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THE LAY OF THRYM
ÞRYMSKVIÐA
This is the best-known, and deservedly among the most famous of
the poems in
the collection; indeed, it is one of the few great ballads
of world
literature, a classic in which purely Northern material has found
its most
adequate and most characteristic expression. One does not
know what to admire
most, the happy choice of subject, the marvellous
characterization----effected
with an admirable economy of means---the robust humor, the
immense elasticity
of the action.
It is a satisfaction to know that this high evaluation is not one
of modern
taste alone. That the lay was a favorite also in olden
times is attested by
the existence, in all lands inhabited by Scandinavians, of folk
ballads
clearly based on it. It is therefore all the more
surprising that Snorri
makes no reference to it and that we are entirely dependent on
the text as
found in the Codex Regius.
There has been much discussion as to the probable date of the
poem.
Formerly, most scholars were inclined to set it early---the tenth
century or
earlier---and see in it a primitive nature myth. Modern
opinion has swung to
the very opposite extreme, considering it one of the latest in
the collection.
The reasons seem compelling: the perfect text
tradition; numerous
demonstrable loans from other, earlier Eddic and skaldic
poems; the epic-
balladic form, which points to the thirteenth century rather than
to an early
period; the tell-tale face that its action is nowhere
alluded to in Old Norse
monuments while, on the other hand, all actors in it can be found
among the
dramatis personæ of other poems (as is pointed out in the
footnotes). The
suggestion has been made that for aught we know it may be the
work of Snorri
himself, the most versatile genius of Old Norse literature.
He possessed the
prerequisites: a great sense of humor, intimate knowledge
of mythology,
considerable poetic talent. It would be understandable that
he did not care
to quote himself in his Prose Edda (written ca. 1220) or adduce
the story of
the poem as a genuine myth.
As to the central theme of the poem, it might have been imported
to
Scandinavia during the crusades: there exists an Arabic
tale with
similarities too striking to be accidental.
1. Wroth was Vingthór (1)
when awaking he
Mjolnir (2) missed, his mighty hammer;
his beard gan shake, his shaggy head,
Fjorgyn's first-born (3)----
he
fumbled about him.
2. These words then first fell
from his lips:
"Hear thou, Loki,
what loss I have,
which no wight knows---
neither on earth
nor in heaven: my
hammer is stolen!"
3. To Freya's (4) bower they bent their steps.
These words then first
fell from his lips:
"Wilt thou, Freya, thy feather coat lend me,
my hammer to seek, if haply I find it?"
Freya said:
4. "Though of gold it were
I gave it
to thee,
and for thy sake,
though of silver it were."
5. Flew then Loki
the
feather coat whirred,
left behind him
the halls of the gods,
and winged his way to the world of etins.
6. On a mound sate Thrym, (5) the thurses' lord;
golden halters for his
hounds he twined,
and sleeked the manes of
slender horses. (6)
Thrym said:
7. "What ails the Æsir, what ails the alfs?
(7)
Why art thou come to etin-home?"
Loki said:
" 'Tis ill with the Æsir, (ill with the
alfs): (8)
dost hide Hlórrithi's(9) hammer with thee?"
Thrym said:
8. "Hlórrithi's hammer I hide with me
full eight rosts (10) deep
the ground
beneath;
Mjolnir no wight
may win from me
but he Freya bring as bride to me."
9. Flew then Loki,
the
feather coat whirred,
left behind him
the home
of etins,
and winged his way to the world of gods.
Him Thór met there in middle court.
These words then first fell
from his lips:
10. "What welcome word
rewards thy toil?
Tell while aloft
thy long tidings: (11)
sitting, one oft
his errand
forgets,
and lying, tells
lies
altogether." (12)
Loki said:
11. "A welcome word rewards my toil:
Thrym has thy hammer,
the thurses' lord.
Mjolnir no wight
may win from him,
but he Freya bring as bride with him."
12. To Freya's bower
they bent their steps.
These words then first
fell from his lips:
"Busk thee, Freya, in bridal linen,
we twain shall wend to the world of
etins."
13. Wroth grew Freya, foamed with rage;
the shining halls
shook with her wrath,
the Bríings' necklace (13)
burst asunder:
"Most mad after men
thou mayest call me,
if I wend with thee to the world of etins."
14. To the Thing forthwith
fared all
godheads,
and all goddesses gathered together.
Among them mooted the mighty gods
how they Hlórrithi's hammer'd win back.
15. Whereon Heimdall, (14) whitest of
gods---
he fathomed the future as
foreknowing Van----(15)
"Busk we Thór then in bridal linen,
and buckle on him the Brísings' necklace.
16. "Let a housewife's door keys dangle about him, (16)
let woman's weeds be worn by him.
Let him bear on his breast
bridal jewels,
a hood on his head, as behooves a bride."
17. Then thus spake Thór,
the thewful god:
"A craven wretch
may call me the gods
if I busk me in bridal linen."
18. Then quoth Loki,
Laufey's offspring: (17)
"Hush thee now, Thór,
and heed
these words:
soon will the etins in Ásgarth (18) dwell,
but thou fetch home the hammer from
them."
