There was a man called Ægir
or Hlér, who lived on the island now known as Hlésey
(or Læsö). He was very skilled in magic. He went on
an expedition to Asgarð to visit the Æsir, who foresaw
his journey and made him welcome, although they also worked a
good many spells for him. When drinking-time in the evening came
round, Óðin had swords brought into the hall and they
were so bright that they illumined it, and no other lights were
used while the drinking went on. Then the Æsir held festival,
and twelve, that is those Æsir who had to be judges, sat
down in their high seats. Their names are as follows: Thór,
Njörð, Frey, Tÿr, Heimdall, Bragi, Víðar,
Válí, Ull, Hœnir, Forseti, Loki; the goddesses
who did likewise were Frigg, Freyja, Gefjon, Iðun, Gerð,
Sigyn, Fulla, Nanna. Everything he saw there seemed splendidly
lavish to Ægir. All the panelling was covered with fme
shields. Moreover the mead was heady and a great deal of it was
drunk. Bragi sat next Ægir and they occupied themselves
in drinking and exchanging stories. Bragi told Ægir many
tales about the doings of the gods.
-Thiazi Steals Iðunn-
He began relating how once three Æsir, Óðin,
Loki and Hœnir, had left home and travelled over mountains
and desert places without any provisions. Coming down into a
valley they saw a herd of oxen and took one and set about cooking
it. When they thought it was ready and scattered the fire, it
was not done.
Some time later
when they scattered the fire for a second time and it was (still)
uncooked, they began to discuss amongst themselves what could
be the cause. Then they heard a voice from an oak tree above
them say that what was sitting up there was preventing their
meat from being done. They looked up and saw an eagle sitting
there, and it wasn't a small one.
The eagle said:
'If you give me my fill of the ox, then your meat will get done.'
They agreed to this. Then it sailed down from the tree and settling
on the meat snatched up at once, without any hesitation, two
of the thighs and both the shoulders of the ox. At that Loki
grew angry and catching up a great stick and thrusting with all
his might he drove it into the eagle's body. The eagle recoiled
from the blow and flew up into the air with one end of the stick
stuck firmly in its back and Loki clinging to the other. The
eagle was flying only just high enough for Loki's feet to be
dragging along stones and scree and bushes, and he thought his
arms would be pulled from their sockets. He called out imploring
the eagle for mercy but it replied that it would not let Loki
go unless he swore an oath to bring it Iðun and her apples
out of Asgarð. Loki was willing so he was released and went
back to his companions, and no more is told of their journey
on this occasion until they came home.
At the time agreed
on, Loki enticed Iðun out from Asgarð into a wood, telling
her that he had found some apples she would prize greatly and
asking her to bring her own with her for comparison. Then the
giant Thjazi came there in the form of an eagle, and seizing
Iðun flew away with her to his house in Thrymheim.
The Æsir,
however, were much dismayed at Iðun's disappearance, and
they soon grew old and grey-haired. They held an assembly and
asked one another when Iðun had last been heard of, and realized
that the last time she had been seen she was going out of Asgarð
with Loki. Then Loki was captured and brought to the assembly
and threatened with death or torture. He grew so frightened that
he said he would go after Iðun into Giantland, if Freyja
would lend him her falcon coat. When he got the falcon coat,
he flew north to Giantland. Loki arrived at the giant Thjazi's
on a day when he had gone out rowing on the sea and Iðun
was at home alone. Loki changed her into the form of a nut, and
holding her in his claws flew off at top speed. When Thjazi came
home, however, and saw that Iðun was missing, he assumed
the shape of an eagle and flew afier Loki, with a tremendous
rush of air in his wake. The Æsir, seeing the falcon flying
with the nut and the eagle in pursuit, went out under the walls
of Asgarð carrying bundles of plane shavings. When the falcon
reached the stronghold, he dropped plumb down at the fortress
wall and then the Æsir set fire to the plane shavings.
The eagle, however, was unable to check his course when he lost
the falcon and his feathers caught fire and then he did stop.
The Æsir were hard by then and they killed the giant Thjazi
inside the gates, and that slaying is very famous.
-Skaði Chooses a Mate-
Now giant Thjazi's daughter Skaði took helmet, coat-of-mail
and a complete outfit of weapons and went to Asgarð to avenge
her father. The Æsir, however, oflered her compensation
and damages, and first that she should choose a husband from
amongst the Æsir and choose him by his feet without seeing
any more of him. Then she saw a very beautiful pair of feet and
said: 'I choose this one; there's not much that's ugly about
Baldr!' but that was Njörð of Nóatún.
A further condition
was that the Æsir should make her laugh - which she thought
would be impossible. When Loki, however, by his tricks succeeded
in doing this their reconciliation was complete. We are told
that Óðin (further) compensated her by taking Thjazi's
eyes and throwing them up into the sky, making of them two stars.
Then Ægir
said: 'It seems to me that Thjazi was very powerful. What family
did he come from?'
Bragi replied:
'His father was called Ölvaldi and you would fmd it interesting
if I told you about him. He possessed a great deal of gold and
when he died and his sons were going to divide the inheritance,
they allotted the gold they were sharing between them in this
way: each was to take the same-sized mouthfuls of it. Thjazi
was one of them, Iði the second, and Gang the third. So now
we have the expression by which we call gold the mouthful of
these giants, and we conceal it in runes or poetry by calling
it their speech or words or reckoning.'
Ægir asked
again: 'Where did the accomplishment known as poetry come from?'
-About Kvasir's Origins, the Holy Mead, and Suttung-
Bragi answered: 'The beginning of it was that the gods were at
war with the people known as the Vanir and they arranged for
a peace-meeting between them and made a truce in this way: they
both went up to a crock and spat into it. When they were going
away, the gods took the truce token and would not allow it to
be lost, and made of it a man. He was called Kvasir. He is so
wise that nobody asks him any question he is unable to answer.
