The Younger Edda; Also called Snorre's Edda, or The Prose Edda
With swift hands caught
In the air the beam
As it flew from the hands
Of the father of Greip,--
His breast with anger swollen
Against Thruda’s[92] father.
Geirrod’s hall trembled
When he struck,
With his broad head,
’Gainst the old column of the house-wall.
Uller’s splendid flatterer
Swung the iron beam
Straight ’gainst the head
Of the knavish giant.
The crusher of the hall-wont troll-women
A splendid victory won
Over Glam’s descendants;
With gory hammer fared Thor.
Gridarvol-staff,
Which made disaster
’Mong Geirrod’s companion,
Was not used ’gainst that giant himself.
The much worshiped thunderer,
With all his might, slew
The dwellers in Alfheim
With that little willow-twig,
And no shield
Was able to resist
The strong age-diminisher
Of the mountain-king.
[Footnote 90: A river in Jotunheim.]
[Footnote 91: Thor’s kinsmen = the asas.]
[Footnote 92: Thruda was a daughter of Thor and Sif.]
IDUN.
How shall Idun be named? She is called the wife of Brage, the keeper of
the apples; but the apples are called the medicine to bar old age
(ellilyf, elixir vitæ). She is also called the booty of the giant
Thjasse, according to what has before been said concerning how he took
her away from the asas. From this saga Thjodolf, of Hvin, composed the
following song in his Haustlong:
How shall the tongue
Pay an ample reward
For the sonorous shield
Which I received from Thorleif,
Foremost ’mong soldiers?
On the splendidly made shield
I see the unsafe journey
Of three gods and Thjasse.
Idun’s robber flew long ago
The asas to meet
In the giant’s old eagle-guise.
The eagle perched
Where the asas bore
Their food to be cooked.
Ye women! The mountain-giant
Was not wont to be timid.
Suspected of malice
Was the giant toward the gods.
Who causes this?
Said the chief of the gods.
The wise-worded giant-eagle
From the old tree began to speak.
The friend of Honer
Was not friendly to him.
The mountain-wolf from Honer
Asked for his fill
From the holy table:
It fell to Honer to blow the fire.
The giant, eager to kill,
Glided down
Where the unsuspecting gods,
Odin, Loke and Honer, were sitting.
The fair lord of the earth
Bade Farbaute’s son
Quickly to share
The ox with the giant;
But the cunning foe of the asas
Thereupon laid
The four parts of the ox
Upon the broad table.
And the huge father of Morn[93]
Afterward greedily ate
The ox at the tree-root.
That was long ago,
Until the profound
Loke the hard rod laid
’Twixt the shoulders
Of the giant Thjasse.
Then clung with his hands
The husband of Sigyn
To Skade’s foster-son,
In the presence of all the gods.
The pole stuck fast
To Jotunheim’s strong fascinator,
But the hands of Honer’s dear friend
Stuck to the other end.
Flew then with the wise god
The voracious bird of prey
Far away; so the wolf’s father
To pieces must be torn.
Odin’s friend got exhausted.
Heavy grew Lopt.
Odin’s companion
Must sue for peace.
Hymer’s kinsman demanded
That the leader of hosts
The sorrow-healing maid,
Who the asas’ youth-preserving apples keeps,
Should bring to him.
Brisingamen’s thief
Afterward brought Idun
To the gard of the giant.
Sorry were not the giants
After this had taken place,
Since from the south
Idun had come to the giants.
All the race
Of Yngve-Frey, at the Thing,
Grew old and gray,--
Ugly-looking were the gods.
Until the gods found the blood-dog,
Idun’s decoying thrall,
And bound the maid’s deceiver,
You shall, cunning Loke,
Spake Thor, die;
Unless back you lead,
With your tricks, that
Good joy-increasing maid.
Heard have I that thereupon
The friend of Honer flew
In the guise of a falcon
(He often deceived the asas with his cunning);
And the strong fraudulent giant,
The father of Morn,
With the wings of the eagle
Sped after the hawk’s child.
The holy gods soon built a fire--
They shaved off kindlings--
And the giant was scorched.
This is said in memory
Of the dwarf’s heel-bridge.[94]
A shield adorned with splendid lines
From Thorleif I received.
[Footnote 93: A troll-woman.]
[Footnote 94: Shield.]
ÆGER’S FEAST.
How shall gold be named? It may be called fire; the needles of Glaser;
Sif’s hair; Fulla’s head-gear; Freyja’s tears; the chatter, talk or word
of the giants; Draupner’s drop; Draupner’s rain or shower; Freyja’s
eyes; the otter-ransom, or stroke-ransom, of the asas; the seed of
Fyrisvold; Holge’s how-roof; the fire of all waters and of the hand;
or the stone, rock or gleam of the hand.
