Lokasenna
Flyting of Loki
Old Norse Poetry
English translation (1928) by Lee M Hollander.
Transcription by Eiður Eyþórsson.
I
About this translation
This Lee M. Hollander’s translation of Lokasenna comes from his 1928, 1st edition of The Poetic Edda. In that work, the poem is presented in English translation, accompanied by Hollander’s notes and commentary.
Hollander’s work has been preserved as closely as possible to the form in which it was originally presented. The poem and its accompanying commentary remain unchanged.
Hollander’s notes on individual stanzas have been moved, so that they now appear directly beneath the relevant stanza; in the printed edition they were placed at the bottom of each page. At the end of this page you will find Hollander’s original introductory to Lokasenna.
Here Begins Lokasenna
1
“Say thou, Eldir, nor before set thou
one foot forward:
what the æsir speak, at their ale sitting,
here the hall within.”
2
Eldir said:
“Of their weapons speak, and of warlike deeds,
the glorious gods;
of the æsir and alfs who within do sit
not one speaks well of thee.”
3
Loki said:
“In I shall, though, into Ægir’s hall—
fain would I see that feast;
brawls and bickering I bring the gods,
their mead I shall mix with evil.”
4
Eldir said:
“If in thou goest into Ægir’s hall,
and fain wouldst see that feast:
if hate and mocking thou heap’st on the gods,
they will throw it back on thee.”
5
Loki said:
“If with words we war, we two alone,
then full well thou wotst,
Eldir, that I will uppermost be,
if foul of me thou fallest.”
Then went Loki within the hall; but when they who were there saw who had come in, they all became hushed.
6
Loki said:
“Thirsty cometh to these high halls
Lopt,¹³ from long wayfaring,
to ask the æsir if that any one
would pour him the mellow mead.”
¹³ ‘Air’ (?), one of Loki’s names.
7
“Why are ye hushed, ye haughty gods,
nor think me worth a word?
A seat on bench at your banquet give me,
or else bid me hie from hence.”
8
Bragi said:
“A seat on bench, our banquet to share,
will the æsir not ever give thee;
for well they wot what wights at the feast
it behooves them to have.”
9
Loki said:
“Art mindful, Óthin, how in olden days we
blended our blood together?¹³ᵃ
Thou saidst that not ever thou ale wouldst drink
but to us both it were borne.”
¹³ᵃ We are not told elsewhere of this blood-brothership. For the rite, cf. Brot. 13, note.
10
Óthin said:
“Arise, then, Víthar, let the Wolf’s father¹⁴
be benched at our banquet;
lest that Loki fling lewd words at us
in Ægir’s ale-hall.”
¹⁴ Loki, who is the father of the Fenris-wolf, cf. Vsp. 32.
Then arose Víthar and poured ale for Loki; but before he drank he hailed the gods:
11
“Hail to you, gods, hail, goddesses,
hail to all hallowed hosts,
but to one god only who with you sits,
Bragi, on his bench!”
12
Bragi said:
“My sword and saddle-horse, I beseech thee, Loki,
take, and eke mine arm-ring—
lest to holy hosts thy hatred thou showest:
beware of the æsir’s anger!”
13
Loki said:
“Of steeds and rings small store, ween I,
hast, Bragi, thou to boast!
Of all æsir and alfs within this hall
thou art most afraid in a fray,
and most shy at the shiv’ring of spears.”
14
Bragi said:
“If without I were— as within I am—
Ægir’s hallowed hall:
in my hands would I have thy head full soon:
for thy lies ’twere thy lot.”
15
Loki said:
“Thou art swift in thy seat but slow to fight,
Bragi, thou pride of the bench;
come to battle, if bold thou art;
not a whit would a stout heart stay.”
16
Ithun said:
“I beg thee, Bragi, to bear in mind
that of Óthin’s kin he is:¹⁵
tease not Loki with taunting words
in Ægir’s ale-hall.”
¹⁵ I adopt Falk’s interpretation of this difficult passage.
17
Loki said:
“Hush thee, Ithun: of all women
thou art most mad after men,
for thy shining arms on the shoulders lay
of thy brother’s banesman.”
