The Poetic Edda (tr. Bellows)/Thrymskvitha

by Anonymous

THRYMSKVITHA

The Lay of Thrym

Introductory Note

The Thrymskvitha is found only in the Codex Regius, where it follows the Lokasenna. Snorri does not quote from it, nor, rather oddly, does the story occur in the Prose Edda.

Artistically the Thrymskvitha is one of the best, as it is, next to the Voluspo, the most famous, of the entire collection. It has, indeed, been called "the finest ballad in the world," and not without some reason. Its swift, vigorous action, the sharpness of its characterization and the humor of the central situation combine to make it one of the most vivid short narrative poems ever composed. Of course we know nothing specific of its author, but there can be no question that he was a poet of extraordinary ability. The poem assumed its present form, most critics agree, somewhere about 900, and thus it is one of the oldest in the collection. It has been suggested, on the basis of stylistic similarity, that its author may also have composed the Skirnismol, and possibly Baldrs Draumar. There is also some resemblance between the Thrymskvitha and the Lokasenna (note, in this connection, Bugge's suggestion that the Skirnismol and the Lokasenna may have been by the same man), and it is not impossible that all four poems have a single authorship.

The Thrymskvitha has been preserved in excellent condition, without any serious gaps or interpolations. In striking contrast to many of the poems, it contains no prose narrative links, the story being told in narrative verse—a rare phenomenon in the poems of the Edda.

 

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1.^[1] Wild was Vingthor  when he awoke,And when his mighty  hammer he missed; He shook his beard,  his hair was bristling,As the son of Jorth  about him sought.

2.^[2] Hear now the speech  that first he spake:"Harken, Loki,  and heed my words,Nowhere on earth  is it known to man,Nor in heaven above:  our hammer is stolen."

3.^[3] To the dwelling fair  of Freyja went they,Hear now the speech  that first he spake:"Wilt thou, Freyja,  thy feather-dress lend me,That so my hammer  I may seek?"

Freyja spake:4.^[4] "Thine should it be  though of silver bright,And I would give it  though 'twere of gold."Then Loki flew,  and the feather-dress whirred,Till he left behind him  the home of the gods,And reached at last  the realm of the giants.

5.^[5] Thrym sat on a mound,  the giants' master,Leashes of gold  he laid for his dogs,And stroked and smoothed  the manes of his steeds.

Thrym spake:6.^[6] "How fare the gods,  how fare the elves?Why comst thou alone  to the giants' land?"

Loki spake:"Ill fare the gods,  ill fare the elves!Hast thou hidden  Hlorrithi's hammer?"

Thrym spake:7.^[7] "I have hidden  Hlorrithi's hammer,Eight miles down  deep in the earth;And back again  shall no man bring itIf Freyja I win not  to be my wife."

8. Then Loki flew,  and the feather-dress whirred,Till he left behind him  the home of the giants,And reached at last  the realm of the gods.There in the courtyard  Thor he met:Hear now the speech  that first he spake:

9.^[8] "Hast thou found tidings  as well as trouble?Thy news in the air  shalt thou utter now;Oft doth the sitter  his story forget,And lies he speaks  who lays himself down."

Loki spake:10.^[9] "Trouble I have,  and tidings as well:Thrym, king of the giants,  keeps thy hammer,And back again  shall no man bring itIf Freyja he wins not  to be his wife."

11. Freyja the fair  then went they to find;Hear now the speech  that first he spake:"Bind on, Freyja,  the bridal veil,For we two must haste  to the giants' home."

12.^[10] Wrathful was Freyja,  and fiercely she snorted,And the dwelling great  of the gods was shaken,And burst was the mighty  Brisings' necklace:"Most lustful indeed  should I look to allIf I journeyed with thee  to the giants' home."

13.^[11] Then were the gods  together met,And the goddesses came  and council held,And the far-famed ones  a plan would find,How they might Hlorrithi's  hammer win.

