Aegir, who was also known as Gymir, had prepared ale for the gods, when he received the great kettle, as was told earlier. To his party came Odin and his wift Frigg. Thor did not come, for he was in the east. Sif, Thor's wife, was there, Bragi and his wife Idun. Tyr was there; he was one-handed; Fenris-wolf had bitten off his hand while being bound. There was Njörd and his wift skach; Frey and Freya, and Odin's son Vidar. Loki was there and Frey's servants Byggvir and Beyla. There were many gods and elves. Aegir had two servers, Fimafeng and Eldir. The ale served itself There was a great peace in that place, all praised Aegir's servers highly. Loki could not bear to hear praise, so he killed Fimafeng. Then the gods shook their spears at Loki and cried out, driving him away to the woods; then they returned to their drinking. Loki turned back and met Eldir outside. Loki said to him:
1.
Stay where you are,
step no further,
Eldir, till you have told me
Of what the gods,
of what the elves,
Are talking over their ale.
Eldir said:
2.
They boast of their weapons,
their boldness in arms
As they sit by the banquet-board,
But none of the gods,
none of the elves
Speak of or wish you well.
Loki said:
3.
I shall go in
to eye them feasting
In Aegir's banquet hall:
I intend to stir up
strife and hate,
Mingle gall with their mead.
Eldir said:
4.
If you go in to eye them feasting
In Aegir's banquet hall
And sprinkle the gods
with spite and malice,
They will wipe your face
with your words.
Loki said:
5.
I tell you, Eldir,
if we two should begin
To bandy bitter words,
I should be ready
with apt replies
Were you to wag your tongue.
Then Loki entered the hall.
6.
From a long journey
has Loftus come
And thirsty is his throat:
I ask the gods
to give me a cup,
A great goblet of mead.7.
Why so silent
and sullen, gods,
Too moody to speak with me?
Appoint me a seat,
a place at the feast,
Or else bid me be off.
Bragi said:
8.
An appointed seat, a place at the feast,
The gods will never give you:
You are not one they wish to invite
As a friend to their pleasure feast.
Loki said:
9.
Remember, Odin,
in the olden days
What blood-brothers we were:
You would never have dreamed
of drinking ale
Unless it was brought for us both.
Odin said:
10.
Make room, Vidar,
room for the
Wolf's Father to sit at our feast,
Lest Loki abuse us
with bitter words
In Aegir's banquet hall.
The Vidar stood up and handed Loki a drink, who then said:
11.
Hail to the gods, hail to the goddesses,
Hail to the Holy Powers,
Hail to you all, all but one,
You, Bragi, on that bench.
Bragi said:
12.
I will give you a mare,
a mace also,
And, to better the bargain, a ring,
To refrain, Loki,
from malicious words,
Inciting the gods against you.
Loki said:
13.
Neither horses nor arm-rings
have you to give,
For you lack both, Bragi,
Of all who sit here,
elves and gods,
The most backward in battle,
The shyest when arrows are shot.
Bragi said:
14.
If I were outside,
not sitting at table
In Aegir's banquet hall,
My arm would have
your head from your neck,
With pain repay your lies.
Loki said:
15.
Boldly you speak,
less boldly you act,
Bragi, the bench-ornament!
If you are angry,
come out and fight,
A hero should feel no fear.
Idun said:
16.
Think, Bragi, I beg,
of our children,
Of all our kith and kin
And do not bandy abuse
with Loki
In Aegir's banquet hall.
Loki said:
17.
Enough, Idun!
I know what you are,
The most wanton of women:
Once, half-washed
you wound your arms
About your brother's killer.
Idun said:
18.
I will not bandy abuse
with Loki
In Aegir's banquet hall:
Be calm, Bragi,
and keep the peace,
Nor let ale rouse you to rage.
Gefjon said:
19.
Why at the table
should two gods
Bandy bitter words?
Loki is envious,
as we all know,
And hates the Holy Powers.
Loki said:
20.
Enough, Gefjun!
I know your secrets,
I know your seducer's name,
The white god
who gave you a jewel
To lay your leg over his.
