Page:The Prose Edda (1916 translation by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur).pdf/158

The fair warriors of the Æsir,

In battle wise, fast waded,

And the surging pool, sward-sweeping,

Streamed: the earth-drift's billow,

Blown by the mighty tempest,

Tugged with monstrous fury

At the terrible oppressor

Of the earth-born tribe of cave-folk.

Till Thjálfi came uplifted

On his lord Thor's wide shield-strap:

That was a mighty thew-test

For the Prop of Heaven; the maidens

Of the harmful giant stiffly

Held the stream stubborn against them;

The Giantess-Destroyer

With Grídr's staff fared sternly.

Nor did their hearts of rancor

Droop in the men unblemished,

Nor courage 'gainst the headlong

Fall of the current fail them:

A fiercer-daring spirit

Flamed in the dauntless God's breast,—

With terror Thor's staunch heart-stone

Trembled not, nor Thjálfi's.

And afterward the haters

Of the host of sword-companions,

The shatterers of bucklers,

Dinned on the shield of giants,

Ere the destroying peoples

Of the shingle-drift of monsters

Wrought the helm-play of Hedinn

'Gainst the rock-dwelling marksmen.