14.^[12] Then Heimdall spake,  whitest of the gods,Like the Wanes he knew  the future well:"Bind we on Thor  the bridal veil,Let him bear the mighty  Brisings' necklace;

15. "Keys around him  let there rattle,And down to his knees  hang woman's dress;With gems full broad  upon his breast,And a pretty cap  to crown his head."

16.^[13] Then Thor the mighty  his answer made:"Me would the gods  unmanly callIf I let bind  the bridal veil."

17.^[14] Then Loki spake,  the son of Laufey:"Be silent, Thor,  and speak not thus; Else will the giants  in Asgarth dwellIf thy hammer is brought not  home to thee."

18.^[15] Then bound they on Thor  the bridal veil,And next the mighty  Brisings' necklace.

19.^[15] Keys around him  let they rattle,And down to his knees  hung woman's dress;With gems full broad  upon his breast,And a pretty cap  to crown his head.

20. Then Loki spake,  the son of Laufey:"As thy maid-servant thither  I go with thee;We two shall haste  to the giants' home."

21.^[16] Then home the goats  to the hall were driven,They wrenched at the halters,  swift were they to run;The mountains burst,  earth burned with fire,And Othin's son  sought Jotunheim.

22.^[17] Then loud spake Thrym,  the giants' leader:"Bestir ye, giants,  put straw on the benches; Now Freyja they bring  to be my bride,The daughter of Njorth  out of Noatun.

23. "Gold-horned cattle  go to my stables,Jet-black oxen,  the giant's joy;Many my gems,  and many my jewels,Freyja alone  did I lack, methinks."

24.^[18] Early it was  to evening come,And forth was borne  the beer for the giants;Thor alone ate an ox,  and eight salmon,All the dainties as well  that were set for the women;And drank Sif's mate  three tuns of mead.

25. Then loud spake Thrym,  the giants' leader:"Who ever saw bride  more keenly bite?I ne'er saw bride  with a broader bite,Nor a maiden who drank  more mead than this!"

26. Hard by there sat  the serving-maid wise,So well she answered  the giant's words:"From food has Freyja  eight nights fasted,So hot was her longing  for Jotunheim."

27.^[19] Thrym looked 'neath the veil,  for he longed to kiss,But back he leaped  the length of the hall:"Why are so fearful  the eyes of Freyja?Fire, methinks,  from her eyes burns forth."

28.^[20] Hard by there sat  the serving-maid wise,So well she answered  the giant's words:"No sleep has Freyja  for eight nights found,So hot was her longing  for Jotunheim."

29.^[21] Soon came the giant's  luckless sister,Who feared not to ask  the bridal fee:"From thy hands the rings  of red gold take,If thou wouldst win  my willing love,(My willing love  and welcome glad.)"

30.^[22] Then loud spake Thrym,  the giants' leader:"Bring in the hammer  to hallow the bride;On the maiden's knees  let Mjollnir lie,That us both the hand  of Vor may bless."

31. The heart in the breast  of Hlorrithi laughedWhen the hard-souled one  his hammer beheld;First Thrym, the king  of the giants, he killed,Then all the folk  of the giants he felled.

32. The giant's sister  old he slew,She who had begged  the bridal fee;A stroke she got  in the shilling's stead,And for many rings  the might of the hammer.

33.^[23] And so his hammer  got Othin's son.

