The Song of the Sacred Grove (Völundarkvida) Poetic Edda - and then some...

ABOUT THE CREATOR OF THIS VIDEO: Sources: Saxo Grammaticus - Gesta Danorum (The History of the Danish People) tell a disturbing story that is taken from actual Old Norse myth but used by Saxo to illustrate how bad the old religion was. Snorri omits the incident of the rape of Hrind for the opposite reason, he wanted to render the pagan myths acceptable to a Christian public. The story explains why Odin was exiled from Asgardr - as a punishment for a crime. The story had to be read as a parable to be understood properly - namely as part of a religious poetic tradition attempting to explain - through parable and metaphor - the suffering of the world and of the individual man and woman - and also providing solutions. The Song of the Sacred Grove (Völundarkvida) is one of the Edda poems that most surely originated in the pagan era. I have rendered it as faithfully as possible, translating as literally as I can. It is a parable as well, explaining fo