the noble son of Njorth—
when will you come to comfort Frey?”
Gerth said:
[39] “There’s a grove named Barri—
we both know it—
a peaceful place in the forest.
After nine nights
Frey, son of Njorth,
will enjoy my love there.”
Then Skirnir rode home. Frey stood waiting for him and asked for the news:
[40] “Tell me, Skirnir,
before you unsaddle that horse,
before you take one more step:
What did you accomplish
in Jotunheim
for your or my purposes?”
Skirnir said:
[41] “There’s a grove named Barri—
we both know it—
a peaceful place in the forest.
After nine nights
Frey, son of Njorth,
will enjoy Gerth’s love there.”
Frey said:
[42] “One night would be long enough,
two would be worse—
how can I contain my lust for three?
A month has often
seemed shorter to me
than half such a marriage-night.”
{81} Harbarthsljoth (The Taunting of Thor by Odin)
Harbarthsljoth (literally “Graybeard’s Song”) is a relatively long poem in which Odin, in the disguise of the ferryman “Graybeard,” denies Thor passage on his ferry. The two exchange heated words that clearly compare and contrast the two gods’ deeds, attitudes, and reputations, often ending their respective boasts with the question, Hvat vanntu methan? (“What were you doing meanwhile?”). By stanza 24 Graybeard has more or less admitted he is Odin, and Thor seems to understand his true identity as well, though he never addresses Graybeard as Odin. In stanza 26 there is a reference to Thor’s journey to meet Utgartha-Loki, told in the Prose Edda, in which Thor and his companions sleep inside the glove of a truly huge giant. Harbarthsljoth appears in both the Codex Regius and in the manuscript AM 748 I 4to. The prose introduction is original.
Harbarthsljoth
Thor was coming back from the east and came to a fjord. On the other side of the fjord was a ferryman with his boat. Thor called out:
[1] “WHO IS THAT MAN WHO STANDS
on the other side of the fjord?”
The other man answered:
[2] “Who is that man who calls
from across the water?”
Thor said:
[3] “Take me across the water,
and I’ll give you some breakfast.
I’m carrying a basket on my back,
and you’ll find no better food.
I ate in peace
before I left home;
I had some herring and goat,
and I’m still full from that.”
{82} The ferryman said:
[4] “You’re boasting
about your breakfast.
But you don’t know
if your homecoming will be glad;
I think your mother is dead.”
Thor said:
[5] “You are telling me
news that would
seem bad to anybody—
that my mother is dead.”
The ferryman said:
[6] “You don’t look like a man
who owns good farms.
There you stand,
barefoot like a beggar,
not even a good pair of pants on.”
Thor said:
[7] “Row that boat over here,
I’ll show you the landing.
Who owns that ship
that you’re on?”
The ferryman said:
[8] “A man named Hildolf
asked me to run the ferry,
a wise and provident man
who lives in Rathseyjarsund.
He asked me not to give rides
to beggars or horse thieves,
only good people
and those I know well.
Tell me your name
if you want to cross the fjord.”
{83} Thor said:
[9] “I’ll tell you my name,
I’m no criminal,
and I’m from a good family:
I am Odin’s son,
Meili’s brother,
and Magni’s father,
warrior of the gods,
you’re talking to Thor here!
Now I’ll ask in turn,
what is your name?”
The ferryman said:
[10] “Graybeard is my name,
I rarely lie about that.”
Thor said:
[11] “Why would anyone lie about that,
except to conceal some crime?”
Graybeard said:
[12] “Whether or not I committed crimes,
I’d still want to defend my life
against people like you,
unless my fated day had come.”
Thor said:
[13] “It seems like a shame
for me to wade over there
to get at you
and get my pants wet.
But I’ll pay you back,
slanderer,
for these nasty words,
if I get over this fjord.”
Graybeard said:
[14] “I’ll stand right here
and wait for you.
I think I’ll be your toughest enemy
since Hrungnir.”
{84} Thor said:
[15] “You want to talk about
when I killed Hrungnir,
that arrogant giant
with a stone head?
I knocked him down,
I laid him out flat.
What were you doing meanwhile, Graybeard?”
Graybeard said:
[16] “I was with Fjolvar
for five years
on the island
called Algron.
We were waging war,
killing warriors,
proving ourselves,
and sampling the local ladies.”
