Bjúgvör ok Listvör sitja í Herðis dyrum
organs stóli á;
járnadreyri fellr ór nösum þeim;
sá vekr fjón með firum.
Bjúgvör ok Listvör sitja á organs stóli í Herðis dyrum; járnadreyri fellr ór nösum þeim; sá vekr fjón með firum.
Bjúgvör and Listvör sit on an organ stool in Herðir’s doorway; iron blood falls from their nostrils; that awakens hatred among men.
[2] Herðis ‘of Herðir’: The identity of this figure is also obscure. Bugge and Falk emend to Lævíss, a name for Loki, because of the defective alliteration. However, if Listvör (l. 1) were emended to Hlistvör, alliteration would be restored. For Björn M. Ólsen 1915, 60, Herðir is ‘the hardener’ (of hearts), i.e. the devil, an epithet which, he argues, may have been suggested to the poet by its similarity to Herebi ‘Erebus’ in Walter de Chatillon’s Alexandreis X, l.31 (Colker 1978, 254), translated into Icel. as Alexanders saga (Alex) by abbot Brandr Jónsson (Unger 1848).