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134

[“To the Kettle's side]

[Air.]
“To the Kettle's side
Now will I ride,
Where the waters fall
From the great ice-wall;
If thou hast mind
There mayest thou find
With little stone
Fist's land alone.”

Grettir said, “It is of no avail to seek after thine abode if thou tellest of it no clearer than this.”

Then Air spake and sang:

“I would not hide
Where I abide,
If thou art fain
To see me again;
From that lone weald,
Over Burgfirth field,
That ye men name
Balljokul, I came.”
 

Hall, a “stone:” mund, is “hand,” and by periphrasis “land of fist;” so that Hallmund is meant by this couplet, and that was the real name of “Air,” who is not a mere man, but a friendly spirit of the mountains.