tell the time and season.”
{53} Odin said:
[24] “Tell me this third,
if you want to be called wise,
if you know it, Riddle-Weaver:
How did the day come to be,
or the night which passes above,
with its waxing and waning moon?”
Riddle-Weaver said:
[25] “Delling is the name
of the father of the day,
and the night is Norvi’s daughter.
The waxing and waning of the moon
was designed by the gods
to help tell the time and season.”
Odin said:
[26] “Tell me this fourth,
if you want to be called wise,
if you know it, Riddle-Weaver:
How did the winter come to be,
or the warm summer,
when did they first come about?”
Riddle-Weaver said:
[27] “Vindsval is the name
of the father of winter,
and Svasuth’s the father of summer.”
Odin said:
[28] “Tell me this fifth,
if you want to be called wise,
if you know it, Riddle-Weaver:
Who was the oldest being,
whether god or giant,
who appeared in the oldest times?”
Riddle-Weaver said:
[29] “Untold years ago,
before the earth was made,
Bergelmir was born.
{54} His father was
Thruthgelmir, and Thruthgelmir’s
father was Aurgelmir.”
Odin said:
[30] “Tell me this sixth,
if you want to be called wise,
if you know it, Riddle-Weaver:
How did Aurgelmir come to be,
what was the origin
of that first giant?”
Riddle-Weaver said:
[31] “Drops of poison
fell from Elivagar,
they gelled, and formed the giant.
All the families of us giants
have our origin there;
that’s why we’re bad, through and through.”
Odin said:
[32] “Tell me this seventh,
if you want to be called wise,
if you know it, Riddle-Weaver:
How did that giant,
Ymir, have children,
if he had no woman to share his bed?”
Riddle-Weaver said:
[33] “They say two giants,
a man and a woman,
grew under his armpits—
one foot had a child
with the other foot,
and their son had six heads.”
Odin said:
[34] “Tell me this eighth,
if you want to be called wise,
if you know it, Riddle-Weaver:
What is your first memory,
{55} the earliest thing you remember?
I suspect you’re all-knowing, giant.”
Riddle-Weaver said:
[35] “My very first memory
is of Bergelmir,
untold years
before the earth was formed.
I remember the wise giant
laid out in his coffin.”
Odin said:
[36] “Tell me this ninth,
if you want to be called wise,
if you know it, Riddle-Weaver:
How did the wind come to be,
the wind that blows over the sea?
It’s something that is seldom seen.”
Riddle-Weaver said:
[37] “There is a giant eagle
named Hraesvelg,
who sits at the sky’s end.
They say that it’s
from his wings
the wind is blown.”
Odin said:
[38] “Tell me this tenth—
you must know the fate
of all the gods, wise Riddle-Weaver:
How did Njorth come to be
among the Aesir?
He has hundreds
of temples and altars—
but he was not born among the Aesir.”
Riddle-Weaver said:
[39] “Wise Vanir created him
in Vanaheim, and gave him
as a hostage to the Aesir.
At Ragnarok
{56} he will go back home
to the wise Vanir.”
Odin said:
[40] “Tell me this eleventh:
Where is the hall where men
fight each other every day?”
Riddle-Weaver said:
[41] “All the Einherjar
in Odin’s hall
fight each other every day.
They kill each other,
but then ride back from battle
and sit in the evening as friends.”
Odin said:
[42] “Tell me this twelfth—
you must know the fate
of all the gods, wise Riddle-Weaver:
Tell me the truth
about the secrets of the giants
and the gods, you wise giant.”
Riddle-Weaver said:
[43] “I can tell you the truth
about the secrets of the giants
and all the gods,
for I have visited them all at home.
I’ve been to nine realms
beneath Hel, to realms
where the dead travel after Hel.”
Odin said:
[44] “I have traveled so much,
I have tried much,
and I have often tested the mighty.
Will any humans remain alive
after Fimbulveter
has passed over Midgard?”
{57} Riddle-Weaver said:
[45] “Life and Pulsing-with-Life
will survive; they will hide
in Hoddmimir’s forest.
They will eat
the morning dew,
and renew the human race.”
Odin said:
[46] “I have traveled so much,
I have tried much,
and I have often tested the mighty.
How will there still be a sun
when the wolf has eaten
the one that now flies in heaven?”
Riddle-Weaver said:
[47] “The sun
will have a daughter
before Fenrir eats her.
And that young sun
will travel on her mother’s path
when the gods have all died.”
Odin said:
[48] “I have traveled so much,
I have tried much,
and I have often tested the mighty.
Who are those young women
who fly above the sea,
who travel in the air with their craft?”
