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Other documents randomly have
different content
49. “Thy tongue still makes thee say | what
seems most ill to me,
Thou witless man! Thou liest, I ween.”

Harbarth spake:

50. “Truth do I speak, | but slow on thy way thou

art;
Far hadst thou gone | if now in the boat thou
hadst fared.”

Thor spake:

51. “Thou womanish Harbarth! | here hast thou

held me too long.”

Harbarth spake:

52. “I thought not ever | that Asathor would be

hindered
By a ferryman thus from faring.”

Thor spake:

53. “One counsel I bring thee now: | row hither

thy boat;
No more of scoffing; | set Magni’s father across.”

Harbarth spake:
54. “From the sound go hence; | the passage
thou hast not.”

[136]

Thor spake:

55. “The way now show me, | since thou takest

me not o’er the water.”

Harbarth spake:

56. “To refuse it is little, | to fare it is long;

A while to the stock, | and a while to the stone;
Then the road to thy left, | till Verland thou
reachest;
And there shall Fjorgyn | her son Thor find,
And the road of her children | she shows him to
Othin’s realm.”

Thor spake:

57. “May I come so far in a day?”

Harbarth spake:

58. “With toil and trouble perchance,

While the sun still shines, | or so I think.”
Thor spake:

59. “Short now shall be our speech, | for thou

speakest in mockery only; [137]
The passage thou gavest me not | I shall pay thee
if ever we meet.”

Harbarth spake:

60. “Get hence where every evil thing shall have

thee!”

[121]

[Contents]

NOTES
[122]

Prose. Harbarth (“Gray-Beard”): Othin. On the nature of the prose

notes found in the manuscripts, cf. Grimnismol, introduction. Thor:
the journeys of the thunder-god were almost as numerous as those
of Othin; cf. Thrymskvitha and Hymiskvitha. Like the Robin Hood of
the British ballads, Thor was often temporarily worsted, but always
managed to come out ahead in the end. His “Journey in the East” is
presumably the famous episode, related in full by Snorri, in the
course of which he encountered the giant Skrymir, and in the house
of Utgartha-Loki lifted the cat which turned out to be Mithgarthsorm.
The Hymiskvitha relates a further incident of this journey. [123]

2. The superscriptions to the speeches are badly confused in the

manuscripts, but editors have agreed fairly well as to where they
belong.

3. From the fact that in Regius line 3 begins with a capital letter, it is
possible that lines 3–4 constitute the ferryman’s reply, with
something lost before stanza 4.

4. Thy mother: Jorth (Earth).

5. Some editors assume a lacuna after this stanza.

6. Three good dwellings: this has been generally assumed to mean

three separate establishments, but it may refer simply to [124]the
three parts of a single farm, the dwelling proper, the cattle-barn and
the storehouse; i.e., Thor is not even a respectable peasant.

8. Hildolf (“slaughtering wolf”): not elsewhere mentioned in the

Edda. Rathsey (“Isle of Counsel”): likewise not mentioned
elsewhere.

9. In danger: Thor is “sekr,” i.e., without the protection of any law,

so long as he is in the territory of his enemies, the [125]giants. Meili:
a practically unknown son of Othin, mentioned here only in the
Edda. Magni: son of Thor and the giantess Jarnsaxa; after Thor’s
fight with Hrungnir (cf. stanza 14, note) Magni, though but three
days old, was the only one of the gods strong enough to lift the
dead giant’s foot from Thor’s neck. After rescuing his father, Magni
said to him: “There would have been little trouble, father, had I but
come sooner; I think I should have sent this giant to hell with my fist
if I had met him first.” Magni and his brother, Mothi, inherit Thor’s
hammer.
12. This stanza is hopelessly confused as to form, but none of the
editorial rearrangements have materially altered the meaning.
Doomed to die: the word “feigr” occurs constantly in the Old Norse
poems and sagas; the idea of an inevitable but unknown fate seems
to have been practically universal throughout the pre-Christian
period. On the concealment of names from enemies, cf. Fafnismol,
prose after stanza 1. [126]

