Ah, strophes 21 and 22 follow strophe 20 in the Regius.
In Hauksbok, strophes 25, 26, 27, 40, ad 41 come between 20 and 21.

So, something else may be happening between the strophes about the Norns
and this first war/murder.

I see that both translators have gone with "Burn the witch." I think she may still be
a midwife, and not a trouble-maker.

I've found Auden's verse for this (He put it at Strophe 1, and he leads the poem with it):

Heidi men call me when their homes I visit,
A far seeing Volva, wise in talismans.
Caster of spells, cunning in magic.
To wicked women welcome always.

So what's the deal with the Norwegians not knowing what this stuff means? I hear tell that Australian aborigines can point at some ancient drawing from thousands of years ago and tell you exactly what every little jot and tiddle is supposed to mean. Did the Norse hide their literature away and not talk about it for hundreds of years? Or was there just such a vast horde of the stuff that nobody could bother to keep track of it? Or was it the fault of the authors writing in a style that only refers obliquely five steps removed from whatever the hell they were actually talking about that makes the writings so difficult to understand?

The Norse did not write down very much. Theirs was pretty much an oral tradition. Plus,
the Scandinavians in general had a lot of conflicting influences, splinter groups, and they
assimilated much of the culture of the people they visited/conquered.

Also, as you say, many of the verses were written to be logic puzzles for an audience already
quite familiar with the language, idioms, and so on.

And, yes, apparently the collected Eddic manuscripts WERE HIDDEN away (lost/kept safe
for two to three hundred years). Many writings were destroyed. That the Edda survived in Iceland
is mainly because Iceland is quite remote, and, even there, the work was kept hidden. So, hundreds
of years passed, and much of the oral tradition was lost/forgotten.

Snorri, who may be the most responsible for saving this material may have deliberately altered
some of it (on the surface) to help hide what the material was, may have altered it deliberately
to change its meaning, and, of course, may have just not understood it that completely.

The Austalian aborigines probably had less working against them.

I'm no expert, of course, and I may be sucking all of this translation up quite mightily.
But I've enjoyed reading about this stuff for years, and the more I look at it, the more
it all seems like those who have written about it for the last two hundred years have
been playing a game of "telephone." They seem to write more about what others
have written ABOUT the source materials, and don't look much at the source materials.

I am enjoying the search.

Along the way I am finding out a lot about my own language. Just today, I'm looking
at the word "ill" and seeing that it probably originally meant "bewitched" or "evil," and,
well, that's kind of cool for me now whenever I hear someone say they are feeling
"ill."

Plus, it's poetry.

Literature types argue for days over what a line or two means even in poems written
less than 50 years ago. You have to understand quite a bit about the culture, the
times the author lived in, their surrounding environment, and so on.

The Icelandic Sagas are a little more straight forward, but they're mostly prose.

Why were they hiding it?

Seems that Christians were burning it (and them) otherwise.

Well that's just plain rude.

Strophe 23 (I guess, depending on how you're counting 'em)

Þá gengu regin öll…………………….Then went/walked rulers all
á rökstóla, ……………………………..to/upon judgement seats,
ginnheilög goð, ……………………….most holy/sacred god,
ok um þat gættusk, …………………...and over/on that meeting/assembly,
hvárt skyldu æsir………………………however should/debt the AEsir gods
afráð gjalda…………………………payment/toll/offerings repay/compensate
eða skyldu goðin öll………………..or/and/but should/debt the gods all
gildi eiga. ………………………………recompense own/have

================
Then came rulers all
to their judgement seats
most holy god,
and on that assembly,
how debt the AEsir
offerings repay
or debt the gods all
recompense have.

Well, the war (if there was one) is over, and damages seem to be deliberated upon.
Either the AEsir specifically will pay, or the all of the gods will pay together. If it
is a war, it seems to have been waged by the AEsir (sky gods) over the Vanir (water
and earth gods). Can't make too many calls on this one either just based upon this
text. Definitely deciding who should pay or who should get offerings.

Bellows:
Then sought the gods | their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, | and council held,
Whether the gods | should tribute give,
Or to all alike | should worship belong.

Hollander:
Then gathered together the gods for counsel,
The holy hosts, and held converse:
Should the Æsir a truce with tribute buy,
Or should all gods share in the feast.

Auden:
various online versions omit this passage and repeat another instead. Looks
like a mistake that no one bothered catching.

Definitely need more text to try to resolve this. As I have to go back to work
starting Monday, I'll push on a little more tonight. But then I will have to stop
for awhile, or go back to the once a week schedule of translating the strophes.