He travelled far and wide over the world to teach men wisdom
and came once to feast with some dwarfs, Fjalar and Galar. These
called him aside for a word in private and killed him, letting
his blood run into two crocks and one kettle. The kettle was
called Óðrörir, but the crocks were known as
Són and Boðn. They mixed his blood with honey, and
it became the mead which makes whoever drinks of it a poet or
scholar. The dwarfs told the Æsir that Kvasir had choked
with learning, because there was no one sufficiently well informed
to compete with him in knowledge.
'Then the dwarfs
invited a giant called Gilling to their home with his wife, and
they asked him to go out rowing on the sea with them. When they
were far out, however, the dwarfs rowed on to a rock and upset
the boat. Gilling could not swim and was drowned, but the dwarfs
righted their craft and rowed ashore. They told his wife about
this accident and she was very distressed and wept aloud. Fjalar
asked her if she would be easier in her mind about it if she
looked out to sea in the direction of where he had been drowned.
She wanted to do this. Then he spoke with his brother Galar,
telling him to climb up above the door when she was going out
and let a millstone fall on to her head; he said he was tired
of her wailing. Galar did so. When Gilling's son, Suttung, heard
of this, he went to the dwarfs and seized them and took them
out to sea and put them on to a skerry covered by the tide. They
begged Suttung to spare their lives offering him as compensation
for his father the precious mead, and that brought about their
reconciliation. Suttung took the mead home and hid it in a place
called Hnitbjörg and he appointed his daughter Gunnlöð
as its guardian.
'This is why we
call poetry Kvasir's blood, or dwarfs' drink: or intoxication,
or some sort of liquid of Óðrörir or Boðn
or Són, or dwarfs' ship, because it was that mead which
ransomed them from death on the skerry, or Suttung's mead or
Hnitibjörg's sea.'
Then Ægir
spoke: 'It seems to me that to call poetry by these names obscures
things. How did the Æsir acquire Suttung's mead?'
-Óðin Wins the Mead of Inspiration-
Bragi answered: 'The story goes that Óðin left home
once and came across nine serfs mowing hay. He asked if they
would like him to sharpen their scythes and they said they would.
So he took a hone from his belt and put an edge on their tools
and they all thought they cut much better and wanted to buy the
hone. He stipulated that the would-be purchaser should pay for
it by giving a banquet. They replied they were all willing to
do this and asked him to hand it over to them. He threw the hone
up into the air, however, and as they all wanted to catch it,
it ended with them all cutting one another's throats with their
scythes.
'Oðin sought
lodgings for the night with Suttung's brother, a giant called
Baugi. Baugi said that his affairs were in a bad way; he told
him that nine of his serfs had been killed and said that he had
no hope of finding any other labourers. Óðin, giving
his name as Bölverk, offered to do the work of nine men
for Baugi, and asked as wages one drink of Suttung's mead. Baugi
told him that he had nothing to do with the mead, adding that
Suttung was anxious to keep it under his sole control, but he
professed himself willing to go along with Bölverk to try
to get hold of it. That summer Bölverk did the work of nine
men for Baugi, and when winter came he asked Baugi for his wages.
Then they both went to Suttung. Baugi told his brother Suttung
of his bargain with Bölverk, but Suttung flatly refused
them a single drop of mead. Then Bölverk said to Baugi that
they must try to get hold of the mead by some kind of trick.
Baugi said that that was a good idea. Bölverk then brought
out the auger called Rati and said that if the auger would pierce
it, Baugi was to bore a hole through the mountain. He did so.
When Baugi said that the mountain had been pierced through, Bölverk
blew into the hole left by the auger but chips flew up into his
face. He realized then that Baugi wanted to cheat him, and told
him to bore right through. Baugi bored again, and when Bölverk
blew into the hole for the second time the chips were blown (all
the way) through. Then Bölverk changed himself into a serpent
and crawled into the auger-hole. Baugi stabbed at him with the
auger but missed him. Bölverk came to where Gunrlöð
was, and slept with her for three nights, and then she promised
him three drinks of the mead. At his first drink he drank up
all that was in Óðrörir, at his second, Són,
and at his third, Boðn - and then he had finished all the
mead. Then he changed himself into an eagle and flew away at
top-speed. When Suttung saw the eagle in flight, however, he
also took on eagle shape and flew after him. Now when the Æsir
saw where Óðin was flying, they put their crocks out
in the courtyard, and when Óóin came inside Asgarð
he spat the mead into the crocks. It was such a close shave that
Suttung did not catch him, however, that he let some fall, but
no one bothered about that. Anyone who wanted could have it;
we call it the poetasters' share. Óðin gave Suttung's
mead to the Æsir and those men who can compose poetry.
So we call poetry Oðin's catch, Óðin's discovery,
his drink and his gift, and the drink of the Æsir.'
-About Thor's Battle with Hrungnir-
Bragi told Ægir that Thór had once gone to the east
to fight trolls, when Óðin rode Sleipnir into Giantland
and came to the giant called Hrungnir. Hrungnir asked who the
man was in the golden helmet who was riding through the air and
over the sea, adding that he had a remarkably fine horse. Óðin
replied that he would wager his head its equal was not to be
found in Giantland. Hrungnir said that Sleipnir was a fine horse,
but maintained that he possessed one called Gold-mane that could
step out much better, and losing his temper he sprang on to his
mount and galloped after Oðin, intending to pay him out for
his big talk. Óðin galloped on so hard that he was
on the other side of a hill on the horizon in no time, but Hrungnir
was in such a towering rage that, before he knew where he was,
he was inside the gate of Asgarð. When he arrived at the
door of the hall, the Æsir invited him in to drink: with
them. He went into the hall and asked to be served with drink.