Riddle-Weaver said:
[49] “There are three rivers
that fall over
those young women of Mogthrasir.
Their only happiness
is in Midgard,
though they were born among giants.”
{58} Odin said:
[50] “I have traveled so much,
I have tried much,
and I have often tested the mighty.
Which gods
will inherit Asgard,
when the fires of Ragnarok go out?”
Riddle-Weaver said:
[51] “Vithar and Vali
will inhabit Asgard
when the fires of Ragnarok go out.
Mothi and Magni
will inherit Mjollnir
after Thor is killed.”
Odin said:
[52] “I have traveled so much,
I have tried much,
and I have often tested the mighty.
How will Odin
lose his life
at
Ragnarok?”
Riddle-Weaver said:
[53] “A wolf
will swallow Odin,
but Vithar will avenge him.
He’ll cut open
the wolf’s cold jaws,
kill the killer of his father.”
Odin said:
[54] “I have traveled so much,
I have tried much,
and I have often tested the mighty.
What did Odin whisper
in Balder’s ear,
before he placed him on the pyre?”
{59} Riddle-Weaver said:
[55] “No one knows
what you said
in those ancient days, in your son’s ear.
I have spoken my aged wisdom,
I have told you of Ragnarok,
I have spoken with a doomed mouth.
[56] “Now I know that I wagered
my head against Odin’s in wisdom—
but you, Odin, are forever the wisest of all.”
{60} Grimnismal (The Words of Odin in Disguise)
Grimnismal is similar to Vafthruthnismal, being mostly a compilation of mythological lore and having a frame story involving Odin. In this case, Odin disguises himself under the name “Shadowed-Face” (Old Norse Grimnir, literally the “Cloaked One”). He is held captive in the court of a king he once favored, and delivers his mythic lore to the king’s merciful young son after eight nights of being starved between two bonfires. The prose prologue and epilogue are original. Grimnismal appears in both the Codex Regius and in the manuscript AM 748 I 4to.
Grimnismal
Concerning the sons of King Hrauthung
King Hrauthung had two sons. One was named Agnar and the other Geirroth. Agnar was ten years old, and Geirroth was eight. The two of them rowed out in a boat with their fishing tackle and hoped to catch some small fish, but the wind drove them far out into the sea. In the dark night they wrecked and went up on to the land, where they met a poor farmer, and they stayed there with him over the winter. The farmer’s old wife fostered Agnar, but the farmer fostered Geirroth and tutored him. Early in the spring the man gave them a boat, and when he and his wife followed them down to the shore, the man spoke to Geirroth in secrecy.
The boys departed, and the wind was favorable. They came to their father’s harbor, and then Geirroth, who stood foremost in the boat, sprang up on land and shoved the boat back out to sea and said: “Go wherever the trolls take you!”
The boat drifted far out to sea with Agnar, but Geirroth went inland to his father’s hall. He was received well, but he learned that his father had died. So Geirroth was taken as king, and he became a famous man.
Odin and Frigg sat in Hlithskjalf and looked out over all the worlds. Odin said, “Look how your foster-son Agnar sits and fathers children on a trollwoman in a cave, while my foster-son Geirroth is king and rules the land.”
{61} Frigg said, “But Geirroth is so stingy with food that he starves his guests, if he thinks there are too many.”
Odin said that this was a tremendous lie, and so he and Frigg made a wager about it. Then Frigg sent her servant Fulla to Geirroth, and had Fulla warn him that a sorceror had come to the land, but that this sorceror could be recognized by the fact that even the fiercest dog would not attack him.
It was, in fact, an idle rumor that Geirroth was miserly with his food. All the same, he ordered any man who would not be attacked by any dog to be apprehended. Odin came wearing a blue cape, and called himself Shadowed-Face, but said nothing more of himself even when asked, so the king had him tortured in an effort to extract more information from him, and had him placed between two burning fires, where he sat for eight nights.
King Geirroth had a ten-year-old son, named Agnar after the king’s brother. Agnar went to this “Shadowed-Face” and gave him a full horn to drink and said he thought his father was behaving poorly, to torture a man without cause. Shadowed-Face drank, and by then the fire had grown so large that it had begun to burn his cloak. Then Shadowed-Face said:
[1] “YOU’RE HOT, FIRE,
and much too big—
get away from me, flames!
My coat is getting burned,
even though I’m holding it up!
My clothing is on fire!
[2] “I’ve sat between the fires here
for eight nights, and no one
offered or gave me food,
except Agnar alone.
Now Agnar will be the sole ruler
of the land of the Goths.