13. This stanza, like the preceding one, is peculiarly chaotic in the
manuscript, and has been variously emended.

14. Hrungnir: this giant rashly wagered his head that his horse,
Gullfaxi, was swifter than Othin’s Sleipnir. In the race, which
Hrungnir lost, he managed to dash uninvited into the home of the
gods, where he became very drunk. Thor ejected him, and accepted
his challenge to a duel. Hrungnir, terrified, had a helper made for
him in the form of a dummy giant nine miles high and three miles
broad. Hrungnir himself had a three-horned heart of stone and a
head of stone; his shield was of stone and his weapon was a
grindstone. But Thjalfi, Thor’s servant, told him the god would attack
him out of the ground, wherefore Hrungnir laid down his shield and
stood on it. The hammer Mjollnir shattered both the grindstone and
Hrungnir’s [127]head, but part of the grindstone knocked Thor down,
and the giant fell with his foot on Thor’s neck (cf. note on stanza 9).
Meanwhile Thjalfi dispatched the dummy giant without trouble.

16. Fjolvar: not elsewhere mentioned in the poems; perhaps the

father of the “seven sisters” referred to in stanza 18. Algrön “The All-
Green”: not mentioned elsewhere in the Edda.

17. Thor is always eager for stories of this sort; cf. stanzas 31 and
33.

18. Lines 1–2 are obscure, but apparently Harbarth means that the
women were wise to give in to him cheerfully, resistance to his
power being as impossible as (lines 3–4) making ropes of sand or
digging the bottoms out of the valleys. Nothing further is known of
these unlucky “seven sisters.” [128]

19. Thjazi: this giant, by a trick, secured possession of the goddess

Ithun and her apples (cf. Skirnismol, 19, note), and carried her off
into Jotunheim. Loki, through whose fault she had been betrayed,
was sent after her by the gods. He went in Freyja’s “hawk’s-dress”
(cf. Thrymskvitha, 3), turned Ithun into a nut, and flew back with
her. Thjazi, in the shape of an eagle, gave chase. But the gods
kindled a fire which burnt the eagle’s wings, and then they killed
him. Snorri’s prose version does not attribute this feat particularly to
Thor. Thjazi’s daughter was Skathi, whom the gods permitted to
marry Njorth as a recompense for her father’s death. Alvaldi: of him
we know only that he was the father of Thjazi, Ithi and Gang, who
divided his wealth, each taking a mouthful of gold. The name is
variously spelled. It is not known which stars were called “Thjazi’s
Eyes.” In the middle of line 4 begins the fragmentary version of the
poem found in the Arnamagnæan Codex.

20. Riders by night: witches, who were supposed to ride on wolves

in the dark. Nothing further is known of this adventure. [129]

22. The oak, etc.: this proverb is found elsewhere (e.g., Grettissaga)
in approximately the same words. Its force is much like our “to the
victor belong the spoils.”

23. Thor killed no women of the giants’ race on the “journey to the
East” so fully described by Snorri, his great giant-killing adventure
being the one narrated in the Thrymskvitha.

24. Valland: this mythical place (“Land of Slaughter”) is elsewhere

mentioned, but not further characterized; cf. prose introduction to
Völundarkvitha, and Helreith Brynhildar, 2. On the bringing of slain
heroes to Othin, cf. Voluspo, 31 and note, [130]and, for a somewhat
different version, Grimnismol, 14. Nowhere else is it indicated that
Thor has an asylum for dead peasants.
26. The reference here is to one of the most familiar episodes in
Thor’s eastward journey. He and his companions came to a house in
the forest, and went in to spend the night. Being disturbed by an
earthquake and a terrific noise, they all crawled into a smaller room
opening from the main one. In the morning, however, they
discovered that the earthquake had been occasioned by the giant
Skrymir’s lying down near them, and the noise by his snoring. The
house in which they had taken refuge was his glove, the smaller
room being the thumb. Skrymir was in fact Utgartha-Loki himself.
That he is in this stanza called Fjalar (the name occurs also in
Hovamol, 14) is probably due to a confusion of the names by which
Utgartha-Loki went. Loki taunts Thor with this adventure in
Lokasenna, 60 and 62, line 3 of this stanza being perhaps
interpolated from Lokasenna, 60, 4. [131]

29. The river: probably Ifing, which flows between the land of the
gods and that of the giants; cf. Vafthruthnismol, 16. Sons of
Svarang: presumably the giants; Svarang is not elsewhere
mentioned in the poems, nor is there any other account of Thor’s
defense of the passage.