Why is gold called Æger’s fire? The saga relating to this is, as has
before been told, that Æger made a visit to Asgard, but when he was
ready to return home he invited Odin and all the asas to come and pay
him a visit after the lapse of three months. On this journey went Odin,
Njord, Frey, Tyr, Brage, Vidar, Loke; and also the asynjes, Frigg,
Freyja, Gefjun, Skade, Idun, Sif. Thor was not there, for he had gone
eastward to fight trolls. When the gods had taken their seats, Æger let
his servants bring in on the hall floor bright gold, which shone and
lighted up the whole hall like fire, just as the swords in Valhal are
used instead of fire. Then Loke bandied hasty words with all the gods,
and slew Æger’s thrall who was called Fimafeng. The name of his other
thrall is Elder. The name of Æger’s wife is Ran, and they have nine
daughters, as has before been written. At this feast all things passed
around spontaneously, both food and ale and all the utensils needed for
the feasting. Then the asas became aware that Ran had a net in which she
caught all men who perish at sea. Then the saga goes on telling how it
happens that gold is called the fire, or light or brightness of Æger, of
Ran, or of Æger’s daughters; and from these periphrases it is allowed to
call gold the fire of the sea, or of any of the periphrases of the sea,
since Æger and Ran are found in periphrases of the sea; and thus gold is
now called the fire of waters, of rivers, or of all the periphrases of
rivers. But these names have fared like other periphrases. The younger
skald has composed poetry after the pattern of the old skalds, imitating
their songs; but afterward they have expanded the metaphors whenever
they thought they could improve upon what was sung before; and thus the
water is the sea, the river is the lakes, the brook is the river. Hence
all the figures that are expanded more than what has before been found
are called new tropes, and all seem good that contain likelihood and are
natural. Thus sang the skald Brage:
From the king I received
The fire of the brook.
This the king gave to me
And a head with song.
Why is gold called the needles or leaves of Glaser? In Asgard, before
the doors of Valhal, stands a grove which is called Glaser, and all its
leaves are of red gold, as is here sung:
Glaser stands
With golden leaves
Before Sigtyr’s halls.
This is the fairest forest among gods and men.
LOKE’S WAGER WITH THE DWARFS.
Why is gold called Sif’s hair? Loke Laufey’s son had once craftily cut
all the hair off Sif; but when Thor found it out he seized Loke, and
would have broken every bone in him, had he not pledged himself with an
oath to get the swarthy elves to make for Sif a hair of gold that should
grow like other hair. Then went Loke to the dwarfs that are called
Ivald’s sons, and they made the hair and Skidbladner, and the spear that
Odin owned and is called Gungner. Thereupon Loke wagered his head with
the dwarf, who hight Brok, that his brother Sindre would not be able to
make three other treasures equally as good as these were. But when they
came to the smithy, Sindre laid a pig-skin in the furnace and requested
Brok to blow the bellows, and not to stop blowing before he (Sindre) had
taken out of the furnace what he had put into it. As soon, however, as
Sindre had gone out of the smithy and Brok was blowing, a fly lighted on
his hand and stung him; but he kept on blowing as before until the smith
had taken the work out of the furnace. That was now a boar, and its
bristles were of gold. Thereupon he laid gold in the furnace, and
requested Brok to blow, and not to stop plying the bellows before he
came back. He went out; but then came the fly and lighted on his neck
and stung him still worse; but he continued to work the bellows until
the smith took out of the furnace the gold ring called Draupner. Then
Sindre placed iron in the furnace, and requested Brok to work the
bellows, adding that otherwise all would be worthless. Now the fly
lighted between his eyes and stung his eye-lids, and as the blood ran
down into his eyes so that he could not see, he let go of the bellows
just for a moment and drove the fly away with his hands. Then the smith
came back and said that all that lay in the furnace came near being
entirely spoiled. Thereupon he took a hammer out of the furnace. All
these treasures he then placed in the hands of his brother Brok, and
bade him go with Loke to Asgard to fetch the wager. When Loke and Brok
brought forth the treasures, the gods seated themselves upon their
doom-steads. It was agreed to abide by the decision which should be
pronounced by Odin, Thor and Frey. Loke gave to Odin the spear Gungner,
to Thor the hair, which Sif was to have, and to Frey, Skidbladner; and
he described the qualities of all these treasures, stating that the
spear never would miss its mark, that the hair would grow as soon as it
was placed on Sif s head, and that Skidbladner would always have fair
wind as soon as the sails were hoisted, no matter where its owner
desired to go; besides, the ship could be folded together like a napkin
and be carried in his pocket if he desired. Then Brok produced his
treasures. He gave to Odin the ring, saying that every ninth night eight
other rings as heavy as it would drop from it; to Frey he gave the boar,
stating that it would run through the air and over seas, by night or by
day, faster than any horse; and never could it become so dark in the
night, or in the worlds of darkness, but that it would be light where
this boar was present, so bright shone his bristles. Then he gave to
Thor the hammer, and said that he might strike with it as hard as he
pleased; no matter what was before him, the hammer would take no scathe,
and wherever he might throw it he would never lose it; it would never
fly so far that it did not return to his hand; and if he desired, it
would become so small that he might conceal it in his bosom; but it had
one fault, which was, that the handle was rather short. The decision of
the gods was, that the hammer was the best of all these treasures and
the greatest protection against the frost-giants, and they declared that
the dwarf had fairly won the wager. Then Loke offered to ransom his
head. The dwarf answered saying there was no hope for him on that score.
Take me, then! said Loke; but when the dwarf was to seize him Loke was
far away, for he had the shoes with which he could run through the air
and over the sea. Then the dwarf requested Thor to seize him, and he did
so. Now the dwarf wanted to cut the head off Loke, but Loke said that
the head was his, but not the neck. Then the dwarf took thread and a
knife and wanted to pierce holes in Loke’s lips, so as to sew his mouth
together, but the knife would not cut. Then said he, it would be better
if he had his brother’s awl, and as soon as he named it the awl was
there and it pierced Loke’s lips. Now Brok sewed Loke’s mouth together,