From the Poetic Edda, translated by Henry Adams Bellows
Baldrs Draumar (Old Norse: "Baldr's Dreams"), also known as Vegtamskvitha ("The Lay of Vegtam"), is the eleventh poem in the Poetic Edda. It is preserved only in the Arnamagnæan Codex, not in the Codex Regius — the principal manuscript that carries most of the Eddic poems. Various late paper manuscripts preserve it under the alternate title. The poem contains fourteen stanzas and appears to be in excellent condition.
The gods have gathered in alarm: Baldr, best and noblest among them, son of Odin and Frigg, has been troubled by evil dreams. Odin saddles Sleipnir, his eight-legged horse, and rides down to Niflhel — the murky dwelling of the dead — to learn the meaning. At the eastern door he finds the grave of a völva, a wise-woman, and raises her from death with spells. She foretells Baldr's fate: the blind god Hoth will slay him with a branch of mistletoe, and Vali, son of Rind, born for this purpose alone, will avenge the killing one night after his birth. The poem ends with mutual unmasking — the völva recognises Odin, Odin recognises the völva as a giantess — and a final prophecy reaching forward to Ragnarök.
The poem's subject-matter and style link it closely with the Völuspá. Four of the five lines of stanza 11 appear nearly verbatim in Völuspá 32–33, and the entire poem elaborates the episode outlined in those stanzas. It has been suggested that both poems may share a common author. There is also stylistic kinship with the Thrymskvitha, particularly in the opening stanza. Baldrs Draumar presumably assumed its present form no later than the first half of the tenth century.
This is Henry Adams Bellows' translation from The Poetic Edda (1923), published by the American-Scandinavian Foundation in New York. The translation was verified against the Wikisource proofread edition, transcribed from the original 1923 printed text.
Introductory Note
Baldrs Draumar is found only in the Arnamagnæan Codex, where it follows the Harbarthsljoth fragment. It is preserved in various late paper manuscripts, with the title Vegtamskvitha (The Lay of Vegtam), which has been used by some editors.
The poem, which contains but fourteen stanzas, has apparently been preserved in excellent condition. Its subject-matter and style link it closely with the Voluspo. Four of the five lines of stanza 11 appear, almost without change, in the Voluspo, 32-33, and the entire poem is simply an elaboration of the episode outlined in those and the preceding stanzas. It has been suggested that Baldrs Draumar and the Voluspo may have been by the same author. There is also enough similarity in style between Baldrs Draumar and the Thrymskvitha (note especially the opening stanza) to give color to Vigfusson's guess that these two poems had a common authorship. In any case, Baldrs Draumar presumably assumed its present form not later than the first half of the tenth century.
Whether the Volva (wise-woman) of the poem is identical with the speaker in the Voluspo is purely a matter for conjecture. Nothing definitely opposes such a supposition. As in the longer poem she foretells the fall of the gods, so in this case she prophesies the first incident of that fall, the death of Baldr. Here she is called up from the dead by Othin, anxious to know the meaning of Baldr's evil dreams; in the Voluspo it is likewise intimated that the Volva has risen from the grave.
The poem, like most of the others in the collection, is essentially dramatic rather than narrative, summarizing a story which was doubtless familiar to every one who heard the poem recited.
Once were the gods together met,
And the goddesses came and council held,
And the far-famed ones the truth would find,
Why baleful dreams to Baldr had come.
Then Othin rose, the enchanter old,
And the saddle he laid on Sleipnir's back;
Thence rode he down to Niflhel deep,
And the hound he met that came from hell.
Bloody he was on his breast before,
At the father of magic he howled from afar;
Forward rode Othin, the earth resounded
Till the house so high of Hel he reached.
Then Othin rode to the eastern door,
There, he knew well, was the wise-woman's grave;
Magic he spoke and mighty charms,
Till spell-bound she rose, and in death she spoke:
"What is the man, to me unknown,
That has made me travel the troublous road?
I was snowed on with snow, and smitten with rain,
And drenched with dew; long was I dead."
Othin spake:
"Vegtam my name, I am Valtam's son;
Speak thou of hell, for of heaven I know:
For whom are the benches bright with rings,
And the platforms gay bedecked with gold?"
The Wise-Woman spake:
"Here for Baldr the mead is brewed,
The shining drink, and a shield lies o'er it;
But their hope is gone from the mighty gods.
Unwilling I spake, and now would be still."
Othin spake:
"Wise-woman, cease not! I seek from thee
All to know that I fain would ask:
Who shall the bane of Baldr become,
And steal the life from Othin's son?"
The Wise-Woman spake:
"Hoth thither bears the far-famed branch,
He shall the bane of Baldr become,
And steal the life from Othin's son.
Unwilling I spake, and now would be still."
Othin spake:
"Wise-woman, cease not! I seek from thee
All to know that I fain would ask:
Who shall vengeance win for the evil work,
Or bring to the flames the slayer of Baldr?"
The Wise-Woman spake:
"Rind bears Vali in Vestrsalir,
And one night old fights Othin's son;
His hands he shall wash not, his hair he shall comb not,
Till the slayer of Baldr he brings to the flames.
Unwilling I spake, and now would be still."
Othin spake:
"Wise-woman, cease not! I seek from thee
All to know that I fain would ask:
What maidens are they who then shall weep,
And toss to the sky the yards of the sails?"
The Wise-Woman spake:
"Vegtam thou art not, as erstwhile I thought;
Othin thou art, the enchanter old."
Othin spake:
"No wise-woman art thou, nor wisdom hast;
Of giants three the mother art thou."
The Wise-Woman spake:
"Home ride, Othin, be ever proud;
For no one of men shall seek me more
Till Loki wanders loose from his bonds,
And to the last strife the destroyers come."
Colophon
Baldrs Draumar is the eleventh poem of the Poetic Edda, preserved only in the Arnamagnæan Codex (AM 748 I 4to, c. 1300), not in the more famous Codex Regius. This is the translation of Henry Adams Bellows, from The Poetic Edda (New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1923). The poem is the first sustained encounter with the death of Baldr — the event that sets Ragnarök in motion. Where the Völuspá surveys the entire arc from creation to destruction, Baldrs Draumar narrows to a single night ride and a single conversation: a father descending to the land of the dead to learn what he already suspects, and a dead woman rising unwillingly to confirm it. The mutual unmasking at the poem's end — "Othin thou art" / "Of giants three the mother art thou" — strips both speakers of their disguises in two lines, and the wise-woman's final words reach past Baldr's death all the way to Ragnarök: the last strife, the destroyers come.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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