Thor said:
[17] “How did the women treat you?”
Graybeard said:
[18] “We had girls who liked to kick,
but sometimes they would act docile.
We had wise women, too;
and sometimes they were loyal.
Some of them wound
some thread from a valley,
out of the sand.
I made them all
submit to my will.
I slept with seven sisters,
had all their charms to myself.
What were you doing meanwhile, Thor?”
Thor said:
[19] “I killed Thjassi,
the bold giant;
I threw the eyes
of that son of Allvaldi
{85} into the clear sky.
Those are the greatest
monuments to my deeds,
which everyone can see ever since.
What were you doing meanwhile, Graybeard?”
Graybeard said:
[20] “Great seductions.
In the night I was ridden by women
stolen from their husbands.
I think Hlebarth
was a strong giant;
he gave me a magic wand,
and I enchanted away his wits.”
Thor said:
[21] “You repaid him badly
for his good gift.”
Graybeard said:
[22] “A tree has only the space
it can crowd another out of;
every man must look out for himself.
What were you doing meanwhile, Thor?”
Thor said:
[23] “I was in the east
fighting giants,
evil women
who lived in the mountains.
There would be many more giants
> if they had all survived;
there would not be a single human
left on Midgard.
What were you doing meanwhile, Graybeard?”
Graybeard said:
[24] “I was in the south
making battles.
I turned princes against one another,
I never made peace.
{86} Odin receives the powerful men
who fall in battle,
and Thor receives their servants.”
Thor said:
[25] “You deal out victory
and defeat unfairly,
if you have so much power over battles.”
Graybeard said:
[26] “You have plenty of strength,
Thor, but no courage.
Like a prince of cowards,
you got stepped on in a glove—
you didn’t look much like Thor then.
You didn’t dare
sneeze or break wind,
for fear that
the giant Fjalar might hear you.”
Thor said:
[27] “Graybeard, you sissy!
I’ll kill you
if I get across this fjord!”
Graybeard said:
[28] “How are you going to get across?
You have no transportation.
What were you doing meanwhile, Thor?”
Thor said:
[29] “I was in the east
guarding a river,
when Svarang’s sons
attacked me.
They threw stones at me,
but they got little out of it,
they ended up
begging me for peace.
What were you doing meanwhile, Graybeard?”
{87} Graybeard said:
[30] “I was in the east,
together with a certain lovely someone.
I enjoyed myself with that beauty
for quite a while—
I showed the blonde a good time,
and she showed me one.”
Thor said:
[31] “You had a good-looking woman there?”
Graybeard said:
[32] “I could have used your help, Thor—
you could have helped me
hold that gorgeous girl down.”
Thor said:
[33] “I would have helped you,
if I had been there.”
Graybeard said:
[34] “I would trust you about that,
if you hadn’t tricked me before.”
Thor said:
[35] “I’m no heel-biter,
no cheap old shoe in the springtime.”
Graybeard said:
[36] “What were you doing meanwhile, Thor?”
Thor said:
[37] “Fighting berserkers’ brides
on the island Hlesey.
They had done evil things,
assaulted everyone.”
Graybeard said:
[38] “How shameful of you, Thor,
fighting women.”
{88} Thor said:
[39] “They were wolves,
hardly women.
They broke my ship
when I landed ashore,
threatened me
with iron rods,
and chased my servant Thjalfi.
What were you doing meanwhile, Graybeard?”
Graybeard said:
[40] “I was with an army.
We came this way
to wave some war-banners
and get some spears bloody.”
Thor said:
[41] “Now you’re saying
you came to do the gods evil?”
Graybeard said:
[42] “I’ll give you this arm-ring
to make up for it.
Fair judges would say
it’s an equal value.”
Thor said:
[43] “Where did you learn
to spit out all these hateful words?
I know I’ve never heard
more awful talk.”
Graybeard said:
[44] “I learned this sort of talk
from the old men who live
in the forests of home.”
Thor said:
[45] “You give a good name to burial mounds
if you call them ‘the forests of home.’”
{89} Graybeard said:
[46] “That’s how I talk about such things.”
Thor said:
[47] “I’ll repay you for this slander
with a good beating,
if I can get across this fjord.
I think you’d howl
louder than a wolf
if you felt my hammer on you.”
Graybeard said:
[48] “Your wife has a lover, Thor.