The beakers Thór was accustomed to drink from were brought
to him and Hrungnir tossed off both. When he was drunk, big words
were not in short supply; he declared that he would pick up Valhalla
and carry it into Giant-land, sink Asgarð in the sea and
kill all the gods except Freyja and Sif whom he would carry off
home with him. Then Freyja went to pour out more ale for him
and he declared he would drink up all the Æsir had. When
the Asir were tired of his big talk, however, they summoned Thór.
At once Thór came into the hall in a fury with his hammer
raised aloft and asking on whose authority sly devils of giants
were drinking there, and under whose safe-conduct Hrungnir was
inside Valhalla, and why Freyja was waiting on him, as if it
were a banquet of the gods. Hrungnir looking at Thór in
no friendly manner answered that Óðin had invited
him to drink with him, and that he was there under his safe-conduct.
Thór declared that Hrungnir would be sorry for this invitation
before he left. Hrungnir said that it would not enhance Thór's
reputation to kill him unarmed as he was, and that it would be
a greater test of courage if he dared to fight him on the frontier
at Grjótúnagarðar (stone fence house). 'I've
been a great fool', he added, 'to leave my shield and hone at
home; if I had my weapons we should fight a duel now. On the
other hand, I pronounce you dastard if you are intending to kill
me unarmed.' No one had ever challenged Thór to a duel
before, so he would not on any account fail to meet Hrungnir
in single combat. Hrungnir went off on his way home galloping
furiously until he reached Giantland. This expedition of his
and the fact that he had arranged to meet Thór won him
great fame amongst the giants. They felt that it mattered a good
deal which of them should prove victorious; they could expect
the worst from Thór if Hrungnir perished, for he was strongest
of them.
Then the giants
made a man of clay at Grjótúnagarðar. He was
nine leagues high and three broad under his armpits and they
could not get a heart large enough to fit him, until they took
a mare's, and this was not steady in him when Thór arrived.
Hrungmr's heart is famous. It was of hard stone and sharp-edged
and three-cornered like the runic character known as 'Hrungnir's
heart' which has since been made that way. His head, too, was
of stone, also the broad, stout shield which he held before him
while he was standing at Gjótúnagarðar waiting
for Thór. As weapon of attack he had a hone poised on
his shoulder and he looked an ugly customer. At his side stood
the clay giant called Mist Calf, and it was terrified. It is
said that it made water when it saw Thór.
Thór went
to the duelling ground, and with him Thjálfi. Then Thjálfí
ran forward to where Hrungnir was standing and told him: 'You're
taking a risk the way you're standing, giant, with your shield
in front of you; Thór has seen you. Put it down on the
ground beneath you for he will come at you from below.'
Hrungnir shoved
his shield under his feet and stood on it, grasping the hone
with both hands. At once he saw flashes of lightning and heard
great claps of thunder; he was seeing Thór in his divine
wrath. (The god) bore down on him at tremendous speed and brandishing
his hammer hurled it at Hrungnir from a great distance. Hrungnir
lifted up the hone in both hands and flung it against the hammer,
and the hone colliding with it in mid-air was smashed to pieces.
One part of it fell to the ground and all hone quarries have
come from those fragments. The other pierced Thór's head
so that he fell forward on the earth. The hammer Mjöllnir,
however, struck Hrungnir in the middle of his head shivering
his skull into small fragments, and he fell prone across Thór
with one leg over Thór's neck. Thjálfi attacked
Mist Calf and he fell with little renown.
Then Thjálfi
went up to Thór to lift Hrungnir's leg off him, but he
could not move it at all. When they heard that Thór was
down, all the Asir went up to him to lift off the leg, but they
were unable to do anything. After that Magni, the son of Thór
and Járnsaxa (Iron cutlass, a giantess), came up to them
- he was three years old then -and he flung Hrungnir's leg off
Thór saying: 'What a pity I didn't come sooner, father;
I reckon I'd have struck the giant dead with my bare fist if
I had met him.' Thór stood up then and gave his son a
fine welcome saying he would be a strong man:
'And', said he,
'I'll give you the horse Gold-mane' - which Hrungnir had had.
Óðin spoke then declaring that Thór was doing
wrong to give a fme horse like that to the son of a giantess
instead of to his own father.
-Of Aurvandil-
Thór went home to Thrúðvangar with the hone
stuck in his head. Then the sibyl called Gróa, wife of
Aurvandil the Brave, came to him and recited spells over Thór
until the hone worked loose. When Thór noticed that and
felt that there was a chance of her getting it out, he wanted
to reward Gróa for healing him and to make her happy.
He told her the (good) news that he had waded south over Élivágar
carrying Aurvandil on his back in a basket out of Giantland in
the north, and, in proof of this, that one of his toes had stuck
out of the basket and been frozen, so Thór had broken
it off and thrown it up into the sky and made of it the star
called Aurvandil's Toe. Thór added that it would not be
long before Aurvandil came home. Gróa was so delighted,
however, that she forgot her spells, and the hone did not work
any looser; it is still in Thór's head. Hones should never
be thrown across the floor as, in that case, the hone is moved
that is stuck in Thór's head.
Thjóðólf
of Hvin has made up a poem about this story in Haustlöng.
(autumn long) Then Ægir said: 'I've been thinking that
Hrungnir was a powerful person. Did Thór perform any more
great exploits when he was fighting trolls?.'
-Thor's Battle with Geirröð-
Then Bragi answered: 'The story of Thór's journey to Geirröðargarðar
is well worth the telling. On that occasion he had neither the
hammer Mjöllnir nor the belt of strength nor the iron gauntlets,
and Loki who went with him was to blame for that. It had happened
once to Loki, when he was flying about amusing himself in Frigg's
falcon coat, that out of curiosity he flew into Geirröð's
grounds. He saw there a great hall, and settled on a window4edge
and looked in. Geirröð, however, caught sight of him
and ordered the bird to be captured and brought to him. The messenger
found it hard to climb up the wall of the hall; it was so high.
