1. Alvis: "Now shall the bride my benches adorn, And homeward haste forthwith; Eager for wedlock to all shall I seem, Nor at home shall they rob me of rest."

2. Thor: "What, pray, art thou? Why so pale round the nose? By the dead hast thou lain of late? To a giant like dost thou look, methinks; Thou wast not born for the bride."

3. Alvis: "Alvis am I, and under the earth My home 'neath the rocks I have;

4. With the wagon-guider a word do I seek, Let the gods their bond not break."

5. Thor: "Break it shall I, for over the bride Her father has foremost right; At home was I not when the promise thou hadst, And I give her alone of the gods."

6. Alvis: "What hero claims such right to hold O'er the bride that shines so bright? Not many will know thee, thou wandering man! Who was bought with rings to bear thee?"

7. Thor: "Vingthor, the wanderer wide, am I, And I am Sithgrani's son; Against my will shalt thou get the maid, And win the marriage word."

8. Alvis: "Thy good-will now shall I quickly get, And win the marriage word; I long to have, and I would not lack, This snow-white maid for mine."

9. Thor: "The love of the maid I may not keep thee From winning, thou guest so wise, If of every world thou canst tell me all That now I wish to know.

10. "Answer me, Alvis! thou knowest all, Dwarf, of the doom of men: What call they the earth, that lies before all, In each and every world?"

11. Alvis: " 'Earth' to men, 'Field' to the gods it is, 'The Ways' is it called by the Wanes;

12. 'Ever Green' by the giants, 'The Grower' by elves, 'The Moist' by the holy ones high."

13. Thor: "Answer me, Alvis! thou knowest all, Dwarf, of the doom of men: What call they the heaven, beheld of the high one, In each and every world?"

14. Alvis: " 'Heaven' men call it, 'The Height' the gods, The Wanes 'The Weaver of Winds'; Giants 'The Up-World,' elves 'The Fair-Roof,' The dwarfs 'The Dripping Hall.'"

15. Thor: "Answer me, Alvis! thou knowest all, Dwarf, of the doom of men.: What call they the moon, that men behold, In each and every world?"

16. Alvis: "'Moon' with men, 'Flame' the gods among, 'The Wheel' in the house of hell; 'The Goer' the giants, 'The Gleamer' the dwarfs, The elves 'The Teller of Time."

17. Thor: "Answer me, Alvis! thou knowest all, Dwarf, of the doom of men: What call they the sun, that all men see, In each and every world?"

18. Alvis: "Men call it 'Sun,' gods 'Orb of the Sun,' 'The Deceiver of Dvalin' the dwarfs; The giants 'The Ever-Bright,' elves 'Fair Wheel,' 'All-Glowing' the sons of the gods."

19. Thor: "Answer me, Alvis! thou knowest all, Dwarf, of the doom of men: What call they the clouds, that keep the rains, In each and every world?"

20. Alvis: "'Clouds' men name them, 'Rain-Hope' gods call them, The Wanes call them 'Kites of the Wind'; 'Water-Hope' giants, 'Weather-Might' elves, 'The Helmet of Secrets' in hell."

21. Thor: "Answer me, Alvis! thou knowest all, Dwarf, of the doom of men: What call they the wind, that widest fares, In each and every world?"

22. Alvis: "'Wind' do men call it, the gods 'The Waverer,' 'The Neigher' the holy ones high;

23. 'The Wailer' the giants, 'Roaring Wender' the elves, In hell 'The Blustering Blast.'

24. Thor: "Answer me, Alvis! thou knowest all Dwarf, of the doom of men: What call they the calm, that quiet lies, In each and every world?"

25. Alvis: " 'Calm' men call it, 'The Quiet' the gods, The Wanes 'The Hush of the Winds'; 'The Sultry' the giants, elves 'Day's Stillness,' The dwarfs 'The Shelter of Day.'

16 more verses…

About this reader

What is Scripture?

Scripture is a browser-based reader for sixteen sacred texts spanning multiple religious and literary traditions. It provides chapter-by-chapter navigation, full-text search across all works, word concordance with frequency analysis, verse-linked notes, text-to-speech, and deep linking to any chapter or verse.

Traditions Represented

The collection spans Abrahamic, East Asian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and Nordic traditions. Christian texts include the King James Version Old and New Testaments (1611) and Apocrypha. The Quran uses Marmaduke Pickthall's 1930 English translation. Latter-day Saint scripture includes the Book of Mormon (1830), Doctrine and Covenants (1835), and Pearl of Great Price (1851).

Confucian works include James Legge's translations of The Four Books (1893) and the Book of Poetry (1876). The Tao Te Ching uses Legge's 1891 translation. The Kojiki uses Basil Hall Chamberlain's 1919 English translation. Zoroastrian texts include the Bundahishn (E. W. West, 1880) and the Arda Viraf (Haug & West, 1872). The Lotus Sutra uses Hendrik Kern's 1884 translation. The Finnish Kalevala uses John Martin Crawford's 1888 translation, and the Norse Poetic Edda uses Henry Adams Bellows' 1923 translation.

Public Domain Translations

Every translation in this collection is in the public domain. The most recent translation dates to 1930 (Pickthall's Quran). All texts are freely available for reading, study, quotation, and redistribution with no copyright restrictions.

Concordance and Related Passages

The concordance indexes every word across all sixteen works, showing frequency and distribution. TF-IDF (term frequency-inverse document frequency) scoring identifies passages with similar vocabulary across different traditions, enabling comparative study without requiring prior knowledge of each text's structure. TF-IDF weights words that are frequent in one chapter but rare across the corpus, surfacing meaningful thematic connections rather than common function words.

Deep Linking

Every chapter and verse has a permanent URL. Chapter links follow the pattern /scripture/{work}/{book}-{chapter} (e.g., /scripture/ot/gen-1 for Genesis 1). Verse links append the verse number (e.g., /scripture/ot/gen-1:26 for Genesis 1:26). These URLs can be shared, bookmarked, or cited directly.

Accessibility

Scripture supports keyboard navigation throughout: Tab moves between controls, Enter activates verse actions, and arrow keys navigate chapters. The reading pane has a skip-to-content link. All overlays (search, concordance) are focus-trapped ARIA dialogs. Dynamic content regions use aria-live for screen reader announcements. High-contrast mode is available via the theme toggle. Verse numbers are visible to assistive technology. No flashing content or motion hazards.

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