Strophe 24:

Fleygði Óðinn……………………………Flung Odin
ok í folk um skaut,……………………and in/among troop/host/men over/through corner or cloth,
þat var enn folkvíg…………………… that was still/also/yet troop fighting / men murder
fyrst í heimi………………………………the first in the world/land.
Brotinn var borðveggr………………….Broken was board wall
borgar ása, ……………………………….castle of the gods (AEsir)
knáttu vanir vígspá ……………………..could/might gods (Vanir) fight/murder-speaking
völlu sporna. …………………………….vales/plains to spurn/to tread upon.


=============
Flung Odin (his spear?)
and among men over corner (of cloth)
that was still a war/murder
the first in the world.

Broken was board wall (of)
the castle of the AEsir,
could Vanir fight-speak
vales to tred upon.

===============
skaut = corner of a square cloth, kerchief, cloak.
veggr = wall, so broken wooden wall, which makes sense of a castle
but borð can also mean "table," so, possibly this means "broken table manners"
vegr = way, road, manner
vegr = honor, distinction, levers
Thats more of a stretch, but recall that they pierced Goldveig IN Odin's House. One assumes
that the Vanir had safe passage there, so they don't expect to be poked and burned alive.
Hey, borgar apparently can also mean funeral pyre.

Made to fly Odin
and within the troops over/across shot (a past tense version of skjóta)?

Having a hard time with this one. Odin might have thrown his spear as a sign of war to
break out, or perhaps he tossed it into the corner to symbolize that the fight was done?
The kerchief corner, again, might reference a table cloth, so maybe Odin just over-turned the
table here? Is there indication that he had a spear? Odin pretty much always has a spear, but
there's a lot of potential "table" references here.

Fleygði. fleygr = able to fly; fley = a swift ship; fleygja = to make fly, throw
Ah, fleygi-gaflak means javelin. Hmmmm.

Bellows:
On the host his spear | did Othin hurl,
Then in the world | did war first come;
The wall that girdled | the gods was broken,
And the field by the warlike | Wanes was trodden.

Hollander:
His spear had Óthin sped o'er the host:
The first of feuds was thus fought in the world;
Was broken in battle the breastwork of Ásgarth,
Fighting Vanir trod the field of battle.

Auden:
At the host Odhinn hurled his spear
In the first world-battle; broken was the plankwall
Of the gods fortress: the fierce Vanes
Caused war to occur in the fields.

Okay, so they all have Odin throw his spear either at the Vanir or over them.
And, during the fight, the wooden wall is destroyed. Probably why they need
a giant later on to build them a nice stone one.

Strophe 25:

Þá gengu regin öll……………………then went the rulers all
á rökstóla, ……………………………..to the judgement seats,
ginnheilög goð, ……………………….most holy god,
ok um þat gættusk,………………….and on that assembled,
hverr hefði lopt allt……………………who/which had/held/accepted air/sky/upper room all
lævi blandit…………………………….with crafty blend/mix
eða ætt jötuns………………………….or direction/region/tribe/ancestry giants
Óðs mey gefna. ……………………….Ódr's maid given.

=========================
ódr is Freyja's husband. ódr = wood, raving, enraged.

=========================
Then went the rulers all
to the judgement seasts,
most holy god,
and on that assembled,
who held the upper room all (who was to hold heaven)
with crafty blend
or tribe giants
given Freyja.

========================
"lævi blandit" needs more careful examination here.
lævi = læ-vísi, f. craft; -víss, a. crafty. lævirki (pl. -jar), m. lark (bird).
læ = fraud
blandit = blanda = to blend, mix, mixture of two fluids, beverage of hot whey
to mix together (of fellowship)

I think what's happening here is that the AEsir and the Vanir decide to rule heaven
together (intermixing the races). "Exchanging hostages" to keep the peace. Some
of the Vanir would be elevated to heaven/AEsir status: Frey and Freyja and their
Father Njord (and probably their mother, Jord--as Frigg--come to marry Odin).
So, this might be Odin's plan to settle. Hence, "crafty."

Freyja is being given to the giants here or discussed as such probably to as part of
the deal to build the new stone wall.

Bellows:
Then sought the gods | their assembly-seats,
The holy ones, | and council held,
To find who with venom | the air had filled,
Or had given Oth's bride | to the giants' brood.

Hollander:
Then gathered together the gods for counsel,
The holy hosts, and held converse:
Who had filled the air with foul treason,
And to uncouth etins Óth's wife given.

Auden:
The gods hastened to their hall of judgement,
Sat in council to discover who
Had tainted all the air with corruption
And Odhinn's maid offered to the giants.

Wow. I saw that "upper room" part and just went with it as heaven, but, yeah, it's probably
fouling up the air. That makes the crafty part and Loki's role in setting up the giant to build
the stone wall. Okay, so the part with Freyja at the end matches up better.

I'm going too fast through these. Still, I kind of liked my reading. It may not be entirely wrong.

Ah, except here comes giant-bustin' Thor in the next strophe. Guess I missed on that last one.
I'll tackle that next strope on Sunday maybe.