Loki was delighted that the man had such difficulty in approaching
him and had no intention of flying away, until he had completed
the tricky ascent. When the man reached out for him, he spread
his wings for flight, bracing his feet but found them caught.
Then Loki was seized and brought before giant Geirröð
and, when the giant saw his eyes, he suspected that they were
a man's and bade him answer him, but Loki kept silent. Then Geirrbð
shut Loki up in a chest and starved him there for three months.
When Geirröð took him out then and required him to speak,
Loki told who he was and promised Geirröð on oath to
bring Thór into Geirröð's stronghold without
either hammer or belt of strength.
'Thór came
to stay with a giantess called Gríð, the mother of
Víðar the Silent. She told Thór the truth about
giant Geirröð, that he was as cunning as a fox and a
dangerous enemy. She lent him her belt of strength and iron gloves
and her staff which is called Gríðs stick.
'Thór travelled
until he reached the Vimur which is a very big river. He put
on the belt of strength and braced himself against the current
by leaning on Gríð's stick while Loki clung to the
belt. When Thór reached midstream, the water rose so that
it was breaking over his shoulders. Then Thór said this:
"Vimur, don't
wax now
I happen to be wading through you on my way to the giants;
you know that if you do, so will my strength divine,
until it reaches up as high as heaven! "
Then Thór
looked up a rocky ravine and saw Geirröð's daughter,
Gjálp, standing there astride the river, and it was she
who was causing it to swell. He picked up a great boulder from
the river and flung it at her with the words: "A river must
be dammed at its fountain-head!" He did not miss what he
aimed at. At that moment he was carried ashore and catching hold
of a rowan tree climbed in this way out of the river. This is
why we say that the rowan is Thór's salvation.
'When Thór
came to Geirröð, he and his companions were shown into
a goat-shed for a lodging, with a single chair for a seat, on
which Thór sat down. He then became aware that. the chair
was moving up to the roof with him. He thrust Gríð's
stick against the roof, pushing himself down hard into the chair.
There was a great crash accompanied by loud screarning. Geirröð's
two daughters, Gjálp and Greip, had been under the chair
and he had broken both their backs. Then Geirröð had
Thór called into the hall to compete with him in games
of skill. There were huge fires down the whole length of the
hall and, when Thór came face to face with Geirröð,
Geirröð picked up a red-hot bolt of iron with a pair
of tongs and threw it at him. Thór, however, caught it
in mid-air with his iron gauntlets and Geirröð ran behind
an iron pillar for safety. Thór threw the bolt and it
went through the pillar and through Geirröð and through
the wall and so outside and into the earth.’
'Why is gold called Sif's hair?.'
-Of Sif's Hair and the Treasures of the Gods-
'Once, for a joke, Loki, Laufey's son, cut off all Sif's hair,
but when Thór got to know this he seized Loki and would
have broken every bone in his body, had he not sworn to persuade
the dark elves to make hair from gold for Sif that would grow
like other hair. After that Loki went to the dwarfs called the
sons of Ívaldi, and they made the hair and Skiðlaðnir
and the spear that Óðin had, which is called Gungnir.
Then Loki wagered his head with a dwarf called Brokk that his
brother Eitri would not be able to make three other treasures
as fine as these. When they came to the smithy, Eitri laid a
pigskin in the furnace and told his brother Brokk to work the
bellows and not to stop until he had taken what he had put there
out of the forge. No sooner had he left the smithy than a fly
settled on Brokk's hand and stung him, as he was working the
bellows, but he kept them going as before, until the smith took
the object from the forge - and there was a boar with bristles
of gold.
'Next he put gold
in the furnace and told him to blow without stopping until he
returned. He went away, and then the fly came and settled on
Brokk's neck, stinging him twice as badly as before. He went
on blowing, however, until the smith took from the forge the
gold ring called Draupnir.
'Then he put iron
in the furnace and told him to blow, and said that everything
would be spoiled if the bellows stopped working. This time the
fly settled between his eyes and stung him on the eyelids so
that the blood ran into his eyes and he could not see at all.
He stopped the bellows and as quickly as possible brushed the
fly away with one hand. At that moment the smith came in and
said that everything in the furnace had been within an ace of
being spoiled. Then he took from the forge a hammer and gave
all the treasures to his brother Brokk, telling him to take them
to Asgarð to settle the wager.
'When he and Loki
brought out their treasures, the Æsir sat down on their
thrones and the verdict given by Óðin, Thór
and Frey was to stand good. Loki then gave Óðin the
spear, Gungnir; Thór, the hair Sif was to have; and Frey,
Skiðblaðnir, and he explained what sort of treasures
they were: the spear never missed its mark, the hair would grow
to her skin as soon as it was put on Sif's head, and Skiðblaðnir
got a breeze to take it where it had to go as soon as its sail
was hoisted, and it could be folded together like a cloth and
carried in one's pouch, if so desired. Then Brokk produced his
treasures. He gave Óðin the ring, saying that every
ninth night eight others as heavy as itself would drop from it.
To Frey he gave the boar, saying that it could run through the
air and over the sea day or night faster than any horse, and
that no matter how gloomy it might be at night or in the wodd
of darkness, it would always be brilliantly light where it was
travelling; its bristles shone so. Then he gave the hammer to
Thór and said that he could hit anything that was in his
way with it as hard as he could and the hammer would never break;
and if he hurled it at anything he would never lose it - no matter
how far it was flung it would return to his hand; also, if he
desired, it could become so small that he could keep it in his
shirt. It had, however, one fault; it was rather short in the
handle.