[3] “Hail, Agnar,
it’s the chief of the gods
who’s wishing you well!
You will never be repaid
so well for one drink,
no matter how long you live.
{62} [4] “I see a holy land
which lies near those
of the gods and the elves.
In that place, Thruthheim,
Thor will live
till Ragnarok.
[5] “Ull has built
good halls for himself
in Ydalir.
The gods gave Frey
the land of Alfheim
long ago, as a gift in his youth.”
[6] “I know a third place
where happy gods
live beneath a silver roof.
It’s called Valaskjalf—
the place Odin
made himself in the old days.
[7] “A fourth hall
is Sokkvabekk, which
the cool waves crash upon.
There Odin and Saga
drink happily every day
from golden cups.
[8] “A fifth land is
Gladsheim, where gold-bright,
wide Valhalla stands.
That is where
Odin chooses from the men
killed by weapons every day.
[9] “Valhalla
is easily recognized
if one comes to see it.
The hall is held up by spearshafts,
it is roofed by shields,
chainmail is on the benches.
{63} [10] “Valhalla
is easily recognized
if one comes to see it.
A wolf hangs above
the western door,
and an eagle above him.
[11] “Thjassi, the mighty giant,
once lived in the sixth hall,
now known as Thrymheim.
And now Skathi,
bright bride of the gods,
lives in her father’s old home.
[12] “Balder built himself
a hall, and it is called
Breithablik.
That’s a place
where I know
you’ll find little grief.
[13] “Heimdall inhabits
the eighth hall, Himinbjorg,
that is where he is the master.
In that pleasant house,
the watchman of the gods
happily drinks his good mead.
[14] “Freyja rules
in the ninth land, Folkvang—
that is where she arranges the seats.
She chooses half the dead
who die in battle,
and Odin takes the other half.
[15] “The tenth hall
is Glitnir, with gold walls
and a silver roof.
The god named Forseti
is there on most days,
and he settles disputes.
{64} [16] “The eleventh hall
is Njorth’s, which he built
and named Noatun.
That flawless
lord of men
rules that high-timbered temple.
[17] “The wide land
of Vithar is overgrown
with high grass and weeds.
That bold son of Odin
is preparing himself
to avenge his father on horseback.
[18] �
�Andhrimnir the cook
lets the pork from Saehrimnir
cook in the cauldron Eldhrimnir.
There is no better meat,
and there are few who know
what the Einherjar eat.
[19] “Battle-winning Odin
feeds his tamed wolves,
Geri and Freki.
But for his part,
weapon-loving Odin
lives on wine alone.
[20] “Thought and Memory,
my ravens, fly every day
the whole world over.
Each day I fear
that Thought might not return,
but I fear more for Memory.”
[21] “The waves thunder,
and the Midgard-serpent
makes his home in Fenrir’s sea.
Dead men will find
that sea passage
too wide to wade.
{65} [22] “Valgrind
is a holy hall
with holy doors, upon a field.
The gate is old,
and there are few
who know how it is locked.
[23] “Thor’s hall, Bilskirnir,
has six-hundred and forty rooms,
if all are counted.
I am certain
that of all roofed houses,
Thor’s is the largest.
[24] “I think Valhalla
has six-hundred and forty doors,
if all are counted.
Eight hundred Einherjar
will walk through each,
when the day comes to fight Fafnir.
[25] “There is a goat named Heithrun
who stands on Odin’s hall
and gnaws the limbs of the tree Laerath.
That goat fills Valhalla’s cups
with bright mead from her udders,
and that drink will never diminish.
[26] “There is a stag named Eikthyrnir
who stands on Odin’s hall
and gnaws the limbs of the tree Laerath.
Drops fall from his horns
into the well of Hvergelmir;
that is the origin of all the rivers:
[27] “The rivers Sith and Vith,
Saekin and Eikin,
Svol and Gunnthro,
Fjorm and Fimbulthul,
Rhine and Rennandi,
Gipul and Gopul,
{66} Gomul and Geirvomul,
Thyn and Vin,
Tholl and Holl—
these conceal the gods’ riches.
[28] “Another river is Vina,
another Vegsvinn,
a third is Thjothnuma,
and also Nyt and Not,
Nonn and Hronn,
Slith and Hrith,
Sylg and Ylg,
Vith and Von,
Vond and Strond,
Gjoll and Leipt—
these rivers flow near the men
who die and go to Hel.
[29] “Thor will wade
four rivers every day—
the ones called Kormt and Ormt,
and the two rivers Kerlaug—
when he goes to meetings
at the tree Yggdrasil.
The Poetic Edda Page 7