Here's a 1815 translation by William Herbert:
interesting use of rhyming

Silence all ye sons of glory!
Silence all ye powers of light!
While I sing of ancient story,
Wonders wrapt in mystic night!
I was rock'd in giant's cradle, 5
Giant's lore my wisdom gave;
I have known both good and evil,
Now I lie in lowly grave.

Long before the birth of Odin,
Mute was thunderous ocean's roar; 10
Stillness o'er the huge earth brooding,
Strand was none or rocky shore.

Neither grass, nor green tree growing,
Vernal shower, nor wintery storm;
Nor those horses bright and glowing 15
Dragg'd the sun's refulgent form.

He who rules by night the heaven
Wist not where his beams to throw;
All to barren darkness given,
There confusion, hell below. 20

Imir sat with lonely sadness
Watching o'er the fruitless globe;
Never morning beam'd with gladness,
Never eve with dewy robe.

Who are those in pride advancing 25
Through the barren tract of night?
Mark their steel divinely glancing!
Imir falls in holy fight!

Of his bones the rocks high swelling,
Of his flesh the globe is made, 30
From his veins the tide is welling,
And his locks are verdant shade.

See the gods on lofty Ida,
All convened in council bright!
There dark Sleipner's warlike rider, 35
There each blissful son of light!

Hark! his crest with gold adorning,
Chanticleer on Odin calls !
Hark! another bird of morning
Claps his wings in Hela's halls! 40

Nature shines in glory beaming,
Elves are born, and man is form'd;
Every hill with gladness teeming,
Every shape with life is warm'd.

Mark yon tree by Urdar's fountain! 45
From its spreading boughs distil
Mists that clothe each verdant mountain,
Dews that feed each gurgling rill.

Who is he by heaven's high portal,
Beaming like the light of morn? 50
"Tis Heimdallr's form immortal;
Shrill resounds his golden horn.

Say, proud Wardour robed in glory,
Are the foes of nature nigh?
Have they climb'd the mountains hoary?55
Have they storm'd the vaulted sky?

On the wings of tempest riding,
Surtur spreads his fiery spell;
Elves in secret caves are hiding;
Odin meets the wolf of hell. 60

She must taste a second sorrow,
She who wept when Balder bled;-
Fate demands a nobler quarry;
Death must light on Odin's head.

See ye not yon silent stranger? 65
Proud he moves with lowering eyes.
Odin, mark thy stern avenger!
Slain the shaggy monster lies!

See the serpent weakly crawling!
Thor has bruised its loathsome head! 70
Lo! the stars from heaven are falling!
Earth has sunk in Ocean's bed!

Glorious sun, thy beams are shrowded,
Vapours dank around thee sail;
Nature's eye with mists is clouded; 75
Shall the powers of ill prevail?

Say, shall Earth, with freshness beaming,
Once again from Ocean rise?
Shall the dawn of glory streaming
Wake us to immortal joys ? 80
Once again, where Ida towering
Proudly crowns the verdant plain,
Sacred shades their walks imbowering,
Gods shall meet, a blissful train.

Fields untill'd shall wave with treasure, 85
Woe and war and strife shall cease;
Wide shall flow the stream of pleasure,
Endless joy and holy peace.

He shall come in might eternal,
He whom eye hath never seen! 90
Earth, and Heaven, and Powers infernal,
Mark his port and awful mien!

He shall judge, and he shall sever
Shame from glory, ill from good!
These shall live in light for ever, 95
Those shall wade the chilling flood,
Dark to dwell, in woe reclining,
Far beyond the path of day ;
In that bower, where serpents twining,
Loathsome spit their venom'd spray! 100

I should get back to this.
Here's a Strophe 26 translation in a new book I bought awhile back by Andy Orchard:

Thor alone threw blows there, bursting with rage
—he seldon sits still when he hears such things said—
oaths were trambled, words, and assurances,
every binding pledge that had passed between.


Interesting: from what I've read in other places, young Thor may have been the first to break
the truce. Apparently he was being fostered by a giant couple, who plotted to kill him. He learned
of this plot, and slew his foster parents with his foster father's big stone axe/hammer (this becomes
Thor's hammer until the Dwarfs build him a better one of metal and magic).

Also related to this, apparently Gullveig, the "evil" giantess being fostered in Asgard, teaches Freyja
about black magic, but Gullveig doesn't actually use it. It's Freyja who uses it. And it looks like the
gods then burn Gullveig because of her evil influence.

In both cases, the giants start the process with the wicked thought, but the gods perform the wicked
action. Often the giants are representative of nature, wild and unorganized. And the gods are seen
as shapers, tamers of nature. Odin and his brother slay Ymir, and create order from his chaos, But
they do it through killing. Thor kills giants who have evil intent, before they can cause more damage.
Young Freyja is corrupted and enticed by a dark, sexual magic. Her older giantess friend is punished.