'The decision of
the gods was that the hammer was the most valuable of all the
treasures and the best defence against the frost ogres, and they
decided that the dwarf had won the wager. Then Loki offered to
redeem his head but the dwarf said that he could not expect to
do that. "Catch me, then!" said Loki, and when the
dwarf tried to seize him he was already a long way off Loki had
shoes in which he could run through the air and over the sea.
Then the dwarf asked Thór to catch him and he did so.
The dwarf wanted to cut off his head, but Loki said he had a
claim on his head but not his neck. The dwarf took a thong and
a knife and tried to pierce holes in Loki's lips to sew them
up, but the knife would not cut. Then he said that his brother's
awl would be better and, as soon as he had mentioned it, there
it was, and it pierced the lips. He sewed up the mouth, and (Loki)
tore the thong out through the holes. The thong with which Loki's
mouth was sewn up is called Vartari.'
'What is the reason for calling gold "otter's ransom?’
-Otter's Ransom-
'It is said that when the Æsir, Óðin and Loki
and Hœnir were exploring the whole world, they came to a
river and went along it to a waterfall, and by the waterfall
was an otter which was eating a salmon it had caught there and
it was half-asleep. Loki picked up a stone and flung it at the
otter, striking it on the head. Then Loki boasted of his catch
- with one throw he had bagged an otter and a salmon. They took
the salmon and the otter away with them and came to a farm which
they entered. The farmer living there was called Hreiðmar.
He was a powerful man with much skill in magic. The Æsir
asked the farmer for lodgings there for the night, saying that
they had plenty of food, and they showed him their catch. When
Hreiðmar saw the otter, however, he called his sons Fáfrir
and Regin, and told them that their brother, Otter (that is,
he was able to change into an otter), had been killed, and also
who had done the deed. Then father and sons attacked the Æsir
and made them prisoner and bound them, telling them that the
Otter was Hreiðmar's son. The Æsir offered to pay as
large a ransom as Hreiðmar himself should demand, and those
terms were agreed on and confirmed by oath. Then the otter was
flayed, and Hreiðmar took the skin and told them that they
had to fill it and completely cover it into the bargain with
red gold. That would reconcile them. Óðin then sent
Loki to the World-of-dark-elves, and he came to the dwarf called
Andvari. He was in a pool in his fish shape, and Loki seizing
him exacted as ransom all the gold he had in his rock dwelling.
When they got there the dwarf produced all the gold he possessed
and it was a very great sum of money, but he kept back in his
hand a little gold ring. Loki noticed this and told him to give
him the ring. The dwarf begged him not to take it from him, saying
that if only he were allowed to keep it he could by its means
become wealthy again. Loki said that he was to be left without
a single penny and taking the ring from him was going away, when
the dwarf declared that the ring would destroy everyone who owned
it. Loki replied that that was all to the good, adding that the
prophecy should be fulfilled, provided that he himself pronounced
it in the ears of those about to take over the ring.
'He went away and
came to Hreiðmar and showed the gold ring to Oðin. When
Óðin saw it he admired it for its beauty and kept
it back, although he paid the gold to Hreiðmar. Hreiðmar
stuffed the skin to bursting and when it was full raised it up
on end. Then Óðin went up to it to cover it with gold
and, this done, he asked Hreiðmar to look and see if the
skin was not completely hidden. Hreiðmar took a good look
at it and caught sight of one whisker. He ordered this to be
concealed or otherwise, he said, their agreement would be at
an end. Then Oðin drew the ring from his finger and concealed
the whisker, saying that now they had paid the otter's ransom.
When, however, Óðin had taken his spear and Loki his
shoes and there was no reason they should be afraid, Loki declared
that what Andvari had said should hold good, that that ring and
that gold would destroy whosoever owned them. That has been the
case ever since. Now you know why gold is called otter's ransom
or the forced payment of the Æsir or metal-of-strife.'
'Is anything more
known about this gold?'
-Of Fáfnir, Regin and Sigurð-
'Hreiðmar accepted the gold as ransom for his son, and Fáfnir
and Regin asked for some of it as a ransom for their brother.
Hreiómar did not give them a single penny of it. The brothers
were wicked enough to kill their father for the gold. Then Regin
asked Fáfnir to go shares in the gold, but Fáfnir
replied that there was little likelihood that he would share
with his brother the gold for which he had killed his father,
and he told Regin to go away or else he would meet with Hreiðmar's
fate. Fáfnir had taken a helmet which had been Hreiðmar's
and was wearing it; this struck fear into all beholders and was
called the helmet of terror. He also had the sword known as Hrotti.
Regin owned a sword called Refil. He took to flight but Fáfnir
went up on to Gnita Heath and, making a lair there, turned himself
into a dragon and lay down on the gold.
'Then Regin went
to King Hjálprek in Ty (in Jutland) and became his smith
there. He adopted as his foster son Sigurð, son of Sigmund,
son of Völsung and Hjördis, Eylimi’s daughter.
On account of his family, strength and courage, Sigurð was
the most famous of all warrior kings. Regin told him where Fáfnir
was lying on the gold and egged him on to seek the treasure.
Regin made the sword called Gram. This was so sharp that, when
Sigurð thrust it into running water, he cut in two a lock
of wool carried against the blade by the current. With the same
sword Sigur clove Regin's anvil to the stock. After that Sigurð
and Regin went to Gnita Heath and Sigurðdug pits in Fáfnir's
path and sat down in one. When Fafnir, crawling on his way down
to the water, came over the pit, Sigurð ran him through with
his sword and that was his death. Then Regin came and said that
Sigurð had killed his brother, and offered him terms on condition
that he took Fáfnir's heart and roasted it over a fire.
