Page:The Prose Edda (1916 translation by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur).pdf/163

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THE POESY OF SKALDS
131
The wolfish monster ordered
Meili's Sire to deal him
Food from the holy trencher:
The friend of Him of Ravens
To blow the fire was chosen;
The Giant-King, flesh-greedy,
Sank down, where the guileless
Craft-sparing gods were gathered.
The comely Lord of All Things
Commanded Loki swiftly
To part the bull's-meat, slaughtered
By Skadi's ringing bow-string,
Among the folk, but straightway
The cunning food-defiler
Of the Æsir filched-the quarters,
All four, from the broad table.
And the hungry Sire of Giants
Savagely ate the yoke-beast
From the oak-tree's sheltering branches,—
That was in ancient ages,—
Ere the wise-minded Loki,
Warder of war-spoil, smote him,
Boldest of foes of Earth-Folk,
With a pole betwixt the shoulders.