Beginning and ending with lovesick Frey, the poet delegates all the action to the god's alter ego, his devoted follower and friend, Skírnir, who with intrepidity accomplishes his mission, overcoming the resistance of the fair giant maiden with the threat of his rune magic, after both promises of gifts and threats of force have failed.

In the arrangement and the handling of his material the poet probably owes little to the myth.  It has been urgued with some plausibility that in this lay we actually have the dramatized rites of a Frey cult, celebrating the god's annual union with the fertility goddess.  We can, however, discern the consciously working author in frequent verbal reminiscence of other Eddic lays and in his struggle with the material to be fashioned.  Most interesting in his treatment of the ljóðaháttr stanzas which, regular at the beginning, become swaying and incoherent, with barbarous assonances, when the terrific imprecations fill them to overflowing, but which resumes their regular gait toward the tranquil end.

The tradition is, on the whole, fair.  Only some of the curses defy certain interpretation.  The poem is found complete in Codex Regius, whereas Codex Arnamagnæanus (Hauksbók) breaks off after Stanza 27.  Snorri's paraphrase is significantly brief:  for his purposes, the lay seemed deficient in epic details.
Norway is (doubtfully) assigned as the home of the lay, because of the mention of the thistle, a plant not indigenous to Iceland.  There are no definite clues as to the time of its origin (tenth century?).


Frey, (1) the son of Njorth, one day had seated himself on Hlithskjalf (2)
and looked over all the worlds.  Then saw he in the world of etins a fair
maiden as she went from the hall of her father to her bower.  And that sight made him heavy of heart.  Skírnir (3) was the name of Frey's servitor.  Njorth bade him to make Frey speak out.

1. See "Grímnismál,"  St. 5, Note 10.
2. See "Grímnismál,"  the Prose Introduction and Note 4.
3. "The Resplendent";  possibly an epithet (or hypostasis) of Frey himself.

Skathi (4) said:
1. "Arise now, Skírnir, and ready make thee
to summon my son,
and find out this              from the wise youth,
whom he doth hate."

4. Frey's stepmother.  See "Grímnismál,"  St. 11.

Skírnir said:
2. "For waspish words I well may look,
if I summon thy son
to find out this           from the wise youth,
whom he doth hate."

Skírnir said:
3. "Wilt tell me, Frey, foremost among gods,
and answer me as I ask:
why sittest thou lonely,       my lord, all day
with heavy heart in thy hall?"

Frey said:
4. "How tell thee my yearning, oh youth, as thou wishest---
why heavy my heart?
The alf's beam (5) shineth           all these long days,
but lighter groweth not my longing."

5. Kenning for "the sun."  See "Vafþrúðnismál,"  St. 47.

Skírnir said:
5. "Thy heart's not so heavy,             I hold, but thou mayst
open it to another;
for in days of yore we young were together:
truly thou mightest trust me."

Frey said:
6. "From on high I beheld       in the halls of Gymir (6)
a maiden to my mind;
her arms did gleam, their glamor filled
all the sea and the air.

6. A giant.

7. "This maiden is           to me more dear
than maiden to any man;
but Æsir and alfs           all will have it
that strangers ay we stay.

(7a). (7) ("In my behalf            her hand shalt ask,
and home bring her hither,
her father let   or allow it:
good shall thy guerdon be.")

7. This stanza is not in the original;  but the paraphrase of Snorri
("Gylfaginning,"  Chap. 36) shows that a stanza do doubt has dropped out here.
It is supplied, following Gering.

Skírnir said:
8. "Thy steed then lend me         to lift me o'er weird
ring of flickering flame,
the sword also       that swings itself
against the tribe of trolls."

Frey said:
9. "My steed I lend thee     to lift thee o'er weird
ring of flickering flame,
the sword also      which swings itself,
if wise he who wields it." (8)

8. Frey will miss his sword in the last combat (see "Lokasenna,"  St. 42,
where Loki alleges that it was given away as a bridal gift to Gerth).