Regin himself lay down and drank Fáfnir's blood and then
went to sleep. When Sigurð thought the heart he was roasting
was done, he touched it with his finger to see how tender it
was, and the juice from it ran on to his fmger, burning it, so
he put this into his mouth. When the blood came on to his tongue,
however, he understood the language of birds and knew what the
nuthatches sitting in the branches were saying. One said:
"There sits
Sigurð blood-bespattered, Fáfnir's heart roasts at
the fire;
wise that liberal prince would appear to me should he eat that
shining heart."
"There lies Regin", said another, "revolving in
his mind
how to betray the lad who trusts him;
in wrath he is collecting crooked words together,
he longs, contriver-of-evil, to avenge his brother. "
Then Sigurð
went up to Regin and killed him, and afierwards to his horse
which was called Grani and rode until he came to Fáfnir's
lair. There he took the gold and making it into packs put it
on Grani's back, mounted himself and rode on his way.
'Now you know the
story explaining why gold is called Fáfnir's abode or
lair, or the metal of Gnita Heath, or Grani's burden.
-Of Brynhild and the Niflungar-
'Sigurð rode on then until he came to a hall on a mountain.
In it was sleeping a woman in helmet and coat of mail. He drew
his sword and cut the mail-coat from her. Then she woke up and
said she was called Hild. Her name was Brynhild and she was a
valkyrie. Sigurð rode away from there and came to a king
called Gjúki. His wife was called Grímhild and
their children were Gunnar, Högni, Guðrún and
Guðný. Gotthorm was Gjúki's stepson. Sigurð
stayed there for a long time and married Guðrún, Gjúki's
daughter, and Gunnar and Högni became sworn brothers of
Sigurð's. Soon after Sigurð and the sons of Gjúki
went to ask Atli Buðlason for his sister, Brynhild, as Gunnar's
wife. She lived at Hindafjall and there was a rampart of flame
round her hall. She had vowed only to marry that man who dared
ride through the flames. Sigurð and the Gjúkungar
- they are also called the Niflungar (Nibelungs) - rode up on
to the mountain and Gunnar was to ride through the rampart of
flame. He had a horse called Goti but it did not dare leap into
the fire. Sigurð and Gunnar then changed shapes and also
names, because Grani would not move under any man but Sigurð,
and Sigurð vaulting on to Grani rode the rampart of flame.
That evening he married Brynhild but, when they went to bed,
he drew the sword Gram from its sheath and laid it between them.
In the morning when he got up and dressed, however, he gave Brynhild
as a wedding present the gold ring Loki had taken from Andvari,
receiving another from her in exchange. Then Sigurð jumped
on to his horse and rode back to his companions. He and Gunnar
changed shapes again and went back to Gjúki with Brynhild.
Sigurð had two children by Guðrún, Sigmund and
Svanhild.
'On one occasion
Brynhild and Guðrún went down to the water to wash
their hair. When they reached the river, Brynhild waded out further
from the bank, saying that she was not going to use the water
in which Guðrún had rinsed her hair for her own head,
since she had the more valiant husband. Guðrún went
into the river after her then, and said that she had a right
to wash her hair in water higher up the river, since she had
a husband whom neither Gunnar nor anyone else in the world could
match in courage, because he had killed Fáfnir and Regin
and had inherited the property of both. Then Brynhild answered:
"Sigurð did not dare ride the rampart of flame: Gunnar
did - that counts for more. Guðrún laughed then and
said: "You think it was Gunnar who rode the flames The man
you slept with was the one who gave me this gold ring, and the
ring you are wearing and which you received as a wedding gift
is called Andvari'.s treasure, and I don't think that Gunnar
got it on Gnita Heath." At that Brynhild was silent and
went home.
'Afterwards she
urged Gunnar and Högni to kill Sigurð but, because they
were his sworn brothers, they persuaded their brother Gottliorm
to kill him. He ran Sigurð through with a sword while he
was sleeping, but, when Sigurð felt the wound, he hurled
the sword after Gotthorm so that it cut him asunder through the
middle. Sigurð and his three-year-old son called Sigmund,
whom they also killed, perished there. After that Brynhild fell
on her sword and she was burned with Sigurð. Gunnar and Högni,
however, took Fáfnir's inheritance then and Andvari's
treasure and ruled the country.
'Brynhild's brother,
Ath Buðlason, married Guðrún, once the wife of
Sigurð, and they had children together. King Atli invited
Gunnar and Högni to stay with him and they went on this
visit. Before leaving home, however, they hid the gold that was
Fáfnir's inheritance in the Rhine, and it has never been
found since. King Atli had troops to oppose them and these fought
Gunnar and Högni and took them prisoner. King Atli had Högni's
heart cut out of him while he was still living and that was his
death. He had Gunnar flung into a snake-pit. A harp was procured
for him in secret and, because his hands were tied, he played
it with his toes in such a way that all the snakes went to sleep,
but for one adder, which made for him and gnawing its way through
the cartilage of his breast-bone thrust its head through the
hole and buried its fangs in his liver until he was dead. Gunnar
and Högni are called Niflungar or Gjúkungar; for
this reason gold is called the treasure or inheritance of the
Niflungar.
'A little later
Guðrún killed her two sons and had goblets decorated
with silver and gold made from their skulls. Then the funeral
feast of the Niflungar was celebrated. From these goblets Guðrún
had King Atli served with mead which was mixed with the boys'
blood, and she had their hearts roasted and given the king to
eat at the same banquet. When this had been done she told him
about it in many ugly words. There was no lack of intoxicating
mead there so that most people fell asleep where they were sitting.
That same night she went to the king when he was asleep, and
with her Högni's son, and they made an armed attack on him
and that was his death. Then they set fire to the hall and burned
the people inside it.
