Editing Eir (section)

===''Poetic Edda''===
In the ''[[Poetic Edda]]'' poem ''[[Fjölsvinnsmál]]'', the watchman [[Fjölsviðr]] presents a list of the maidens that attend the lady of the keep—[[Menglöð]]—that includes Eir, and states that they all sit on the hill [[Lyfjaberg]] (Old Norse "hill of healing"<ref name=BELLOWS248>Bellows (1923:248).</ref> or "healing mountain"<ref name=SIMEK198>Simek (2007:198).</ref>). The exchange between the hero [[Svipdagr]] and [[Fjölsviðr]] mentioning Eir is as follows:
<blockquote>
{|
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:<small>[[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]] translation:</small>
:''Svipdag spake'':
:"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, the question I ask,
:For now the truth would I know:
:What maidens are they that at Mengloth's knees
:Are sitting so gladly together?"

:''Fjolsvith spake:''
:"Hlif is one named, Hlifthrasa another,
:Thjothvara call they the third;
:Bjort and Bleik, Blith and Frith,
:Eir and [[Aurboða|Aurbotha]]."<ref name=BELLOWS248-249>Bellows (1923:248–249).</ref>
|
:<small>[[Benjamin Thorpe]] translation:</small>
:''Vindkald.''
:Tell me, Fiolsvith! etc.,
:how these maids are called,
:who sit at Menglod's knees
:in harmony together?

:''Fiolsvith.''
:Hlif the first is called, the second Hlifthursa,
:the third Thiodvarta,
:Biort and Blid, Blidr, Frid,
:Eir, and Orboda.<ref name=THORPE100>Thorpe (1907:100).</ref>
|
|}
</blockquote>
After the exchange, Svipdagr asks if these figures will give aid if [[blót]] are made to them. Fjölsviðr responds that Svipdagr is correct:
<blockquote>
{|
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:''Fjolsvith spake:''
:"Soon aid they all who offers give
:On the holy altars high;
:And if danger they see for the sons of men,
:Then each day from ill do they guard."<ref name=BELLOWS249>Bellows (1923:249).</ref>
|
:''Fiolsvith.''
:Every summer in which men offer to them,
:at the holy place,
:no pestilence so great shall come to the sons of men,
:but they will free each from peril.<ref name=THORPE100/>
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|}
</blockquote>