Skírnir said to his steed:
10. "Night is it now,           now we shall fare
over moist mountains,
to the thurses' throng;
scatheless we both shall 'scape their might,
or else both be o'erborne by the etins."

Skírnir rode into etin-home and to Gymir's court.  There were savage dogs tied to the gate of the enclosure about Gerth's bower.

Skírnir rode to where a shepherd sate on a mound, and greeted him:
11. "Say thou, shepherd,      sitting on hill,
who dost watch all ways:
how win I the welcome      of the winsome maid
through the grim hounds of Gymir?"

The shepherd said:
12. "Whether art thou doomed, or dead already,
(in the stirrup who standest) ? (9)
Never shalt thou win the welcome to have
of the good daughter of Gymir."

9. Inserted with Grundtvig.

Skírnir said:
13. "Ne'er a whit will whine,          whatso betide,
who is eager on errand bent;
my fate is foretold me     to the time of a day,
allotted is all my life."

Gerth said:
14. "What outcry and uproar           within our courts (10)
hear I now, handmaid?
The earth doth shake     and all my father
Gymir's high halls."

10. We must assume that Skírnir has caused his steed to leap over the wall of
flame.

The handmaid said:
15. "By his steed here stands          a stranger youth,
unbridles and baits him;
(he wishes, I ween, welcome to have
from the good daughter of Gymir)."  (11)

11. An obvious gap here is supplied, following Bugge's suggestion.

Gerth said:
16. "Bid to my bower             the bold-minded come,
to meet me and drink our mead;
though far from us, I fear me, is not
my brother's banesman. (12)

12. Either Skírnir has slain the shepherd who was her brother, or else the
allusion is to Frey's (Skírnir's) slaying of the giant Beli.  See "Voluspá,"
St. 52 and Note 77.

17. "Whether art of the alfs        or of Æsir come,
or art thou a wise Van? (13)
Through furious fire why farest alone
to behold our halls?"

13. The different races of gods.

Skírnir said:
18. "Neither alf am I,             nor of Æsir come
nor a wise Van;
through furious fire yet fared I alone
to behold your halls.

19. "Apples eleven (14) have I all golden;
to thee, Gerth, I shall give them,
to hear from thy lips thou lovest Frey,
and deemest him dearest to thee."

14. As eleven is not one of the "holy" numbers, and as there is no apparent
reason for offering just that number, it has been generally assumed that we
have here a scribal error, that in the original text there stood, not epli
ellifo, "eleven apples," but epli ellilyfs, "apples of everlasting youth."
These were in the keeping of the goddess Ithun.

Gerth said:
20. "Thy apples eleven not e'er shall I take
to do any wight's will;
nor shall I ever        with Njorth's son Frey
dwell while our lives do last."

Skírnir said:
21. "Draupnir, the ring, (15)       then thy dowry shall be,
which with Baldr was burned;
eight rings as dear will drop from it
every ninth night."

15. "Dripper."  This ring had been given Óthin by a dwarf ("Skáldskarparmál,"
Chap. 33).  After Baldr was burned on the pyre, he returned to Óthin from Hel
("Gylfaginning," Chap. 48).

Gerth said:
22. "Draupnir, the ring, I do not want,
though it with Baldr was burned;
gold I lack not      in Gymir's halls,
to deal out daily." (16)

16. Which is the wont of princes.  See, for example, "Rígsþula,"  St. 39.

Skírnir said:
23. "This mottled blade, dost, maiden, see it
which here I hold in my hand?
Thy haughty head I hew from thy neck
but thou yield thy love to the youth."

Gerth said:
24. "Nor gold nor sword will gain it over me
any wight's will to do;
if Gymir, my father, did find thee here,
fearless warrior,         ye would fight to the death."

Skírnir said:
25. "This mottled blade, dost, maiden, see it,
which here I hold in my hand?
Before its edge         the etin falls,
and is thy father fey.

