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Fjölsvinnsmál
Introduction and Translation
by Amos S. Cottle
with historical criticism
THE FABLE OF FIOLSUID
ARGUMENT
Suipdager is a young man of an illustrious family, who was destined to marry a regal virgin, whose name was Menglada. But before the nuptials were celebrated, according to ancient custom, he went to acquire glory in a warlike expedition. In the mean time, it is probable that many strove to gain the affections of his mistress; whose offers, however, she faithfully rejected, and whose company she avoided. She dwelt in a mansion that was excellently defended by strong fortifications without, and by persons who were attached to her within. We understand also, that it was defended by certain fires which surrounded it. Suipdager, after long absence, returns in disguise, for the purpose, perhaps, of trying her fidelity, about which some injurious reports had been raised. Coming to the gate, he meets with one Fiolsuid, who was stationed there as a guard. Fiolsuid abuses him, and denies him entrance. Suipdager, although ordered to depart, yet pertinaciously remains about the gate. After he had known from Fiolsuid, that Menglada resided in the mansion, he began to propose questions in an enigmatical manner, which Fiolsuid readily answered. The questions and answers are at this time equally obscure. The obscurity, however, rests in the things themselves, not in the words.
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[1] Before the palace gates1 he
saw 1. "He saw." Suipdager FIOLSUID [2] What stranger he, in tatter'd
state, STRANGER [3] What rude barbarian station'd
here, FIOLSUID [4] Stranger! Fiolsuid I am nam'd,
STRANGER
[5] Where tower's magnificent arise,
FIOLSUID
[6] Unfold what names thy parents bear,
STRANGER
Know Vinkalder is my name;
[8] O'er all these wide-spread rich
domains, VINDKALDER [9] Say what name for her is found, [10] When she speaks,2 the rocks
around, 2. "When she speaks." --- Fiolsuid, like a faithful guardian, gives a frightful description of Menglada, that he might deter the stranger from any attempt to see her. VINDKALDER [11] Say, what name denotes that pile,
FIOLSUID
[12] That house, Gastropner, mortals
name,
VINDKALDER
[13] When the hostile giant train,
FIOLSUID
[14] One pursu'd his prey with speed, [15] Say, if mortal can evade, [16] By turns the wary guardians sleep, [17] Defended by what potent charm, [18] Shook by the blast, descends the fruit, [19] Say, what names denote that tree, [20] Whence arise its roots below, [21] Shall the vigor of this tree, [22] Fruit of this tree, prepar'd with heat, [23] Perch'd on yon lofty top branch high, [24] Vidofner is the name they give --- [25] Say, could one hope, by force or art, [26] Hevatein is an arrow's name, [27] Is safe return for him decreed, [28] Safe return for him's decreed,
3.
"Lucid clay." --- The Earth. 4. "A shining blade." --- A Feather.
[32] Because its high dome like a star, [33] What walls are those within that shine, [34] On them are sculptur'd many a
name,5 VINDKALDER [35] What is that rock whose craggy head, [36] The ROCK of PLEASURE is the name [37] What names denote that virgin croud, [38] The first6 that's seen with
Goddess face, 6. "The first, &c." --- These are the nine muses of the northern nations. Sir W. Jones informs us that the Asiatics also have their nine Gopia or Muses. This is one among the many circumstances which leads one to suspect, that the Mythology of the heathens originated, at first, from one and the same source. The names of the Northern Muses are Hlif, Hlif-dursa, Theodrarta, Beort, Blith, Blithur, Frith, Eir, and Aurboda.
[39] Will the nymphs their vot'ries aid --- [40] Never to those of mortal birth, [41] Is it given to mortal arms, [42] Destined for Suipdager alone [43] Lift the massy barriers high! [44] Hear, Menglada! to this sphere, [45] Where the vast Portico's arise, [46] On what journey art thou bent? [47] Suipdager speaks at thy desire --- 7. "The fatal maid." --- A personification of fate. MENGLADA [48] My ev'ry wish I've now attain'd, |
Verse and footnote numbers are not found in the original text.