18
Ithun said:
“I tease not Loki with taunting words
in Ægir’s ale-hall;
I but soothe Bragi with beer who is crazed,
lest the bold ones do battle.”
19
Gefion¹⁶ said:
“Ye æsir twain, within this hall
why do ye war with words?
for Loki knoweth what nag he bears:
he loathes all living things.”¹⁶ᵃ
¹⁶ The Giver (?). According to Gylfag. chap. 35, she is a virgin goddess who assembles in her hall all girls who die unwedded.
¹⁶ᵃ The rendering of these lines is uncertain.
20
Loki said:
“Hush thee, Gefion, I have in mind
who did lure thee to lust:
the fair-haired swain¹⁶ᵇ sold thee the necklace,
ere thou threwest about him thy thighs.”
¹⁶ᵇ The god Heimdall.—As to the (Brísings’) necklace which, in other myths, is Freya’s property, cf. Þrym. 12, note.
21
Óthin said:
“Bereft of reason and raving thou art,
to earn the Gefion’s grudge;
for the world’s weird she, I ween, doth know
even as well as I.”
22
Loki said:
“Hush thee, Óthin; not ever fairly
didst allot men luck in battle;
oft thou gavest, as give thou shouldst not,
mastery to worser men.”¹⁷
¹⁷ Óthin is frequently accused of this. Cf. Sigrdr. 5, Helr. 8. His defense is (Eiríksmǫ́l 7) that he needs the best heroes for the final fight with the Wolf.
23
Óthin said:
“Granted I gave, as give I should not,
mastery to worser men:
thou winters eight wast the earth beneath,
[milking the cows as a maid,
and there gavest birth to a brood:]¹⁸
were these womanish ways, I ween.”
¹⁸ The myth alluded to is not known.
24
Loki said:
“But thou, say they, on Sáms-isle¹⁹ once
wovest spells like a witch:
in warlock’s shape through the world didst fare:
were these womanish ways, I ween.”
¹⁹ A Danish island north of Funen.
25
Frigg said:
“Your doings ye should deeply hide,
nor tell these tidings abroad;
what in olden times ye twain have wrought,
keep it from ken of men.”
26
Loki said:
“Hush thee, Frigg, who art Fiorgyn’s²⁰ wife:
thou hast ever been mad after men.”
Both Vili and Vé²¹ thou, Vithrir’s²² spouse,
didst fold to thy bosom both.”
²⁰ I.e. Óthin’s. This name of the supreme deity is identical with that of Thór’s mother, cf. Vsp. 48, Hárb. 56.
²¹ ‘Will’ and ‘Holiness’; conceived as Óthin’s brothers, but probably only hypostases of Óthin.
²² ‘Lord of the Weather’, Óthin.
27
Frigg said:
“Forsooth, had I in Ægir’s hall
a son as Baldr so brave:
thou ’dst not get thee gone from the gods in hall,
before thou hadst fought for thy life.”
28
Loki said:
“Be mindful, Frigg, what further I tell
of wicked works of mine:
my rede wrought it that rides nevermore
hitherward Baldr to hall.”²³
²³ Cf. Vsp. 25 and note.
29
Freya said:
“Thou art raving, Loki, to reckon up
all the ill thou hast done:
I ween that Frigg the fates knoweth,
though she say it not herself.”
30
Loki said:
“Hush thee, Freya, I full well know thee:
neither thou art free from fault:
all æsir and alfs within this hall
thou hast lured to love with thee.”
31
Freya said:
“Thy slanderous tongue, ’ twill thy sorrow be,
and still will work thee woe;”
wroth are the gods and goddesses,
thou’lt fare sadly home from hence.”
32
Loki said:
“Hush thee, Freya, a whore thou art,
and aye wast bent on ill;
in thy brother’s bed the blessed gods caught thee,
when, Freya, thou didst fart.”
33
Niorth said:
“Little sin me seemeth, though beside her mate
a wedded wife have a lover:
that the unclean ás with us should dwell,
I wonder, who was a woman.”²⁴
²⁴ Loki gave birth to Óthin’s horse Sleipnir, cf. Grímn. 44, note.
34
Loki said:
“Hush thee, Niorth, thou hence wast sent
as hostage for holy gods,²⁵
and Hymir’s handmaids had thee as pot,
and used thy mouth as midden.”