1. Vingthor ("Thor the Hurler"): another name for Thor, equivalent to Vingnir (Vafthruthnismol, 51). Concerning Thor and his hammer, Mjollnir, cf. Hymiskvitha, Lokasenna, and Harbarthsljoth, passim. Jorth: Earth, Thor's mother, Othin being his father.
2. Loki: cf. Lokasenna, passim.
3. Freyja: Njorth's daughter, and sister of Freyr; cf. Lokasenna, introductory prose and note, also Skirnismol, introductory prose. Freyja's house was Sessrymnir ("Rich in Seats") built in Folkvang ("Field of the Folk"); cf. Grimnismol, 14. Feather-dress: this flying equipment of Freyja's is also used in the story of Thjazi, wherein Loki again borrows the "hawk's dress" of Freyja, this time to rescue Ithun; cf. Harbarthsljoth, 19 and note.
4. The manuscript and most editions have lines 1-2 in inverse order. Several editors assume a lacuna before line 1, making a stanza out of the two conjectural lines (Bugge actually supplies them) and lines 1-2 of stanza 4. Thus they either make a separate stanza out of lines 3-5 or unite them in a six-line stanza with 5. The manuscript punctuation and capitalization—not wholly trustworthy guides—indicate the stanza divisions as in this translation.
5. Thrym: a frost-giant. Gering declares that this story of the theft of Thor's hammer symbolizes the fact that thunderstorms rarely occur in winter.
6. Line 1: cf. Voluspo, 48, 1. The manuscript does not indicate Loki as the speaker of lines 3-4. Hlorrithi: Thor.
7. No superscription in the manuscript. Vigfusson made up and inserted lines like "Then spake Loki  the son of Laufey" whenever he thought they would be useful.
8. The manuscript marks line 2, instead of line 1, as the beginning of a stanza, which has caused editors some confusion in grouping the lines of stanzas 8 and 9.
9. No superscription in the manuscript.
10. Many editors have rejected either line 2 or line 3. Vigfusson inserts one of his own lines before line 4. Brisings' necklace: a marvelous necklace fashioned by the dwarfs, here called Brisings (i.e., "Twiners"); cf. Lokasenna, 20 and note.
11. Lines 1-3 are identical with Baldrs Draumar, 1, 1-3.
12. Heimdall: the phrase "whitest of the gods" suggests that Heimdall was the god of light as well as being the watchman. His wisdom was probably connected with his sleepless watching over all the worlds; cf. Lokasenna, 47 and note. On the Wanes cf. Voluspo, 21 and note. They are not elsewhere spoken of as peculiarly gifted with knowledge of future events.
13. Possibly a line has been lost from this stanza.
14. Laufey: Loki's mother, cf. Lokasenna, 52 and note.
15. The manuscript abbreviates all six lines, giving only the initial letters of the words. The stanza division is thus arbitrary; some editors have made one stanza of the six lines, others have combined the last two lines of stanza 19 with stanza 20. It is possible that a couple of lines have been lost.
16. Goats: Thor's wagon was always drawn by goats; cf. Hymiskvitha, 38 and note. Jotunheim: the world of the giants.
17. Njorth: cf. Voluspo, 21, and Grimnismol, 11 and 16. Noatun ("Ships'-Haven"): Njorth's home, where his wife, Skathi, found it impossible to stay; cf. Grimnismol, 11 and note.
18. Grundtvig thinks this is all that is left of two stanzas describing Thor's supper. Some editors reject line 4. In line 3 the manuscript has "he," the reference being, of course, to Thor, on whose appetite cf. Hymiskvitha, 15. Sif: Thor's wife; cf. Lokasenna, note to the introductory prose and stanza 53.
19. For clearness I have inserted Thrym's name in place of the pronoun of the original. Fire: the noun is lacking in the manuscript; most editors have inserted it, however, following a late paper manuscript.
20. In the manuscript the whole stanza is abbreviated to initial letters, except for "sleep," "Freyja," and "found."
21. Luckless: so the manuscript, but many editors have altered the word "arma" to "aldna," meaning "old," to correspond with line 1 of stanza 32. Line 5 may well be spurious.
22. Hallow: just what this means is not clear, but there are references to other kinds of consecration, though not of a bride, with the "sign of the hammer." According to Vigfusson, "the hammer was the holy sign with the heathens, answering to the cross of the Christians." In Snorri's story of Thor's resuscitation of his cooked goat (cf. Hymiskvitha, 38, note) the god "hallows" the goat with his hammer. One of the oldest runic signs, supposed to have magic power, was named Thor's-hammer. Vor: the goddess of vows, particularly between men and women; Snorri lists a number of little-known goddesses similar to Vor, all of them apparently little more than names for Frigg.
23. Some editors reject this line, which, from a dramatic standpoint, is certainly a pity. In the manuscript it begins with a capital letter, like the opening of a new stanza.