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by Carl Emil Doepler Sr. (1882)
1788
Gentleman's Magazine,
Review of New Publications, 1788, p. 139
Review of "Edda Sæmundar hinns froda,
Edda Rhythmica", 1787.
"Fiol Svinns Mal. Suipdag, an illustrious youth, returning from a journey, tries the wit of Fiolsuid, who guarded his mistress, by various questions. This is a mere firing of riddles, and can neither belong to the Mythologic nor Historic part of the Edda, as the Editor allows."
Contains a review of Cottle's Edda and a translation of Vafþrúðnismál as "The Meal of Vafthrudni" by William Taylor.
Duncan Wu, Wordsworth's Reading 1770-1799, Volume 1 (1993), p. 179:
"Coleridge's borrowing of the Edda in the original Icelandic coincides with the publication of Amos Cottle's translation. The original impetus for Amos' translation had come from Southey, who borrowed Edda Sæmundar hinns Froda, with its facing Icelandic and Latin texts, in 1795. Explaining the inaccuracy of Amos' work to William Taylor in April 1799 he recalled that:
'He was in a hurry and wanted northern learning, but seemed to have no idea of knowing how or where to look for it. The 'Edda' fell into his hands and delighted him. His brother, who knows no language but English, wanted to read it, and he had begun a prose translation, when I advised him to versify it: in the course of six weeks he had the book half printed. All this was not as it should have been (Robberds i. 246).'In fact, Amos did not translate the Icelandic text; he merely translated into English the Latin version also in the volume. All the same, he made numerous errors, for Wordsworth too writes of the 'many inaccuracies which ought to have been avoided' (EY 196). Coleridge's aim in borrowing the Latin text was to compare it to Amos' translation, published in the first week of November by his brother, Joseph."
Taylor's review of Cottle appeared in the Monthly Review for December, 1798. Whether Cottle considered it inurbane or not, it could scarcely have been pleasant reading for him:
The Edda of Saemund [writes the reviewer] was published at Copenhagen in 1787, accompanied with a very vicious Latin interpretation; and with visionary mythological notes which . . . are every way unworthy of a philosophical antiquary. On this interpretation, Mr. Cottle uniformly relies for his construction of the text; and to these notes he is commonly indebted for his attempts at illustration. He has indeed occasionally profited by Percy's well-edited translation of Mallet's Northern Antiquities: but with the greater part of what else has been written on this topic, he seems scarcely at all acquainted. He will appear, therefore, to those who have cultivated these inquiries, to be somewhat behind-hand with his subject.
Taylor then goes over the Introduction, which he regards as a pretty superficial piece of work, and proceeds to quote the twenty-six stanzas making up what Cottle calls The Song of the Ravens (Hrafnagaldr Odhins), omitting the notes, "not being thoroughly satisfied of their soundness." "To these lines," he concludes, "we have nothing to object, but their frequent disagreement with the Icelandic text: the translation of a translation, however elegant, is at best but the shadow of a shade."
William Herbert shared Taylor's opinion of Cottle's work. He remarks in his Notes to the Song of Thrym:
Mr. Cottle has published, what he calls a translation of this ode, but it bears little resemblance to the original. Translations made, like Dr. Percy's, by a person quite unacquainted with the Icelandic language, through the medium of a Latin prose version, cannot be expected to represent the style and spirit of the originals: but Mr. C. has not even taken the trouble of understanding the Latin. . . . [He] has confounded the nominative, genitive, accusative, and vocative cases, apparently ignorant of the Latin grammar. In the thirteenth stanza he has represented Freyia as consenting to go instead of refusing, which destroys the sense of all that follows.
"...Since Cottle's Icelandic Poetry was the first English translation of the only volume of the Copenhagen Edda that had then appeared, it naturally became well known to everybody who had any interest in Norse mythology. Drake quoted the book constantly in his Literary Hours, and it was for many years invariably cited by English writers on Scandinavian subjects.
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