Note 40 — The Ballad of Vafthruthnir
Henry Adams Bellows translation
In both manuscripts, apparently through the carelessness of some older copyist, stanzas 40 and 41 are run together: “Eleventh answer me well, what men in the home mightily battle each day? They fell each other, and fare from the fight all healed full soon to sit.” Luckily Snorri quotes stanza 41 in full, and the translation is from his version. Stanza 40 should probably run something like this: “Eleventh answer me well, | if thou knowest all / The fate that is fixed for the gods: / What men are they | who in Othin’s home / Each day to fight go forth?”