'After that she
went down to the sea and ran into it to drown herself. She was
drifted over the fiord, however, and came ashore in King Jónak's
country, and when he saw her he took her home and married her.
They had three sons with these names: Sörli, Hamðir,
and Erp. These had hair as black as the raven, like Gunnar and
Högni and the other Niflungar. Sigurð's daughter, Svanhild,
grew up there and she was a very lovely woman. King Jörmunrekk
the Mighty heard of this and sent his son Randvér to ask
her hand in marriage for him. When he came to Jónak, Svanhild
was given into his custody and he was to take her to Jörmunrekk.
Then Bikki said that it would be more suitable for Randvér
to marry Svanhild, since he was young, indeed they both were,
whereas Jörmunrekk was an old man. The young people were
delighted with this plan. Soon after Bikki told the king and
Jörmunrekk had his son seized and led to the gallows. Randvértook
his hawk then, and plucking off its feathers, ordered it to be
sent to his father. After that he was hanged. When King Jörmunrekk
saw the hawk, it struck him that just as the hawk stripped of
its feathers was unable to fly, so, now that he was an old man
and without a son, had he crippled his kingdom. Once when he
was riding home from a wood in which he and his court had been
hunting, King Jörmunrekk caught sight of Svanhild where
she sat drying her hair. They rode her down and trampled her
to death under their horses' hoofs.
'When Guðrún
heard this, she egged on her sons to avenge Svanhild and, when
they were making ready for the expedition, procured for them
coats of mail and helmets which were so strong that no weapon
could pierce them. She advised them, when they reached King Jörmunrekk,
to attack him at night in his sleep. Sörli and Hamðir
were to cut off his hands and feet, and Erp his head. On the
way, however, they asked Erp to what extent they could rely on
him when they came to grips with Jörmunrekk. He replied
that he would help them as the hand does the foot. They said
that the hand gave no help at all to the foot and they were so
annoyed with their mother for having sent them out with taunts
that they wanted to do what would hurt her most, so they killed
Erp because she loved him best. A little later, one of Sörli's
feet slipped as he was walking, and he supported himself with
his hand. Then he said: "Hand helped foot just now. It would
be better if Erp was alive."
'They came to King
Jörmunrekk one night when he was asleep, and were cutting
off his hands and feet when he awoke and shouted to his men to
rouse themselves. Hamðir said: "His head would be off
now, if Erp were alive!" Then Jörmunrekk's bodyguard
got up and attacked them, but they could not overcome them with
weapons, so Jörmunrekk called out to them to use stones.
This was done, and Sörli and Hamðir fell there. With
them the whole Gjúkung line came to an end.
'Sigurd left a
daughter called Áslaug who was fostered by Heimir in Hlymdalir
and great families have come from her.
'It is said that
Sigmund Völsungsson was so strong that he could drink poison
without coming to harm, and that Sinfjötli, his son, and
Sigurð had such hard skins that their naked bodies were immune
to poison.'
'Why is gold called
Fróði's flour?'
-Of the Skjöldungar and the Mill Grotti-
'There is a story about this to the effect that there was a son
of of Sin's called Skjöld from whom the Skjöldungar
have come. He ruled the country which is now called Denmark (and
at that time, Gotland) and had a palace there. Skjöld had
a son called Friðleif who ruled the country after him. Friðleif's
son was called Fróði. He inherited the kingdom after
his father at the time when the Emperor Augustus made peace over
the whole world. Christ was born then. However, because Fróði
was the most powerful of all the Scandinavian kings, all the
northern nations ascribe that peace to him, and the Norsemen
call it the Peace of Fróði. No man injured another,
even although he was confronted with the slayer of his father
or brother, free or in bonds. Neither were there any thieves
or robbers, so that a gold ring lay untouched for a long time
on the Heath of Jelling (in Jutland). King Fróði was
invited to stay with the king Fjölnir of Sweden. There he
bought two women slaves, who were big and strong, called Fenja
and Menja. In Denmark at that time there were two millstones
so huge that no one had sufficient strength to turn them. These
millstones were the sort that ground whatever the miller required.
The mill was called Grotti and the name of the man who gave it
to King Fróði was Hangjaw. King Fróði had
the slaves taken to the mill and he told them to grind Fróði's
gold and peace and prosperity. He would not allow them to rest
or sleep for longer than the cuckoo stops its calling or it takes
to ask people for a hearing. They are said then to have composed
the song known as Grotti's Song and, before they finished it,
they ground out an army against King Fróði, so that
that same night a viking called Mýsing came and killed
Fróði and captured a great deal of spoil. With that
the Peace of Fróði came to an end.
'Mýsing
took Grotti and Fenja and Menja away with him and ordered them
to grind salt. At midnight they asked him if he was not tired
of salt, but he told them to go on grinding. They had ground
on for a short time only when the ship sank, and where the sea
poured into the eye of the hand-mill was a whirlpool there afterwards
in the ocean. It was then that the sea became salt.'
'Why is gold called
Kraki's seed?'
-Of Hrólf Kraki-
'There was a king in Denmark called . On account of his mildness,
valour and modesty he was in the first rank of ancient kings.
Here is an example of his modesty which is often quoted in ancient
tales. A small boy, and a poor one at that, called Vögg,
came into Hrólf's palace when the king was young in years
and slight of build. Vögg came into his presence and looked
him up and down. Then the king asked: "What are you wanting
to take the measure of, lad, looking at me like this."'
Vögg replied: "When I was at home, I heard people say
that King Hrólf of Hleiðr (Leire) was the greatest
king in Scandinavia, and now there's a lanky little stick of
a fellow sitting on the throne and you call him king!" The
king answered: "You have given me a name, lad; I'm to be
called Kraki (Stick), and it's usual for a 'name-fastening' to
be accompanied by a present. Now, I can't see that you've got
any such present to give me that I'd like, so the one who has
is going to give." Taking a gold ring from his fmger he
gave it to the boy. Then Vögg said: "Blessing on you
for your gift, king, and I promise you that I will kill the man
who kills you." The king laughed at that and said: "Vögg
is contented with little."
