The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda
he fell forward to the ground. But the hammer Mjolner hit Hrungner right
in the head, and crushed his skull in small pieces. He himself fell
forward over Thor, so that his foot lay upon Thor’s neck. Meanwhile
Thjalfe attacked Mokkerkalfe, who fell with but little honor. Then
Thjalfe went to Thor and was to take Hrungner’s foot off from him, but
he had not the strength to do it. When the asas learned that Thor had
fallen, they all came to take the giant’s foot off, but none of them was
able to move it. Then came Magne, the son of Thor and Jarnsaxa. He was
only three nights of age. He threw Hrungner’s foot off Thor, and said It
was a great mishap, father, that I came so late. I think I could have
slain this giant with my fist, had I met him. Then Thor arose, greeted
his son lovingly, saying that he would become great and powerful; and,
added he, I will give you the horse Goldfax, that belonged to Hrungner.
Odin said that Thor did wrong in giving so fine a horse to the son of a
giantess, instead of to his father. Thor went home to Thrudvang, but the
flint-stone still stuck fast in his head. Then came the vala whose name
is Groa, the wife of Orvandel the Bold. She sang her magic songs over
Thor until the flint-stone became loose. But when Thor perceived this,
and was just expecting that the flint-stone would disappear, he desired
to reward Groa for her healing, and make her heart glad. So he related
to her how he had waded from the north over the Elivogs rivers, and had
borne in a basket on his back Orvandel from Jotunheim; and in evidence
of this he told her how that one toe of his had protruded from the
basket and had frozen, wherefore Thor had broken it off and had cast it
up into the sky, and made of it the star which is called Orvandel’s toe.
Finally he added that it would not be long before Orvandel would come
home. But Groa became so glad that she forgot her magic songs, and so
the flint-stone became no looser than it was, and it sticks fast in
Thor’s head yet. For this reason it is forbidden to throw a flint-stone
across the floor, for then the stone in Thor’s head is moved. Out of
this saga Thjodolf of Hvin has made a song:
We have ample evidence
Of the giant-terrifier’s[77] journey
To Grjottungard, to the giant Hrungner,
In the midst of encircling flames.
The courage waxed high in Meile’s brother;[78]
The moon-way trembled
When Jord’s son[79] went
To the steel-gloved contest.
The heavens stood all in flames
For Uller’s step-father,[80]
And the earth rocked.
Svolne’s[81] widow[82] burst asunder
When the span of goats
Drew the sublime chariot
And its divine master
To the meeting with Hrungner.
Balder’s brother[83] did not tremble
Before the greedy fiend of men;
Mountains quaked and rocks broke;
The heavens were wrapped in flames.
Much did the giant
Get frightened, I learn,
When his bane man he saw
Ready to slay him.
Swiftly the gray shield flew
’Neath the heels of the giant.
So the gods willed it,
So willed it the valkyries.
Hrungner the giant,
Eager for slaughter,
Needed not long to wait for blows
From the valiant friend of the hammer.
The slayer[84] of Bele’s evil race
Made fall the bear of the loud-roaring mountain;[85]
On his shield
Bite the dust
Must the giant
Before the sharp-edged hammer,
When the giant-crusher
Stood against the mighty Hrungner,
And the flint-stone
(So hard to break)
Of the friend of the troll-women
Into the skull did whiz
Of Jord’s son,[86]
And this flinty piece
Fast did stick
In Eindride’s[87] blood;
Until Orvandel’s wife,
Magic songs singing,
From the head of Thor
Removed the giant’s
Excellent flint-stone.
All do I know
About that shield-journey.
A shield adorned
With hues most splendid
I received from Thorleif.
[Footnote 77: Thor’s.]
[Footnote 78: Thor.]
[Footnote 79: Jord’s (= earth’s) son = Thor.]
[Footnote 80: Thor.]
[Footnote 81: Odin’s.]
[Footnote 82: The earth.]
[Footnote 83: Thor.]
[Footnote 84: Thor.]
[Footnote 85: The giant Hrungner.]
[Footnote 86: Thor.]
[Footnote 87: Thor’s.]
THOR’S JOURNEY TO GEIRROD’S.
Then said Æger: Much of a man, it seems to me, was that Hrungner. Has
Thor accomplished any other great deeds in his intercourse with trolls
(giants)? Then answered Brage: It is worth giving a full account of how
Thor made a journey to Geirrodsgard. He had with him neither the hammer
Mjolner, nor his belt of strength, Megingjard, nor his steel gloves; and
that was Loke’s fault,--he was with him. For it had happened to Loke,
when he once flew out to amuse himself in Frigg’s falcon-guise, that he,
out of curiosity, flew into Geirrodsgard, where he saw a large hall. He
sat down and looked in through the window, but Geirrod discovered him,
and ordered the bird to be caught and brought to him. The servant had
hard work to climb up the wall of the hall, so high was it. It amused
Loke that it gave the servant so much trouble to get at him, and he
thought it would be time enough to fly away when he had gotten over the
worst. When the latter now caught at him, Loke spread his wings and
spurned with his feet, but these were fast, and so Loke was caught and
brought to the giant. When the latter saw his eyes he suspected that it
was a man. He put questions to him and bade him answer, but Loke refused
to speak. Then Geirrod locked him down in a chest, and starved him for
three months; and when Geirrod finally took him up again, and asked him
to speak, Loke confessed who he was, and to save his life he swore an
oath to Geirrod that he would get Thor to come to Geirrodsgard without
his hammer or his belt of strength.