30. Othin’s adventures of this sort were too numerous to make it

possible to identify this particular person. By stealth: so the
Arnamagnæan Codex; Regius, followed by several editors, has “long
meeting with her.” [132]

35. Heel-biter: this effective parallel to our “back-biter” is not found

elsewhere in Old Norse.

37. Hlesey: “the Island of the Sea-God” (Hler = Ægir), identified

with the Danish island Läsö, in the Kattegat. It appears again, much
out of place, in Oddrunargratr, 28. Berserkers: originally men who
could turn themselves into bears, hence the name, “bear-shirts”; cf.
the werewolf or loupgarou. Later the name was applied to men who
at times became seized with a madness for bloodshed; cf.
Hyndluljoth, 23 and note. The women here mentioned are obviously
of the earlier type. [133]

39. Thjalfi: Thor’s servant; cf. note on stanza 14.

40. To what expedition this refers is unknown, but apparently Othin

speaks of himself as allied to the foes of the gods.

41. Hatred: so Regius; the other manuscript has, apparently,

“sickness.”

42. Just what Othin means, or why his words should so have
enraged Thor, is not evident, though he may imply that Thor is open
to bribery. Perhaps a passage has dropped out before stanza 43.
[134]

44. Othin refers to the dead, from whom he seeks information

through his magic power.

48. Sif: Thor’s wife, the lover being presumably Loki; cf. Lokasenna,
54. [135]

52. Asathor: Thor goes by various names in the poems: e.g.,

Vingthor, Vingnir, Hlorrithi. Asathor means “Thor of the Gods.”

53. Magni: Thor’s son; cf. stanza 9 and note. [136]

56. Line 2: the phrases mean simply “a long way”; cf. “over stock
and stone.” Verland: the “Land of Men” to which Thor must come
from the land of the giants. The Arnamagnæan Codex has “Valland”
(cf. stanza 24 and note), but this is obviously an error. Fjorgyn: a
feminine form of the same name, which belongs to Othin (cf.
Voluspo, 56 and note); here it evidently means Jorth (Earth), Thor’s
mother. The road: the rainbow bridge, Bifrost; cf. Grimnismol, 29
and note.

58. Line 2: so Regius; the other manuscript has “ere sunrise.” [137]
60. The Arnamagnæan Codex clearly indicates Harbarth as the
speaker of this line, but Regius has no superscription, and begins the
line with a small letter not preceded by a period, thereby assigning it
to Thor. [138]

[Contents]
HYMISKVITHA
 The Lay of Hymir
[Contents]

Introductory Note
The Hymiskvitha is found complete in both manuscripts; in Regius it
follows the Harbarthsljoth, while in the Arnamagnæan Codex it
comes after the Grimnismol. Snorri does not quote it, although he
tells the main story involved.

The poem is a distinctly inferior piece of work, obviously based on

various narrative fragments, awkwardly pieced together. Some
critics, Jessen and Edzardi for instance, have maintained that the
compiler had before him three distinct poems, which he simply put
together; others, like Finnur Jonsson and Mogk, think that the
author made a new poem of his own on the basis of earlier poems,
now lost. It seems probable that he took a lot of odds and ends of
material concerning Thor, whether in prose or in verse, and worked
them together in a perfunctory way, without much caring how well
they fitted. His chief aim was probably to impress the credulous
imaginations of hearers greedy for wonders.

The poem is almost certainly one of the latest of those dealing with
the gods, though Finnur Jonsson, in order to support his theory of a
Norwegian origin, has to date it relatively early. If, as seems
probable, it was produced in Iceland, the chances are that it was
composed in the first half of the eleventh century. Jessen, rather
recklessly, goes so far as to put it two hundred years later. In any
case, it belongs to a period of literary decadence,—the great days of
Eddic poetry would never have permitted the nine hundred headed
person found in Hymir’s home—and to one in which the usual forms
of diction in mythological poetry had yielded somewhat to the verbal
subtleties of skaldic verse.