²⁵ We are told (Vaf. 39) that he was thus sent by the Vanir gods to the Æsir, but nowhere, that he was sent by them to the giant Hymir.
35
Niorth said:
“My meed had I that holy gods
as hostage sent me from hence:
a son I gat²⁶ on whom smile all wights,
who is highest held among gods.”
²⁶ Frey, who, as well as his sister Freya, is begotten by Niorth with his (unnamed) sister.
36
Loki said:
“Have done now, Niorth, thy darling to praise;
I’ll no longer let it be hidden:
with thy own sister that son didst get,—
a wonder he is not worse.”
37
Týr said:
“Frey is the best among blessed hosts
here in the garth of the gods:
aggrieves not maids nor men’s wives,
and frees all bondsmen from fetters.”
38
Loki said:
“Hush thee, Týr, ne’er no heed givest thou
that man meet man half-way;²⁷
thy sword-hand from thee was snatched, I ween,
by Fenrir’s greedy fangs.”
²⁷ Like Óthin, the god of war is not a reconciler of men.
39
Týr said:
“I lost my hand, Hrótvitnir²⁸ thou,
a baleful loss to us both:
in bondage now must bide his time
the Wolf, till the world’s doom.”
²⁸ The Famous Wolf, Fenrir.
40
Loki said:
“Hush thee, Týr, with thy housewife²⁹ I
slept, so a son she bore;
nor a penny didst get to pay thee back
for this foul wrong, thou wretch.”
²⁹ We are nowhere told of Týr’s wife.
41
Frey said:
“By the River²⁹ᵃ fettered Fenrir will lie
till draws nigh the doom of the gods:
and near to him, but thou hush thee now,
wilt be bound, thou breeder of ill.”
²⁹ᵃ The river Ván, formed by the spittle from the jaws of the fettered wolf (Gylfag. 34).
42
Loki said:
“With gold thou boughtest Gymir’s daughter,³⁰
and sold the thurses thy sword;
but when Múspell’s sons³¹ through Myrk-wood³² ride
what weapon, wretch, wilt then wield?”
³⁰ Gerth; cf. Skírn. where, to be sure, nothing is said about Frey’s giving his sword to any one but his trusty servitor Skírnir, nor about Frey’s winning Gerth with his gold.
³¹ Cf. Vsp. 44 and note.
³² ‘Dark Wood’, typical name of a forest. In this case, the boundary against Surt’s world of fire.
43
Byggvir said:
“If an ás I were like Ingunar-Frey,³³
and such blessed abode were mine,
I should crush to marrow this crow of ill,
and break his every bone.”
³³ Probably the same as Yngvi (-Frey), H.H. I, 57, Reg. 14.
44
Loki said:
“Who is that wee wight, pray, who wags his tail,
and sniffling snoops about?
About Frey’s ears art ever hovering,
or cluckst around the quern.”
45
Byggvir said:
“I am Byggvir hight, and brisk in work,
as both æsir and einheriar³⁴ know;
I glory now that Grímnir’s sib³⁵ all
are drinking the beer I brewed.”
³⁴ The fallen warriors gathered in Valholl.
³⁵ Óthin’s. Cf. Grímn. Intro. Prose, note.
46
Loki said:
“Hush thee, Byggvir, at board thou dealest
but ill their mead to men;
in the straw of the floor men strove to find thee,
when forth to fight they went.”
47
Heimdall³⁶ said:
“Ale-crazed art and out of thy mind:
why let not, Loki, be?
O’ermuch of mead aye maketh one
know not what twaddle he talks.”
48
Loki said:
“Hush thee, Heimdall, to a hateful life
wast doomed in days of yore:
with a stiff back thou must stand alway,
and wake as the watch of the gods.”³⁶
³⁶ He keeps watch at the Giallar-bridge, against the giants.
49
Skathi said:
“Thou art lusty, Loki, but long thou wilt not
a loose tail wag as thou list;
for on a rock with thy ice-cold son’s
guts will bind thee the gods.”³⁷
³⁷ Cf. The Concluding Prose.