26. "With this magic wand     bewitch thee I shall,
my will, maiden, to do;
where the sons of men     will see thee no more,
thither shalt thou!

27. "On the eagle-hill (17) shalt ever sit,
aloof from the world, lolling toward Hel.
To thee men shall be      more loathsome far (18)
than to mankind the slimy snake.

17. Possibly a kenning for "mountain peak."
18. For the emendation of this line see Scandinavian Studies, XIX (1947), 302
ff.

28. "An ugly sight,           when out thou comest,
even Hrímnir (19) will stare at and every hind glare at, (20)
more widely known than the warder of gods, (21)
and shalt gape through the gate. (22)

19. "Frost Giant" (?).
20. There is rime here in the original.
21. Heimdall, the warder of the gods.  See "Lokasenna," St. 48.
22. She is to be kept prisoner of the giants, as the following stanzas also
imply.

29. (23) "Shalt drivel and dote,               and drag through life,
with salt tears shalt sorrow;
shalt sit as I say,             with sadness heavy,
feel twofold torment
with heavy heart.

23. A very difficult stanza.

30. "Imps shall nip thee, all the long days
thou art with the etins;
to frost-giants' hall shalt hobble all days,
cringe under curse,
cringe under care.
For play shall weeping      thy pastime be:
live a loathly life with tears!

31. "With three-headed thurs,            thwarted, thou shalt live,
or else unwedded be;
lust shall lash thee,
weakness waste thee:
be like the thistle           which is thrust under,
when the harvest is harbored. (24)

24. In explanation of these lines, M. Olsen has called attention to the
Esthonian harvest custom of laying a thistle weighted with a stone into a
window opening to prevent damage from malicious grain demons.

32. "To the woods I wended,          to the wet forest,
a magic wand me to make,
and a magic wand I made me.

33. "Thou hast angered Óthin,              the uppermost god;
Frey will frown on thee,
thou wicked wench! Woe betide thee,
thou hast the great gods' wrath.

34. "Hear ye frost giants, (25)          hear ye etins,
ye sons of Suttung, all ye sibs of the Æsir:
how I forbid,     how I debar
men's mirth to the maid,
men's love to the maid.

25. Here the phrase stands for the giant tribe in general.

35. "Hrímgrimnir is hight who shall have thee, a thurs,
Niflhel beneath:
there, slavering slaves      shall serve thee 'neath tree roots
with staling of stinking goats.
No other drink        shalt ever get,
wench at thy will,
wench at my will!

36. "A 'thurs' rune (26) for thee, and three more I scratch:
lechery, loathing, and lust;
off I shall scratch them,      as on I did scratch them,
if of none there be need."

26. The symbol d, in Old Norse called "thurs."  The runes (probably scratched
on the limb of a tree, as in "Sigrdrífumál," St. 12) may be scraped off again,
when their magic effect ceases.

Gerth said:
37. "Hail, rather, hero, and hold to thy lips
this crystal cup with mead;
though hardly thought I        that hence I should fare,
to be a Van's wife."

Skírnir said:
38. "My errand I would know altogether,
ere hence I ride home.
When art minded             to meet the strong one,
and welcome the wise son of Njorth?"

Gerth said:
39. "Barri is hight,      as both we know,
for true love a trysting glade.
After nights nine           to Njorth's son there
will Gerth grant her love."

Then rode Skírnir home.  Frey stood without and greeted him and asked what
tidings he brought:

40. "Say now, Skírnir,                ere thou unsaddle the steed
and set one foot forward:
what errand bringest thou             from etin-home,
of mark for thee or me?"

Skírnir said:
41. "Barri is hight,      as both we know,
for true love a trysting glade.
After nights nine            to Njorth's son there
will Gerth grant her love."

Frey said:
42. "Long is a night,             longer are two----
how shall I thole three?
Shorter to me    a month oft seemed,
than part of this night of pining." (27)

27. The last line is uncertain.

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