While the skaldic poetry properly falls outside the limits of this book,
it is necessary here to say a word about it. There is preserved, in the
sagas and elsewhere, a very considerable body of lyric poetry, the
authorship of each poem being nearly always definitely stated,
whether correctly or otherwise. This type of poetry is marked by an
extraordinary complexity of diction, with a peculiarly difficult
vocabulary of its own. It was to explain some of the “kennings”
which composed this special [139]vocabulary that Snorri wrote one of
the sections of the Prose Edda. As an illustration, in a single stanza
of one poem in the Egilssaga, a sword is called “the halo of the
helm,” “the wound-hoe,” “the blood-snake” (possibly; no one is sure
what the compound word means) and “the ice of the girdle,” while
men appear in the same stanza as “Othin’s ash-trees,” and battle is
spoken of as “the iron game.” One of the eight lines has defied
translation completely.

Skaldic diction made relatively few inroads into the earlier Eddic
poems, but in the Hymiskvitha these circumlocutions are fairly
numerous. This sets the poem somewhat apart from the rest of the
mythological collection. Only the vigor of the two main stories—
Thor’s expedition after Hymir’s kettle and the fishing trip in which he
caught Mithgarthsorm—saves it from complete mediocrity.

[Contents]

1. Of old the gods | made feast together,

And drink they sought | ere sated they were;
Twigs they shook, | and blood they tried:
Rich fare in Ægir’s | hall they found.

[140]

2. The mountain-dweller | sat merry as boyhood,

But soon like a blinded | man he seemed;
The son of Ygg | gazed in his eyes:
“For the gods a feast | shalt thou forthwith get.”

3. The word-wielder toil | for the giant worked,

And so revenge | on the gods he sought;
He bade Sif’s mate | the kettle bring:
“Therein for ye all | much ale shall I brew.”

4. The far-famed ones | could find it not,

And the holy gods | could get it nowhere;
Till in truthful wise | did Tyr speak forth,
And helpful counsel | to Hlorrithi gave.

5. “There dwells to the east | of Elivagar

Hymir the wise | at the end of heaven;
A kettle my father | fierce doth own,
A mighty vessel | a mile in depth.”

[141]

Thor spake:
6. “May we win, dost thou think, | this whirler of
water?”

Tyr spake:

“Aye, friend, we can, | if cunning we are.”

7. Forward that day | with speed they fared,

From Asgarth came they | to Egil’s home;
The goats with horns | bedecked he guarded;
Then they sped to the hall | where Hymir dwelt.

8. The youth found his grandam, | that greatly he

loathed, [142]
And full nine hundred | heads she had;
But the other fair | with gold came forth,
And the bright-browed one | brought beer to her
son.

9. “Kinsman of giants, | beneath the kettle

Will I set ye both, | ye heroes bold;
For many a time | my dear-loved mate
To guests is wrathful | and grim of mind.”

10. Late to his home | the misshapen Hymir,

The giant harsh, | from his hunting came;
The icicles rattled | as in he came,
For the fellow’s chin-forest | frozen was.
11. “Hail to thee, Hymir! | good thoughts mayst
thou have;
Here has thy son | to thine hall now come;
(For him have we waited, | his way was long;)
And with him fares | the foeman of Hroth,
The friend of mankind, | and Veur they call him.

[143]

12. “See where under | the gable they sit!

Behind the beam | do they hide themselves.”
The beam at the glance | of the giant broke,
And the mighty pillar | in pieces fell.

13. Eight fell from the ledge, | and one alone,

The hard-hammered kettle, | of all was whole;
Forth came they then, | and his foes he sought,
The giant old, | and held with his eyes.

14. Much sorrow his heart | foretold when he saw

The giantess’ foeman | come forth on the floor;
Then of the steers | did they bring in three;
Their flesh to boil | did the giant bid.

15. By a head was each | the shorter hewed,

And the beasts to the fire | straight they bore;
The husband of Sif, | ere to sleep he went,
Alone two oxen | of Hymir’s ate.
16. To the comrade hoary | of Hrungnir then
Did Hlorrithi’s meal | full mighty seem;
“Next time at eve | we three must eat
The food we have | as the hunting’s spoil.”

