Odin said:
1.
Shall I visit Vafthrúdnir?
Afford me your counsel, Frigg:
For I long to meet him
and match runes
In a word-joust
with the giant.
Frigg said:
2.
Father of Warriors,
Frigg's counsel
Is that you stay at home:
No giant is equal,
I judge, in strength
And thought to Vafthrúdnir.
Odin said:
3.
Much have I traveled,
much have I learned,
Much have I proved the Powers:
I will venture
to visit Vafthrúdnir
And see his hall for myself.
Frigg said:
4.
Unharmed go forth,
unharmed return,
Unharmed back to your own:
May you prevail, Father of Men,
In your word-joust
with the giant.
5.
So Odin departed
to prove the giant,
Match him wit for wit:
Into the hall
of Im's father
Ygg the Fearsome entered.
Odin said:
6.
Hail, Friend!
From afar I have come
To visit you, Vafthrúdnir:
I am eager to learn
if you are half-wise
Or all-wise, as I hear.
Vafthrúdnir said:
7.
Who are you?
Who is it dares
To toss at me taunting words?
Unless your Tore
prove larger than mine,
You shall not leave here alive.
Odin said:
8.
My name is Gagnrad:
now from the road
I enter your hall in need
Of food and drink
far have I traveled
For your welcome, wise giant.
Vafthrúdnir said
9.
Tell me, Gagnrad,
why you talk from the floor
And do not seat yourself:
You shall prove to me
who has more wit,
The guest or his old host.
Odin said:
10.
A poor man
among the wealthy
Must needs speak
or be silent:
No good will bragging bring him,
I think, comes to challenge the cunning.
Vafthrúdnir said:
11.
Tell me, Gagnrad -
you may talk from the floor -
Tell me to test your boldness:
What is the horse called
who hauls forth
Day for the heroic race?
Odin said:
12.
Bright-Mane is he called
who the clear day hauls
Forth for the heroic race:
Mightiest is he thought
among the Hreidgoths,
With his golden-gleaming mane.
Vafthrúdnir said:
13.
Tell me, Gagnrad -
you may talk from the floor -
Tell me to test your boldness:
What is the horse called
who from the east drags
Night that seems good to the gods?
Odin said:
14.
Ice-Mane is he called
who for all drags
Night that seems good to the gods:
Foam from his bit
falls each morning,
Whence comes dew to the dales.
Vafthrúdnir
15.
Tell me, Gagnrad -
you may talk from the floor -
Tell me to test your boldness:
What is the river called
that runs between
The grounds of giants and gods?
Odin said:
16.
Ifing is the river
that runs between the grounds
of giants and gods:
Open shall it run
for evermore
And never be iced over.
Vafthrúdnir
17.
Tell me, Gagnrad -
you may talk from the floor -
Tell me to test your boldness:
What is the plain called,
the place where Surt
Shall finally defeat the gods?
Odin said:
18.
Vigrid is the plain,
the place where Surt
Shall finally defeat the gods:
A hundred rasts
in each direction
The area is of that plain.
Vafthrúdnir
19.
You are wise, guest:
go to the bench,
Be seated and continue our talk,
To see who in wit
is the wiser of us.
We will stake our heads on the outcome.
Odin said:
20.
Vouch to me first Vafthrúdnir,
If your wisdom
serves you well:
How did the earth,
how did the sky,
Both of them, come to be?
Vafthrúdnir said:
21.
From Ymir's flesh
was earth shaped,
The mountains from his mighty bones,
From the skull of Frost-Cold
was the sky made,
The salt sea from his blood.
Odin said:
22.
Vouch to me second, Vafthrúdnir,
If your wisdom
serves you well:
Whence comes the moon,
whence comes the sun,
That move alike over men?
Vafthrúdnir said:
23.
Mundilferi is
the moon's father
And so of the sun also:
They shall travel through
heaven every day
As a tally of times for men.
Odin said:
24.
Vouch to me third, Vafthrúdnir,
If your wisdom
serves you well:
Whence comes the day,
whence comes the night
And its moons that fare over men?
Vafthrúdnir said:
25.
Delling is the name
of Day's father,
But Night was begotten of Nör,
New Moon and Old
were made by the gods
As a tally of times for men.
Odin said:
26.
Vouch to me fourth, Vafthrúdnir,
If your wisdom
serves you well:
Whence came winter
and warm summer,
How did both of them come to be?
Vafthrúdnir said:
27.
Wind-Cold
was Winter's father,
South the father of Summer.
Odin said:
28.
Vouch to me fifth, Vafthrúdnir,
If your wisdom
serves you well:
Who of the gods
or of Ymir's kin
In the First Age was first?
Vafthrúdnir said:
29.
In the endless winters before earth was shaped,
Then was Bergelmir born:
His father, I think, was Thrudgelmir,
As Aurgelmir was his.
