Ithun spake:
16. “Well, prithee, Bragi, | his kinship weigh,
Since chosen as wish-son he was;
And speak not to Loki | such words of spite
Here within Ægir’s hall.”
Loki spake:
17. “Be silent, Ithun! | thou art, I say,
of women most lustful in love,
Since thou thy washed-bright | arms didst wind
About thy brother’s slayer.”
Ithun spake:
18. “To Loki I speak not | with spiteful words
Here within Ægir’s hall;
And Bragi I calm, | who is hot with beer,
For I wish not that fierce they should fight.”
Gefjun spake:
19. “Why, ye gods twain, | with bitter tongues
Raise hate among us here?
Loki is famed | for his mockery foul,
And the dwellers in heaven he hates.”
Loki spake:
20. “Be silent, Gefjun! | for now shall I say
Who led thee to evil life;
The boy so fair | gave a necklace bright,
And about him thy leg was laid.”
15. Adorner of benches: this epithet presumably implies that Bragi is not only slothful, but also effeminate, for a very similar word, “pride of the benches,” means a bride.
16. Ithun: Bragi’s wife; cf. note on introductory prose. The goddesses who, finding that their husbands are getting the worst of it, take up the cudgels with Loki, all find themselves confronted with undeniable facts in their own careers; cf. stanzas 26 (Frigg), 52 (Skathi) and 54 (Sif). Gefjun and Freyja are silenced in similar fashion. Wish-son: adopted son; Loki was the son of the giant Farbauti and the giantess Laufey, and hence was not of the race of the gods, but had been virtually adopted by Othin, who subsequently had good reason to regret it.
17. We do not even know who Ithun’s brother was, much less who slew him.
19. Gefjun: a goddess, not elsewhere mentioned in the poems, who, according to Snorri, was served by the women who died maidens. Beyond this nothing is known of her. Lines 3-4 in the manuscript are puzzling, and have been freely emended.
20. Nothing is known of the incident here mentioned. There is a good deal of confusion as to various of the gods and goddesses, and it has been suggested that Gefjun is really Frigg under an other name, with a little of Freyja–whose attributes were frequently confused with Frigg’s–thrown in. Certainly Othin’s {footnote p. 159} answer (stanza 21, lines 3-4) fits Frigg perfectly, for she shared his knowledge of the future, whereas it has no relation to any thing known of Gefjun. As for the necklace (line 3), it may be the Brisings’ necklace, which appears in the Thrymskvitha as Freyja’s, but which, in some mythological writings, is assigned to Frigg.
The Honest Modern Heathen 