Odin said:
21.
You are mad, Loki,
you have lost your wits,
To give offense to Gefjun:
She is wise, I think,
and what is to come
Beholds as clearly as I.
Loki said:
22.
Enough, Odin!
You have never been
A just judge of warriors:
You have often allowed,
as allow you should not,
Faint-hearted fighters to win.
Odin said:
23.
If I have allowed,
as allow I should not,
Faint-hearted fighters to win,
You lived under the earth
for eight winters,
And bore babies there,
Were milked like a milch-cow
And played a woman's part.
Loki said:
24.
Charms on Samsey,
they say you worked,
Wicked spells
like a witch,
Flew about in the form of a wizard
And played a woman's part.
Frigg said:
25.
You are mad, Loki,
to mention here,
Aloud among the living,
What befell two gods
in former days,
And disdain their deeds of old.
Loki said:
26.
Enough, Frigg!
You are Fjörgyn's daughter
And have ever played the whore:
Both Ve and Vili,
Vidrir's wife,
You allowed to lie with you.
Frigg said:
27.
If I still had a son,
sitting here,
As brave as Baldur was,
You would not escape
unscathed from the hall,
Before you fought with him.
Loki said:
28.
If you like, Frigg,
there's a lot more
I can tell you about my tricks:
For I saw to it
that your son died,
That Baldur will not come back.
Freya said:
29.
You are mad, Loki,
to mention here
Your foul and ugly arts:
Frigg knows all
that is fated to be,
Though she does not say so herself.
Loki said:
30.
Enough, Freya!
I know well
You have been as bad as the rest:
With all who sit here,
elves and gods,
With each you have played the whore.
Freya said:
31.
False is your tongue.
You will find before long
That ill comes to the evil:
The gods are enraged,
the goddesses also
Unhappy will you go hence.
Loki said:
32.
Enough, Freya!
I know you a witch
Who has done many wicked deeds:
You enticed into bed
your own brother, remember,
And then, Freya, you broke wind.
Njörd said:
33.
It's a small matter
if a maiden chooses
To lie with a husband or lover,
But a shameful sight
is a She-god
Who has given birth to babies.
Loki said:
34.
Beware, Njörd!
I know you were sent
From the east as a hostage to gods:
For Hymir's daughters you did as a urine-trough,
They made water in your mouth.
Njörd said:
35.
It comforted me
when I came from afar
In the east as a hostage to gods,
To beget a son
who is greatly loved
And appears the prince of gods.
Loki said:
36.
Beware, Njörd!
It is wise to be modest.
Your secret I shall not conceal:
On your own sister
that son you begot.
What else would one expect?
Tyr said:
37.
Frey is the best
of all bold riders
In the golden courts of the gods,
Never dallies with maidens,
nor men's wives,
But frees all from their fetters.
Loki said:
38.
Enough, Tyr!
You have never known how
To make peace between men:
Feeble you are since Fenris bit
Your right hand
off at the wrist.
Tyr said:
39.
I lost a hand,
but you lost a son,
The wolf brought woe to us both:
In painful fetters
shall Fenris lie
Until the twilight of gods.
Loki said:
40.
Enough, Tyr!
You know that your wife
Mothered a son by me:
Nor rag nor penny
were you paid for that
In recompense, wretched one.
Frey said:
41.
I see a channel
and a chained wolf lying
Until the twilight of gods:
Forger of lies,
unless you be silent,
That fate will fall on you next.
Loki said:
42.
With gold
you bought Gymir's daughter,
For her you sold your sword:
When Muspell's sons
over Mirkwood ride,
Faint shall you feel at heart.
Byggvir said:
43.
Could I own to the lineage
of Ingvi-Frey
And sit in so honored a seat,
I would pound you, crow,
to pulp for your words
And break every one of your bones.
Loki said:
44.
What do I see wagging its tail
And yelping
like a spoiled pup?
To Frey it must sound
like slave-girls'
Jibber-jabber at the quern.
Byggvir said:
45.
