain.
That tree, which seemed harmless, caused a terrible sorrow when Hoth took a shot. Balder’s brother was born soon thereafter, he was Odin’s son; he took vengeance while still just one night old.
He had never washed his hands nor combed his hair when he put Balder’s killer on the funeral pyre. Frigg wept in Fensalir for the woe of Valhalla. Have you learned enough yet, Allfather?
I saw a prisoner lying in a certain wood, the liar himself, none other than Loki. There sits Sigyn, his wife, although she finds no glee in her husband. Have you learned enough yet, Allfather?
A river falls from the east, full of daggers and swords, through valleys of poison. It is named Slith.
There stands north of the dark valleys a golden hall of the kin of Sindri, and another stands at Okolnir, the beer-hall of a giant named Brimir.
I saw a hall that stood far from the sun on the beaches of corpses; the doors face north. Drops of poison fall through the roof; its walls are encircled by serpents.
I saw oathbreakers wading in those thick streams, and murderers, and those who seduce others’ lovers. There Nithhogg sucks the corpses of the fallen, snaps them in his jaws. Have you learned enough yet, Allfather?
In the east sat an aged giantess, in Ironwood, and there she raised Fenrir’s brood. Among them is a certain one who bites the moon in a troll’s shape.
Dead men are filled with life, the home of the gods turns red with gore, the sun shines black through the summers, the weather is never cheerful. Have you learned enough yet, Allfather?
A giant, a herder by trade, sits there on a burial mound, striking a harp, he is the cheerful Eggther. A bright red rooster named Fjalar sings near him in Birdwood.
Near the Aesir sings the rooster named Golden-Comb, he wakes the men who fight for Odin, Lord of Battle. But another sings below the earth, a soot-red rooster in the halls of Hel.
Fenrir howls terribly before the doors to Hel; the wolf will break its bonds and run. I know much wisdom, I see deep in the future, all the way to Ragnarok, a dark day for the gods.
Brothers will fight one another and kill one another, cousins will break peace with one another, the world will be a hard place to live in. It will be an age of adultery, an age of the axe, an age of the sword, an age of storms, an age of wolves, shields will be cloven. Before the world sinks in the sea, there will be no man left who is true to another.
The giants are at play, and the gods’ fate is kindled at the blast of Gjallarhorn: Heimdall blows that horn hard, holds it high aloft, Odin speaks with Mimir’s head.
The old tree sighs when the giant shakes it— Yggdrasil still stands, but it trembles.
Fenrir howls terribly before the doors to Hel; the wolf will break its bonds and run. I know much wisdom, I see deep in the future, all the way to Ragnarok, a dark day for the gods.
Hrym advances from the east with a shield before him, and the Midgard-serpent is in a monstrous rage. The serpent beats the waves, and the eagle screams eagerly, splitting corpses with its pale beak. Naglfar, the giants’ ship, is released.
That ship sails from the east, bearing giants over the sea, and Loki is its captain. The giants are coming together with Fenrir, and Loki too is with them on that voyage.
What news from the gods? What news from the elves? All Jotunheim is roaring, the Aesir are in counsel, and the dwarves, creatures of the mountains, tremble by their doors of stone. Have you learned enough yet, Allfather?
Surt comes from the south with a bright light in his hand, yes, the sun shines upon the sword in his grasp. The mountains collapse, the trolls fall, men walk the roads to Hel, and the skies divide above.
Then comes the second sorrow of Frigg, when Odin goes to fight the wolf, and Frey goes to fight the giant Surt. Then Odin, Frigg’s husband, will fall to Fenrir.
Then comes the great son of Odin, Vithar, to fight, to avenge his father on the wolf. He shoves his sword into the mouth of Fenrir, all the way to the heart, and thus is Odin avenged.
Then Thor comes, Earth’s son, Odin’s son, to fight the Midgard-serpent— the protector of Midgard will kill that serpent in his rage. But all humankind will die out of the world when Thor falls after only nine steps, struck down by the venom of the honorless serpent.
The sun turns black, the earth sinks into the sea, the bright stars fall out of the sky. Flames scorch the leaves of Yggdrasil, a great bonfire reaches to the highest clouds.
Fenrir howls terribly before the doors to Hel; the wolf will break its bonds and run. I know much wisdom, I see deep in the future, all the way to Ragnarok, a dark day for the gods.
I SEE THE EARTH rise a second time from out of the sea, green once more. Waterfalls flow, and eagles fly overhead, hunting for fish among the mountain peaks.
The Aesir meet on Ithavoll and regard the bones of the Midgard-serpent, and there they recall the great events of Ragnarok, and Odin’s old wisdom.
There they will find once more the wonderful golden game pieces in the grass, which they had once played with in the earliest days.
Fields will bear harvest without labor, all sickness will disappear, Balder will come back. Hoth and Balder will live in Odin’s hall, as well as other gods. Have you learned enough yet, Allfather?
Then Honir will speak forth his prophecies, and the two sons of Odin, the two brothers, will inhabit the heavens. Have you learned enough yet, Allfather?
I see a hall standing there, more beautiful than sunlight, thatched with gold, at Gimle. There bold men will dwell and enjoy cheer throughout their lives.
Then the dark dragon will come flying down from the dark mountains, that glistening serpent. Nithhogg will bear corpses in his wings as he flies over that valley … now I must retire.