You’ll meet him if you go home,
then you’ll really suffer!
That one’s a better target for your hammer.”
Thor said:
[49] “You are just lying at random,
saying whatever will most anger me.
You cowardly fool,
I think you’re lying.”
Graybeard said:
[50] “I think I’m telling the truth.
But you’re late completing your journey—
you won’t get home for a long time,
even if you walk all day and night.”
Thor said:
[51] “Graybeard, you sissy,
you’re the one who’s held me up.”
Graybeard said:
[52] “I didn’t think that Thor
would let some peasant
hold him up on his journey.”
Thor said:
[53] “Here’s some advice:
Row that boat over here to me,
{90} we’ll stop this bickering,
and you’ll meet me face to face.”
Graybeard said:
[54] “Get far away from here.
You don’t get to ride the ferry.”
Thor said:
[55] “Then show me the way around,
if you won’t take me across.”
Graybeard said:
[56] “I won’t deny that request.
It’s a long walk:
Go to the tree trunk,
then to the rock,
then turn left
till you reach Midgard.
There your mother the Earth
will meet you,
and she’ll show you
the gods’ road to Asgard.”
Thor said:
[57] “Can I get there today?”
Graybeard said:
[58] “I suspect,
if you travel hard,
you could be there before sundown.”
Thor said:
[59] “I see this conversation is over,
since you only answer with insults.
I will pay you back for this delay
if we ever meet again.”
Graybeard said:
[60] “Go now, and have a bad journey!”
{91} Hymiskvitha (The Fetching of the Cauldron)
Hymiskvitha (literally “Hymir’s Poem”) tells the tale of Thor and Tyr retrieving a cauldron large enough to brew beer for all the gods; the gods lack such a cauldron, but Tyr’s father, a giant named Hymir, owns one. This poem also relates the story of Thor fishing for the Midgard-serpent with the head of an ox for bait, a scene that was commonly depicted in art in the Viking period.
Hymiskvitha appears in both the Codex Regius and in the manuscript AM 748 I 4to.
Hymiskvitha
[1] A LONG TIME AGO
the gods came back from hunting,
but they started feeling thirsty
before they were done eating.
They waved their wands,
looked for omens in blood,
they learned that Aegir
owned some cauldrons.
&nbs
p; [2] Aegir, giant from the stones,
sat there, happy as a child;
he looked much like
Miskorblindi’s son.
Thor, son of Odin,
stared fiercely into his eyes:
“You will often provide
a feast for the gods.”
[3] The argumentative god
frustrated Aegir;
the giant immediately sought
some revenge against the gods.
He asked Thor
to fetch him a cauldron—
{92} “I promise to brew beer
in it for all of you.”
[4] The gods did not
know how to proceed;
none of them
could get a cauldron.
But Tyr, in private,
spoke to Thor
alone, and revealed
a welcome secret:
[5] “My mighty father,
Hymir the wise,
lives to the east of Elivagar,
near the end of the sky.
He owns a cauldron
that’s a mile deep;
it’s the biggest
cauldron of all.”
Thor said:
[6] “Do you know if we
can borrow this cauldron?”
Tyr said:
“Yes, friend, if we
can play a few tricks.”
[7] They left swiftly
and traveled the whole day
from Asgard,
till they came to Egil’s house.
They left Thor’s big-horned
goats in his care,
and then they went
to where Hymir lived.
[8] Tyr found his
ugly grandmother,
she had
nine hundred heads.
{93} But another woman
was there, all golden,
with a pretty face,
and gave her son a beer:
[9] “Son of giants!”
she said. “I’ll hide
you courageous men
beneath the cauldron;
my husband
will abuse any guests
who come to our home.”
[10] That angry,
hard-minded man
came home late
from his fishing,
came into his hall—
glaciers shook at each step—
the beard on his face
was frozen.
Hymir’s concubine, Tyr’s mother, said:
[11] “Hail, Hymir,
come in and be happy!
Your son has come
to your home,
as we expected
after his long absence.
And our famous enemy,
the friend of humans,
Thor, son of Odin,
follows him.
[12] “You see them sitting
beneath your own hall’s roof,
they’re hiding
by that wall.”
The giant reached out
and broke the wall,
and snapped
a beam in half.
{94} [13] Eight cauldrons
shattered, except
a well-forged one
The Poetic Edda Page 9