My name is Byggvir,
known, I think,
To all for my hot temper:
Happy am I
that Hropt's kin
Are gathered over their ale.
Loki said:
46.
Enough, Byggvir!
You have never learned
How to carve meat for men:
When others fought
you hid yourself
Under the straw of the hall.
Heimdall:
47.
Drink, Loki,
has dulled your wits,
It is time to leave it alone:
When ale begins
to take hold of a man,
He babbles babyish nonsense.
Loki said:
48.
Enough, Heimdal!
I know that fate
Assigned you a servile task
With a damp bottom
you are doomed to stay
Awake to guard the gods.
Skadi said:
49.
You are lively, Loki,
but, like it or not,
You will not be loose for long:
The gods will bind you
to the blade of a sword
With the guts of your ice-cold heir.
Loki said:
50.
If the gods bind me
to the blade of a sword
With the guts of my ice-cold heir,
I was foremost
at the slaughter, first to lay
Harsh hands on Thjazi.
Skadi said:
51.
If foremost
at the slaughter, first to lay
Harsh hands on Thjazi,
Ominous words shall you hear
in my temple,
Dire prophecies on my plains.
Loki said:
52.
Livelier your words
to Laufey's son
When you bid him come to your bed:
Now is the time
for telling all,
That must be told of too.
Then Sif got up and handed Loki the holy mead mead, and said:
53.
Hail, Loki!
Let me hand you now
A cup of cold mead:
Admit that in one
among the gods
Even you can find no fault.
Loki drank from the horn and said:
54.
That would be Sif,
for, wary ever
And cautious,
you kept to yourself,
Except that you lay with a lover once
As well as Thor, I think,
And the lucky one was Loki.
Beyla said:
55.
The fells tremble,
the fields shake,
That must be Thor returning:
He will surely smite
the shameless mocker
Of gods and the sons of gods.
Loki said:
56.
Enough, Beyla!
You are Byggvir's wife
And mingle in much evil:
A disgrace it is
that where gods sit
Such a dung-bird and coward should come.
Then Thor came in and said:
57.
Be silent and grovel,
or my great hammer
Mjöllnir shall shut your mouth:
Your shoulder's stone
I will strike from its neck,
Lifeless you shall lie.
Loki said:
58.
So! The Son of Earth
is here at last!
Why do you rant and rage?
Less bold you will be
when you battle with Fenris
And he swallows Odin whole.
Thor said:
59.
Be silent and grovel,
or my great hammer
Mjöllnir shall shut your mouth:
Be silent or Thor
will throw you to the East
Where no god shall see you again.
Loki said:
60.
Of your eastward journey,
if I were you,
I would not speak before warriors:
You cowered, Thor,
in the thumb of a glove,
And forgot that you were a god.
Thor said:
61.
Be silent and grovel,
or my great hammer
Mjöllnir shall shut your mouth:
My hand will fell you
with Hrungnir's-killer,
Break every one of your bones.
Loki:
62.
I reckon I shall live
to a ripe old age
For all your threats with the hammer:
Skrymir's straps were strong, you found,
When you could not
get to your gear
And almost died of hunger.
Thor said:
63.
Be silent and grovel,
or my great hammer
Mjöllnir shall shut your mouth:
I will send you to Hel
with Hrungnir's-killer,
Down to the gates of the dead.
Loki said:
64.
I have said to gods
and the sons of gods
What my mind was amused to say:
But now I shall go,
for I know your rages,
With Thor I'm afraid to fight.65.
Ale have you brewed,
Aegir, but never
Will you give a feast again:
Flames play over
all you possess,
and your hall,
Already they burn your back.
But after that Loki hid in Franang's Falls in the form of a salmon. There the gods took him. He was bound with the bowels of his son Nan. But his son Narfi turned into a wolf Skadi too a poison snake and hung it up over the face of Loki; the poison dropped down. Sigyn, Loki's wife, sat there and held a bowl under the poison, and when the bowl was full she carried it off; but, meanwhile, the poison dropped on Loki. Then he struggled so hard that all the earth trembled. We call that now an earthquake.