[144]

17. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Fain to row on the sea | was Veur, he said,
If the giant bold | would give him bait.

Hymir spake:

18. “Go to the herd, | if thou hast it in mind,

Thou slayer of giants, | thy bait to seek;
For there thou soon | mayst find, methinks,
Bait from the oxen | easy to get.”

19. Swift to the wood | the hero went,

Till before him an ox | all black he found;
From the beast the slayer | of giants broke
The fortress high | of his double horns.

Hymir spake:

20. “Thy works, methinks, | are worse by far, [145]

Thou steerer of ships, | than when still thou
sittest.”
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .

21. The lord of the goats | bade the ape-begotten

Farther to steer | the steed of the rollers;
But the giant said | that his will, forsooth,
Longer to row | was little enough.

22. Two whales on his hook | did the mighty

Hymir
Soon pull up | on a single cast;
In the stern the kinsman | of Othin sat,
And Veur with cunning | his cast prepared.

23. The warder of men, | the worm’s destroyer,

Fixed on his hook | the head of the ox;
There gaped at the bait | the foe of the gods,
The girdler of all | the earth beneath.

[146]

24. The venomous serpent | swiftly up

To the boat did Thor, | the bold one, pull;
With his hammer the loathly | hill of the hair
Of the brother of Fenrir | he smote from above.

25. The monsters roared, | and the rocks

resounded,
And all the earth | so old was shaken;
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Then sank the fish | in the sea forthwith.

26. . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
Joyless as back | they rowed was the giant;
Speechless did Hymir | sit at the oars,
With the rudder he sought | a second wind.

Hymir spake:

27. “The half of our toil | wilt thou have with me,
[147]
And now make fast | our goat of the flood;
Or home wilt thou bear | the whales to the house,
Across the gorge | of the wooded glen?”

28. Hlorrithi stood | and the stem he gripped,

And the sea-horse with water | awash he lifted;
Oars and bailer | and all he bore
With the surf-swine home | to the giant’s house.

29. His might the giant | again would match,

For stubborn he was, | with the strength of Thor;
None truly strong, | though stoutly he rowed,
Would he call save one | who could break the cup.

30. Hlorrithi then, | when the cup he held,

Struck with the glass | the pillars of stone;
As he sat the posts | in pieces he shattered,
Yet the glass to Hymir | whole they brought.

31. But the loved one fair | of the giant found

A counsel true, | and told her thought: [148]
“Smite the skull of Hymir, | heavy with food,
For harder it is | than ever was glass.”

32. The goats’ mighty ruler | then rose on his

knee,
And with all the strength | of a god he struck;
Whole was the fellow’s | helmet-stem,
But shattered the wine-cup | rounded was.

Hymir spake:

33. “Fair is the treasure | that from me is gone,

Since now the cup | on my knees lies shattered;”
So spake the giant: | “No more can I say
In days to be, | ‘Thou art brewed, mine ale.’

34. “Enough shall it be | if out ye can bring

Forth from our house | the kettle here.”
Tyr then twice | to move it tried,
But before him the kettle | twice stood fast.

35. The father of Mothi | the rim seized firm,

And before it stood | on the floor below;
Up on his head | Sif’s husband raised it,
And about his heels | the handles clattered.

[149]

36. Not long had they fared, | ere backwards

looked
The son of Othin, | once more to see;
From their caves in the east | beheld he coming
With Hymir the throng | of the many-headed.

37. He stood and cast | from his back the kettle,

And Mjollnir, the lover | of murder, he wielded;
. . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . .
So all the whales | of the waste he slew.

38. Not long had they fared | ere one there lay
Of Hlorrithi’s goats | half-dead on the ground;
In his leg the pole-horse | there was lame;
The deed the evil | Loki had done.

[150]

39. But ye all have heard,— | for of them who

have
The tales of the gods, | who better can tell?—
What prize he won | from the wilderness-dweller,
Who both his children | gave him to boot.
40. The mighty one came | to the council of gods,
And the kettle he had | that Hymir’s was;
So gladly their ale | the gods could drink
In Ægir’s hall | at the autumn-time.