19. Busked they Thór then
in bridal linen,
buckled on him
the
Brísings' necklace,
let a housewife's door keys dangle about him,
and woman's weeds be born by him:
on his breast he bore bridal jewels,
a hood on his head as behooves a bride.
20. Then quoth Loki,
Laufey's offspring:
"With thee I will,
to wait on thee;
we twain shall wend to the world of etins."
21. Then home the goats (19)
to the
hall were driven,
haltered with ropes to run with the wain:
the mountains brake, the earth burned with fire,
rode Óthin's son (20) to etin-world.
22. Said Thrym these words,
the thurses' lord:
"Stand up, etins,
put straw on benches: (21)
to be my bride they bring me
Freya,
Njorth's daughter
from Nóatún. (22)
23. "In my garth there graze
golden-horned kine,
oxen all black,
for etins
a joy;
many rings have I, many riches have I,
Freya alone I lack, methinks."
24. Soon had the sun
set in that land; (23)
then ale was born
on the etins' table;
ate there an ox and eight
salmons,
bolted all dainties
dealt for women,
three measures of mead
drank
Mjolnir's wielder.
25. Said Thrym these words,
the
thurses' lord:
"Where sawest thou bride
bit
more sharply?
Never saw I bride
bite more broadly,
nor more of mead
a maiden drink."
26. The waiting maid wise these words
then found,
to the etin thus
she answer
made:
"Naught ate Freya for full eight nights,
so eager was she
for etin-world."
27. He looked 'neath the veil,
longed to kiss her:
back reeled the rash one
through roomy hall:
"Why are so fearful Freya's eyes?
Methinks that fire
flames in her eyes."
28. The waiting maid wise
these words then
found,
to the etin thus
she answer made:
"Slept not Freya
for full eight nights,
so eager was she
for etin-world."
29. In stepped the etins' starveling sister, (24)
a bridal gift she
dared beg
from her:
"Rings of red gold give thou to me,
if fain would'st have my friendship and love,
all my friendship
and
fondness too."
30. Said Thrym these words,
the thurses' lord:
"Bring the hammer the bride to bless;
on the maiden's lap lay ye Mjolnir; (25)
in Vór's (26) name then
our
wedlock hallow!"
31. Laughed Hlórrithi's heart within him
when the hammer beheld
the hardy one:
Thrym he slew first, the thurses' lord,
then crushed he all the etins' kin,
32. Slew eke the old
sister of etins,
her who had begged for bridal gift.
For shillings she got a shock of the hammer,
a grinding blow
for golden
rings.
Thus Hlórrithi
his hammer
got him.
_______________
1. "Consecration-Thór." See St. 30.
2. "The Crusher" (?); or, possibly, related to
Russian molnya, "lightning."
It never misses its aim and always returns into Thór's hands.
3. Thór. See "Hárbarzljóð," Note 4.
4. The goddess of fertility and love. See
"Grímnismál," St. 14 and Note 21.
5. "The Noisy."
6. A Homeric situation. The action (like the fashioning of
bow and
arrow---see "Rígsþula," St. 28) is one typical
of the lord; so is sitting on
a mound.
7. See "Voluspá," St. 47 and Note 67.
8. Supplied by all editors.
9. Thór's.
10. Leagues.
11. That is, however long they be.
12. The meaning of these curious lines may be that the longer the
delay, the
less accurate the report---a night's sleep may pervert it
utterly---out of
regard for the host? The pun exists in the original.
13. The Brínga men ("the Shining Necklace") was a
torque fashioned (according
to the late Sorla Þáttr) by four dwarfs. It is no doubt
identical with the
precious Brosinga mene in Beowulf (Line 1199).
14. As to Heimdall, see "Voluspá," St. 1 and
Note 2.
15. We are not told elsewhere that the Vanir gods were prophetic
(as were some
of the Æsir: Óthin, Frigg, Gefjon, for instance).
16. See "Rígsþula," St. 23.
17. See "Lokasenna," St. 52 and Note 48.
18. The habitation of the Æsir. See
"Voluspá," St. 24 and Note 23.
19. They draw Thór's wain. See
"Hymiskviða," Note 30.
20. Thór, by the giantess Fjorgyn or Hlóthyn. There is a
definite resemblance
between lines 3 and 4 of the original and Stanzas 15 and 16 of
the poem
"Haustlong by the skald Thjóthólf ór Hvini (ninth
century).
21. This was done on festal occasions. See "Baldrs
draumar," St. 6, and St.
1 of the (anonymous) skaldic poem Eiríksmál.
22. See "Grímnismál," St. 16.
23. Because of the location of the frost giants in the far North
(east); but
the line is susceptible of the translation:
Early at eve they in had come.
24. "The etins' sister" is probably a kenning for
"giantess."
25. A consecration with the hammer is known also elsewhere.
The hammer is a
phallic symbol of fertility, like the lingam of the Hindus.
26. "Vow," "pledge," a goddess, probably an
hypostasis of Frigg, goddess of
marriage.
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