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Omitting the heroic poems, there are in Codex Regius the following: Of a more or less comprehensive character, Völuspa, Vafthrudnismal, Grimnismal, Lokasenna, Harbardsljod; dealing with episodes, Hymiskvida, Thrymskvida, Skirnisför.
Sigurd disregards the warning with the maxim "Every man must die some time," and asks questions of the dragon in the manner of Vafthrudnismal. Fafni, after repeating his warning, speaks of his brother's intended treachery: "Regin betrayed me, he will betray thee; he will be the death of both of us," and dies. Regin returning bids Sigurd roast Fafni's heart, while he sleeps.
The coming Ragnarök is the reason for the existence of Valhalla with its hosts of slain warriors; and of all the Gods, Odin, Thor, Tyr and Loki are most closely connected with it. Two poems of the verse Edda describe it: Vafthrudnismal: V. "What is the plain called where Surt and the blessed Gods shall meet in battle?"
Whether the new world which Vafthrudnismal and Völuspa both prophesy belongs to the original idea or not is a disputed point.
The following account is given of their presence in Asgard: In Vafthrudnismal, Odin asks: "Whence came Njörd among the sons of the Aesir? for he was not born of the Aesir." Vafthrudni. "In Vanaheim wise powers ordained and gave him for a hostage to the Gods; at the doom of the world he shall come back, home to the wise Wanes."
The Indians, who imagined and selected so many wild and terrible tests to form the Shaman, or sorcerer, as well as the warrior, would hardly neglect that of de profundis clamari, the storm, the waves, darkness, and the roaring flood. If there is really any Norse influence in this tale, this river must be the one mentioned in the Vafthrudnismal,
In Vafthrudnismal the only reference is Odin's question, "What said Odin in his son's ear when he mounted the pyre?" In Völuspa the Sibyl prophesies, "I saw doom threatening Baldr, the bleeding victim, the son of Odin. Grown high above the meadows stood the mistletoe, slender and fair. From this stem, which looked so slender, grew a fatal and dangerous shaft.
Vafthrudnismal, a riddle-poem, shows Odin in a favourite position, seeking in disguise for knowledge of the future. In each case the questions deal first with the past.
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