Odin said:
30.
Vouch to me sixth, Vafthrúdnir,
If your wisdom
serves you well:
Whence did Aurgelmir come
who of all the giants
In the First Age was first?
Vafthrúdnir said:
31.
From Elivagur
venom drops
Joined to make the giant:
We are all his sons,
descended from him,
Hence we are all so fierce.
Odin said:
32.
Vouch to me seventh, Vafthrúdnir,
If your wisdom
serves you well:
How that grim giant
begot children,
Who never knew a giantess.
Vafthrúdnir said:
33.
Under his armpits
the Ice Giant grew
A boy and a girl together:
Foot by foot
the Fierce One begot
A six-headed son.
Odin said:
34.
Vouch to me eighth, Vafthrúdnir,
If your wisdom
serves you well:
What you first remember,
first knew;
For you know all, do you not?
Vafthrúdnir said:
35.
In the endless winters
before the earth was shaped,
Then was Bergelmir born:
What I first remember
is the flour bin
In which they laid the Wise One.
Odin said:
36.
Vouch to me ninth, Vafthrúdnir,
If your wisdom
serves you well:
Whence comes the wind
that over waves fares,
Unseen by human eyes?
Vafthrúdnir said:
37.
Hraesvelg sits
at the edge of the world,
Huge in eagle feathers:
From his wings, they say,
the wind comes
That fares over mortal men.
Odin said:
38.
Vouch to me tenth, Vafthrúdnir:
If your wisdom
serves you well:
How Njörd comes
to be counted a god,
To have high altars and temples
Raised to his name though not god-born.
Vafthrúdnir said:
39.
In Vanaheim
did the Vanes shape him
And gave him as pledge to the gods:
After the Doom of this Age
he will return
Home to the all-wise Vanes.
Odin said:
40.
Vouch to me eleventh, Vafthrúdnir,
If your wisdom
serves you well:
Who of the men
in Odin's court
Fare to the fight each day?
Vafthrúdnir said:
41.
All the dead warriors
in Odin's court
Fare to the fight each day:
They select the slain,
then leave the battle,
Sit after at peace in the hall.
Odin said:
42.
Vouch to me twelfth, Vafthrúdnir,
If your wisdom
serves you well:
From the runes of the giants,
from the runes of the gods,
Are you able rightly to read
What fate shall befall the gods?
Vafthrúdnir said:
43.
From the runes of the giants,
from the runes of the gods,
I can read the truth aright:
I have wandered
through all the worlds;
Through the Nine Worlds
and through Nether-Hel
Where die the heroes from Hel.
Odin said:
44.
Much have I traveled,
Much have I learned,
Much have I proved the Powers:
Who will survive
when the Arch-Winter
Shall kill most of mankind?
Vafthrúdnir said:
45.
In Hoddmimir's Wood
shall be hidden from it
Lif and Lifthrasnir:
For meat they shall feed
on morning dew,
And from both shall men be reborn.
Odin said:
46.
Much have I traveled,
Much have I learned,
Much have I proved the Powers:
Whence shall come the Sun
to the smooth heaven
After Fenris has eaten her up?
Vafthrúdnir said:
47.
Elf-Candle
shall have a daughter
Before she is seized by Fenris:
The maid shall ride
her mother's highway
When all the High Ones are dead.
Odin said:
48.
Much have I traveled,
Much have I learned,
Much have I proved the Powers:
Who are the maids
with minds of wisdom
Who shall glide over the ocean?
Vafthrúdnir said:
49.
Maidens in threes
over Mogthrasnir's Village
wing their way,
Good spirits
who guard homes,
Although Thurse-begotten.
Odin said:
50.
Much have I traveled,
much have I learned,
Much have I proved the Powers:
Who shall inhabit
the home of the gods
When Surt's flames slacken?
Vafthrúdnir said:
51.
Vidar and Vali,
the virtuous, shall dwell there,
When Surt's flames slacken:
To Modi and Magni
shall Mjollnir belong
When Thor is overthrown.
Odin said:
52.
Much have I traveled,
much have I learned,
Much have I proved the Powers:
By whom in the end
shall Odin fall,
When the High Ones are all destroyed?
Vafthrúdnir said:
53.
Fenris will swallow
the Father of Men:
This will Vidar avenge,
Cleaving asunder
the cold jaws
In the last fight with Fenris.
Odin said:
54.
Much have I traveled,
much have I learned,
Much have I proved the Powers:
What did Odin whisper
in the ears of his son
Before Baldur was borne to the pyre?
Vafthrúdnir said:
55.
You alone know that,
what long ago
You said in the ears of your son.
I doomed myself
when I dared to tell
What fate will befall the gods,
And staked my wit
against the wit of Odin,
Ever the wisest of all.