[138]

[Contents]

NOTES
[139]

1. Twigs: Vigfusson comments at some length on “the rite practised

in the heathen age of inquiring into the future by dipping bunches of
chips or twigs into the blood (of sacrifices) and shaking them.” But
the two operations may have been separate, the twigs being simply
“divining-rods” marked with runes. In either case, the gods were
seeking information by magic as to where they could find plenty to
drink. Ægir: a giant who is also the god of the sea; little is known of
him outside of what is told here and in the introductory prose to the
Lokasenna, though Snorri has a brief account of him, giving his
home as Hlesey (Läsö, cf. Harbarthsljoth, 37). Grimnismol, 45, has a
reference to this same feast. [140]

2. Mountain-dweller: the giant (Ægir). Line 2: the principal word in

the original has defied interpretation, and any translation of the line
must be largely guesswork. Ygg: Othin; his son is Thor. Some editors
assume a gap after this stanza.
3. Word-wielder: Thor. The giant: Ægir. Sif: Thor’s wife; cf.
Harbarthsljoth, 48. The kettle: Ægir’s kettle is possibly the sea itself.

4. Tyr: the god of battle; his two great achievements were thrusting
his hand into the mouth of the wolf Fenrir so that the gods might
bind him, whereby he lost his hand (cf. Voluspo, 39, note), and his
fight with the hound Garm in the last battle, in which they kill each
other. Hlorrithi: Thor.

5. Elivagar (“Stormy Waves”): possibly the Milky Way; [141]cf.

Vafthruthnismol, 31, note. Hymir: this giant figures only in this
episode. It is not clear why Tyr, who is elsewhere spoken of as a son
of Othin, should here call Hymir his father. Finnur Jonsson, in an
attempt to get round this difficulty, deliberately changed the word
“father” to “grandfather,” but this does not help greatly.

6. Neither manuscript has any superscriptions, but most editors have

supplied them as above. From this point through stanza 11 the
editors have varied considerably in grouping the lines into stanzas.
The manuscripts indicate the third lines of stanzas 7, 8, 9, and 10 as
beginning stanzas, but this makes more complications than the
present arrangement. It is possible that, as Sijmons suggests, two
lines have been lost after stanza 6.

7. Egil: possibly, though by no means certainly, the father of Thor’s

servant, Thjalfi, for, according to Snorri, Thor’s first stop on this
journey was at the house of a peasant whose children, Thjalfi and
Roskva, he took into his service; cf. stanza 38, note. The
Arnamagnæan Codex has “Ægir” instead of “Egil,” but, aside from
the fact that Thor had just left Ægir’s house, the sea-god can hardly
have been spoken of as a goat-herd.

8. The youth: Tyr, whose extraordinary grandmother is Hymir’s

mother. We know nothing further of her, or of the other, [142]who is
Hymir’s wife and Tyr’s mother. It may be guessed, however, that she
belonged rather to the race of the gods than to that of the giants.
11. Two or three editors give this stanza a superscription (“The
concubine spake,” “The daughter spake”). Line 3 is commonly
regarded as spurious. The foeman of Hroth: of course this means
Thor, but nothing is known of any enemy of his by this name.
Several editors have sought to make a single word meaning “the
famous enemy” out of the phrase. Concerning Thor as the friend of
man, particularly of the peasant class, cf. introduction to
Harbarthsljoth. Veur: another name, of uncertain meaning, for Thor.
[143]

13. Eight: the giant’s glance, besides breaking the beam, knocks
down all the kettles with such violence that all but the one under
which Thor and Tyr are hiding are broken.

14. Hymir’s wrath does not permit him to ignore the duties of a host
to his guests, always strongly insisted on.

15. Thor’s appetite figures elsewhere; cf. Thrymskvitha, 24.

16. The comrade of Hrungnir: Hymir, presumably simply because

both are giants; cf. Harbarthsljoth, 14 and note. [144]

17. The manuscripts indicate no lacuna, and many editors unite

stanza 17 with lines 1 and 2 of 18. Sijmons and Gering assume a
gap after these two lines, but it seems more probable that the
missing passage, if any, belonged before them, supplying the
connection with the previous stanza.