On his way Thor visited the giantess whose name is Grid. She was the
mother of Vidar the Silent. She told Thor the truth concerning Geirrod,
that he was a dog-wise and dangerous giant; and she lent him her own
belt of strength and steel gloves, and her staff, which is called
Gridarvol. Then went Thor to the river which is called Vimer, and which
is the largest of all rivers. He buckled on the belt of strength and
stemmed the wild torrent with Gridarvol, but Loke held himself fast in
Megingjard. When Thor had come into the middle of the stream, the river
waxed so greatly that the waves dashed over his shoulders. Then quoth
Thor:
Wax not Vimer,
Since I intend to wade
To the gards of giants.
Know, if you wax,
Then waxes my asa-might
As high, as the heavens.
Then Thor looked up and saw in a cleft Gjalp, the daughter of Geirrod,
standing on both sides of the stream, and causing its growth. Then took
he up out of the river a huge stone and threw at her, saying: At its
source the stream must be stemmed.[88] He was not wont to miss his mark.
At the same time he reached the river bank and got hold of a shrub, and
so he got out of the river. Hence comes the adage that _a shrub saved
Thor_.[89] When Thor came to Geirrod, he and his companion were shown to
the guest-room, where lodgings were given them, but there was but one
seat, and on that Thor sat down. Then he became aware that the seat was
raised under him toward the roof. He put the Gridarvol against the
rafters, and pressed himself down against the seat. Then was heard a
great crash, which was followed by a loud screaming. Under the seat were
Geirrod’s daughters, Gjalp and Greip, and he had broken the backs of
both of them. Then quoth Thor:
Once I employed
My asa-might
In the gards of the giants.
When Gjalp and Greip,
Geirrod’s daughters,
Wanted to lift me to heaven.
[Footnote 88: Icelandic proverb.]
[Footnote 89: Icelandic proverb.]
Then Geirrod had Thor invited into the hall to the games. Large fires
burned along the whole length of the hall. When Thor came into the hall,
and stood opposite Geirrod, the latter seized with a pair of tongs a
red-hot iron wedge and threw it at Thor. But he caught it with his steel
gloves, and lifted it up in the air. Geirrod sprang behind an iron post
to guard himself. But Thor threw the wedge with so great force that it
struck through the post, through Geirrod, through the wall, and then
went out and into the ground. From this saga, Eilif, son of Gudrun, made
the following song, called Thor’s Drapa:
The Midgard-serpent’s father exhorted
Thor, the victor of giants,
To set out from home.
A great liar was Loke.
Not quite confident,
The companion of the war-god
Declared green paths to lie
To the gard of Geirrod.
Thor did not long let Loke
Invite him to the arduous journey.
They were eager to crush
Thorn’s descendants.
When he, who is wont to swing Megingjard,
Once set out from Odin’s home
To visit Ymer’s children in Gandvik,
The giantess Gjalp,
Perjured Geirrod’s daughter,
Sooner got ready magic to use
Than the god of war and Loke.
A song I recite.
Those gods noxious to the giants
Planted their feet
In Endil’s land,
And the men wont to battle
Went forth.
The message of death
Came of the moon-devourer’s women,
When the cunning and wrathful
Conqueror of Loke
Challenged to a contest
The giantess.
And the troll-woman’s disgracer
Waded across the roaring stream,--
Rolling full of drenched snow over its banks.
He who puts giants to flight
Rapidly advanced
O’er the broad watery way,
Where the noisy stream’s
Venom belched forth.
Thor and his companions
Put before him the staff;
Thereon he rested
Whilst over they waded:
Nor sleep did the stones,--
The sonorous staff striking the rapid wave
Made the river-bed ring,--
The mountain-torrent rang with stones.
The wearer of Megingjard
Saw the flood fall
On his hard-waxed shoulders:
He could do no better.
The destroyer of troll-children
Let his neck-strength
Wax heaven high,
Till the mighty stream should diminish.
But the warriors,
The oath-bound protectors of Asgard,--
The experienced vikings,--
Waded fast and the stream sped on.
Thou god of the bow!
The billows
Blown by the mountain-storm
Powerfully rushed
Over Thor’s shoulders.
Thjalfe and his companion,
With their heads above water,
Got over the river,--
To Thor’s belt they clung.
Their strength was tested,--
Geirrod’s daughters made hard the stream
For the iron rod.
Angry fared Thor with the Gridarvol.
Nor did courage fail
Those foes of the giant
In the seething vortex.
Those sworn companions
Regarded a brave heart
Better than gold.
Neither Thor’s nor Thjalfe’s heart
From fear did tremble.
And the war companions--
Weapons despising--
’Mong the giants made havoc,
Until, O woman!
The giant destroyers
The conflict of helmets
With the warlike race
Did commence.
The giants of Iva’s[90] capes
Made a rush with Geirrod;
The foes of the cold Svithiod
Took to flight.
Geirrod’s giants
Had to succumb
When the lightning wielder’s[91] kinsmen
Closely pursued them.
Wailing was ’mongst the cave-dwellers
When the giants,
With warlike spirit endowed,
Went forward.
There was war.
The slayer of troll-women,
By foes surrounded,
The giant’s hard head hit.
With violent pressure
Were pressed the vast eyes
Of Gjalp and Greip
Against the high roof.
The fire-chariot’s driver
The old backs broke
Of both these maids
For the cave-woman.
The man of the rocky way
But scanty knowledge got;
Nor able were the giants
To enjoy perfect gladness.
Thou man of the bow-string!
The dwarf’s kinsman
An iron beam, in the forge heated,
Threw against Odin’s dear son.
But the battle-hastener,
Freyja’s old friend,