'Here follows an
example of Hrólf's valour. There was a king ruling Uppsala
called Aðils who married Hrólf Kraki's mother, Yrsa.
He was at war with a king of Norway called Áli, and they
fought a great battle on Lake Vener. King Aðils sent a message
to Hrólf Kraki to come to his assistance, promising to
pay every man in his army while they were campaigning, and the
king himself was to choose for his own three treasures from Sweden.
King Hrólf was unable to go on account of his war with
the Saxons, but he sent Aðils his twelve berserks. Boðvar
Bjarki was one: (amongst the others were) Hjalti the Valiant,
Hvítserk the Bold, Vött, Véseti, the brothers
Svipdag and Beiguð. In that battle King Áli and most
of his troops fell, and King Aðils despoiled him of his helmet
Battle-pig and his horse Raven. Hrólf's twelve berserks
asked for their pay, three pounds of gold each, and they also
asked for the treasures they were choosing for King Hrólf
so that they could take them to him, namely, the helmet Battle-pig,
the coat of mail known as Finn's legacy, which could not be pierced
by any weapon, and the gold ring called Svíagríss,
which had been in the possession of Aðils' ancestors. The
king, however, refused them all these treasures and kept back
their pay into the bargain. The berserks went away very disgruntled
and informed King Hrólf of the situation. He set out for
Uppsala at once; and when he had sailed his ships up the river
Fyris, he made for Uppsala on horseback and with him his twelve
berserks, all of them without safe-conduct. His mother Yrsa welcomed
him and accompanied him to his quarters, but not to the king's
palace. Great fires were made for them and they were given ale
to drink. Then King Aðils' men came and threw logs on to
the fires and they became so big that Hrólf Kraki and
his men had their clothes burned off them, and Aðils' men
asked:
"Is it true
that Hrólf Kraki and his berserks flee neither fire nor
sword?"
At that Hrólf Kraki and all of them jumped up, and he
said: "Let's make the fires at Aðils' still larger",
and taking his shield he flung it on to the fire and jumped over
it while it was still burning. He added: "The man who jumps
over a fire isn't running away from it." One after another
his men followed suit, and then they seized those who had made
the fires larger and flung them into them. After that Yrsa came
and gave Hrólf Kiaki a horn full of gold and along with
it the ring Svíagríss, and bade him ride away for
reinforcements. They leaped on to their horses and rode down
on to the Plains of Fyris. Then they saw that King Aðils
with a fully equipped army was riding after them with the intention
of destroying them. King Hrólf Kiaki took the gold out
of the horn with his right hand and strewed it all along the
way. When the Swedes saw that, they jumped down from their saddles
and each took what he could grab. King Aðils, however, ordered
them to ride on and went on riding himself at a gallop. His horse
was called Slungnir and it was a very swift one. When King Hrólf
Kiaki saw that King Aðils was gaining on him, he took the
ring Svíagríss and flinging it at him bade him
accept it as a gift. King Aðils rode at the ring, picked
it up with his spear-point and let it slip down to the socket.
King Hrólf Kraki turned round then, saw him stooping down
and said: "I've made the mightiest of the Swedes grovel
like a pig", and with that they parted.
'For this reason
gold is called the seed of Kraki or of the Plains of Fyris.
'Battle is called
the gale or tempest, and weapons the fires or staves of the Hjaðningar,
and here's the story about that.
-Of the Battle of the Hjaðningar-
'There was a king called Högni who had a daughter whose
name was Hild. A king called Heðin Hjarrandason made her
a prisoner of war whilst Högni was away at a royal assembly.
When, however, he heard that his kingdom had been raided and
his daughter carried off; he went to look for Heðin with
his army. He heard that he had sailed to the north. When Högni
came to Norway, however, he heard that Heðin had sailed for
the British Isles. Then Högni sailed after him all the way
to Orkney, and when he arrived at the island called Hoy, there
in front of him was Heðin with his army. Hild went to meet
her father and offered him a necklace from Heðin in reconciliation.
She also let him understand, however, that Heðin was ready
to fight and that Högni could not hope for any mercy from
him. Högni answered his daughter curtly and, when she came
to Heðin, she told him that Högni had refused to come
to terms and bade him prepare for battle. So both of them went
up on to the island and drew up their forces. Then Heðin
called out to his father-in-law, Högni, offering him terms
and a great deal of gold as compensation. Högni answered:
"You are too late in making this offer for terms; I've drawn
Dáin's heirloom which was made by the dwarfs; every time
it is bared it slays its man, it never misses a stroke and no
one recovers from the wound it gives." Heðin said: "You're
boasting only of a sword, not of victory. I call any sword good
that serves its master well."
'They began the
battle called the Battle of the Hjaðningar and
they fought all day long. In the evening the kings went on board
their ships. Hild, however, went to the battlefield by night
and aroused all the dead by witchcraft. The kings went on to
the battlefield a second day and fought, and with them all those
who had fallen on the previous day. Day after day the battle
went on, in such a way that all who fell and all weapons (left)
lying on the battlefield, and even the shields too, turned to
stone. At dawn, however, all the dead men got up and fought and
all their weapons became new. So it says in the poems that the
Battle of the Hjaðningar will last until the Twllight of
the Gods. The poet Bragi composed a poem on this story in the
Lay of Ragnar Shaggy-Breeks.'
__________________________________________________________________________
The
Prose Edda
Translated by Jean I. Young
Cambridge, England:
Bowes & Bowes, 1954.
Purchase
this book.
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