18. The manuscripts have no superscription. Many editors combine

lines 3 and 4 with lines 1 and 2 of stanza 19. In Snorri’s extended
paraphrase of the story, Hymir declines to go fishing with Thor on
the ground that the latter is too small a person to be worth
bothering about. “You would freeze,” he says, “if you stayed out in
mid-ocean as long as I generally do.” Bait (line 4): the word literally
means “chaff,” hence any small bits; Hymir means that Thor should
collect dung for bait.
19. Many editors combine lines 3 and 4 with stanza 20. Fortress,
etc.: the ox’s head; cf. introductory note concerning the diction of
this poem. Several editors assume a lacuna after stanza 19, but this
seems unnecessary. [145]

20. The manuscripts have no superscription. Steerer of ships:

probably merely a reference to Thor’s intention to go fishing. The
lacuna after stanza 20 is assumed by most editors.

21. Lord of the goats: Thor, because of his goat-drawn chariot. Ape-
begotten: Hymir; the word “api,” rare until relatively late times in its
literal sense, is fairly common with the meaning of “fool.” Giants
were generally assumed to be stupid. Steed of the rollers: a ship,
because boats were pulled up on shore by means of rollers.

23. Warder of men: Thor; cf. stanza 11. Worm’s destroyer: likewise
Thor, who in the last battle slays, and is slain by, Mithgarthsorm; cf.
Voluspo, 56. The foe of the gods: Mithgarthsorm, who lies in the
sea, and surrounds the whole earth. [146]

24. Hill of the hair: head,—a thoroughly characteristic skaldic

phrase. Brother of Fenrir: Mithgarthsorm was, like the wolf Fenrir
and the goddess Hel, born to Loki and the giantess Angrbotha (cf.
Voluspo, 39 and note), and I have translated this line accordingly;
but the word used in the text has been guessed as meaning almost
anything from “comrade” to “enemy.”

25. No gap is indicated in the manuscripts, but that a line or more

has been lost is highly probable. In Snorri’s version, Thor pulls so
hard on the line that he drives both his feet through the flooring of
the boat, and stands on bottom. When he pulls the serpent up,
Hymir cuts the line with his bait-knife, which explains the serpent’s
escape. Thor, in a rage, knocks Hymir overboard with his hammer,
and then wades ashore. The lines of stanzas 25 and 26 have been
variously grouped.
26. No gap is indicated in the manuscripts, but line 2 begins with a
small letter. A second wind: another direction, i.e., he put about for
the shore. [147]

27. No superscription in the manuscripts. In its place Bugge supplies

a line—“These words spake Hymir, | the giant wise.” The
manuscripts reverse the order of lines 2 and 3, and in both of them
line 4 stands after stanza 28. Goat of the flood: boat.

28. Sea-horse: boat. Surf-swine: the whales.

29. Snorri says nothing of this episode of Hymir’s cup. The glass
which cannot be broken appears in the folklore of various races.

31. The loved one: Hymir’s wife and Tyr’s mother; cf. stanza 8 and
note. The idea that a giant’s skull is harder than stone or anything
else is characteristic of the later Norse folk-stories, and [148]in one of
the so-called “mythical sagas” we find a giant actually named Hard-
Skull.

32. Helmet-stem: head.

33. The manuscripts have no superscription. Line 4 in the

manuscripts is somewhat obscure, and Bugge, followed by some
editors, suggests a reading which may be rendered (beginning with
the second half of line 3): “No more can I speak / Ever again | as
I spoke of old.”

35. The father of Mothi and Sif’s husband: Thor. [149]

36. The many-headed: The giants, although rarely designated as a

race in this way, sometimes had two or more heads; cf. stanza 8,
Skirnismol, 31 and Vafthruthnismol, 33. Hymir’s mother is, however,
the only many-headed giant actually to appear in the action of the
poems, and it is safe to assume that the tradition as a whole belongs
to the period of Norse folk-tales of the märchen order.
37. No gap is indicated in the manuscripts. Some editors put the
missing line as 2, some as 3, and some, leaving the present three
lines together, add a fourth, and metrically incorrect, one from late
paper manuscripts: “Who with Hymir | followed after.” Whales of
the waste: giants.

38. According to Snorri, when Thor set out with Loki (not Tyr) for
the giants’ land, he stopped first at a peasant’s house (cf. stanza 7
and note). There he proceeded to cook his own goats for supper.
The peasant’s son, Thjalfi, eager to get at the marrow, split one of
the leg-bones with his knife. The next morning, when Thor was
ready to proceed with his journey, he called the goats to life again,
but one of them proved irretrievably lame. His wrath led the peasant
to give him both his children as [150]servants (cf. stanza 39). Snorri
does not indicate that Loki was in any way to blame.

39. This deliberate introduction of the story-teller is exceedingly rare

in the older poetry.

40. The translation of the last two lines is mostly guesswork, as the
word rendered “gods” is uncertain, and the one rendered “at the
autumn-time” is quite obscure. [151]

[Contents]
LOKASENNA
 Loki’s Wrangling
[Contents]

Introductory Note
The Lokasenna is found only in Regius, where it follows the
Hymiskvitha; Snorri quotes four lines of it, grouped together as a
single stanza.

The poem is one of the most vigorous of the entire collection, and
seems to have been preserved in exceptionally good condition. The
exchange or contest of insults was dear to the Norse heart, and the
Lokasenna consists chiefly of Loki’s taunts to the assembled gods
and goddesses, and their largely ineffectual attempts to talk back to
him. The author was evidently well versed in mythological lore, and
the poem is full of references to incidents not elsewhere recorded.
As to its date and origin there is the usual dispute, but the latter part
of the tenth century and Iceland seem the best guesses.

The prose notes are long and of unusual interest. The introductory
one links the poem closely to the Hymiskvitha, much as the
Reginsmol, Fafnismol and Sigrdrifumol are linked together; the
others fill in the narrative gaps in the dialogue—very like stage
directions,—and provide a conclusion by relating Loki’s punishment,
which, presumably, is here connected with the wrong incident. It is
likely that often when the poem was recited during the two centuries
or so before it was committed to writing, the speaker inserted some
such explanatory comments, and the compiler of the collection
followed this example by adding such explanations as he thought
necessary. The Lokasenna is certainly much older than the
Hymiskvitha, the connection between them being purely one of
subject-matter; and the twelfth-century compiler evidently knew a
good deal less about mythology than the author whose work he was
annotating.

[Contents]

Ægir, who was also called Gymir, had prepared ale

for the gods, after he had got the mighty kettle, as
now has been told. To this feast came Othin and
Frigg, his wife. Thor came not, as he was on a
journey in the East. Sif, [152]Thor’s wife, was there,
and Bragi with Ithun, his wife. Tyr, who had but one
hand, was there; the wolf Fenrir had bitten off his
other hand when they had bound him. There were
Njorth and Skathi his wife, Freyr and Freyja, and
Vithar, the son of Othin. Loki was there, and Freyr’s
[153]servants Byggvir and Beyla. Many were there of
the gods and elves.

Ægir had two serving-men, Fimafeng and Eldir.

Glittering gold they had in place of firelight; the ale
came in of itself; and great was the peace. The
guests praised much the ability of Ægir’s serving-
men. Loki might not endure that, and he slew
Fimafeng. Then the gods shook their shields and
howled at Loki and drove him away to the forest, and
thereafter set to drinking again. Loki turned back,
and outside he met Eldir. Loki spoke to him:

1. “Speak now, Eldir, | for not one step

Farther shalt thou fare;
What ale-talk here | do they have within,
The sons of the glorious gods?”

Eldir spake:

2. “Of their weapons they talk, | and their might

in war,
The sons of the glorious gods;
From the gods and elves | who are gathered here
No friend in words shalt thou find.”

Loki spake:

3. “In shall I go | into Ægir’s hall,

For the feast I fain would see; [154]
Bale and hatred | I bring to the gods,
And their mead with venom I mix.”

Eldir spake:

4. “If in thou goest | to Ægir’s hall,

And fain the feast wouldst see,
And with slander and spite | wouldst sprinkle the
gods,