50
Loki said:
“If on a rock with my ice-cold son’s
guts will bind me the gods:
know that first and foremost in the fray was I,
when Thiatsi, thy father, we felled.”³⁸
³⁸ Cf. Hárb. 19, note.
51
Skathi said:
“If first and foremost in the fray thou wast,
when ye felled my father Thiatsi:
from my holy groves and hallowed shrines
will cold counsel ever come for thee.”
52
Loki said:
“More of love didst lisp to Laufey’s son,³⁹
when thou bad’st me share thy bed:
if our faults and blots to bare we are,
this truth shall also be told.”
³⁹ I.e. Loki, the son of the giantess Laufey.
Then came Sif forward and poured mead for Loki in a crystal cup, and said:
53
“Hail to thee, Loki! To thy lips now raise
this beaker full of good beer,
so that me alone among the gods
without a blot thou letst be.”
54
He took the goblet and drank of it (and said):
“That one thou wert, if thou wert indeed
shy and didst shrink from men;
but one I wot, whom well I know,
made a whore of Hlórrithi’s⁴⁰ wife
[sly Loki, Laufey’s son].”
⁴⁰ I.e. Thór’s.
55
Beyla said:
“The mountains shake: fares Miolnir’s wielder.
Hlórrithi, hitherward;
he will quickly quell the quarrelsome knave
who mocks both æsir and men.”
56
Loki said:
“Hush thee, Beyla, who art Byggvir’s wife,
and ever bent on ill;
a worser wench never was with the gods:
all dirty art thou, drab!”
57
Then came up Thór, and said:
“Hush thee, ill wight, or my hammer of might,
Miolnir, shall shut thy mouth;
I shall shatter thy shoulder-cliff,⁴¹—
no longer then wilt thou live.”
⁴¹ Kenning for ‘head’.
58
Loki said:
“The son of Iorth⁴² now in hath come:
why threaten and bluster now, Thór?
Not so forward wilt be to fight the Wolf:
he will swallow Sigfather⁴³ himself.”
⁴² ‘Earth’; Identical in meaning with Fiorgyn, Vsp. 56, Hárb. 48.
⁴³’The Father of Victory’, Óthin.
59
Thór said:
“Hush thee, ill wight, or my hammer of might,
Miolnir, shall shut thy mouth;
up I’ll hurl thee to etin world
where men will see thee no more.”
60
Loki said:
“Of thy eastern jaunts⁴⁴ not ever shouldst thou
boast to any wight born:
in a glove’s thumb since, thewless, didst crouch,
and seemed not Thór himself.”⁴⁵
⁴⁴ Cf. Hárb. Intro. Prose.
⁴⁵ The same unlucky adventure of Thór’s is alluded to Hárb. 26.
61
Thór said:
“Hush thee, ill wight, or my hammer of might,
Miolnir, shall shut thy mouth:
my right hand will hew thee with Hrungnir’s bane,⁴⁶
and break every bone in thy body.”
⁴⁶ Kenning for Thór’s hammer. Cf. Hárb. 15.
62
Loki said:
“To live I hope a long time yet,
though with the hammer thou threaten:
Skrymir’s strings seemed stout to thee,
nor mightest thou get at thy meat⁴⁷
[and, unharmed, thou wast hungry].”
⁴⁷ On the adventure referred to, the giant Skrymir carried Thór’s knapsack and secured it so stoutly that Thór was unable to unfasten the knot; Gylfag. chap. 45.
63
Thór said:
“Hush thee, ill wight, or my hammer of might,
Mjolnir, shall shut thy mouth:
will Hrungnir’s bane to Hel send thee,
even to Nágrind⁴⁸ beneath.”
⁴⁸ The Gates of the Dead, at the entrance of Hel.
64
Loki said:
“To the æsir said I, and to ása sons,
what my heart did whet me to say;
for thee alone I leave the hall,
for I well know thy hammer’s weight.
65
“Ale mad’st thou, Ægir, but not ever shalt
henceforth brew for a banquet:
all that thou hast this hall within
may flames set on fire
and burn on thy back!”
Thereupon Loki hid himself in the Fránangr waterfall in the shape of a salmon, and there the gods caught him. They bound him with the guts of his son Váli;⁴⁹ but his son Norfi became a wolf. Skathi took a venomous serpent and hung it above Loki’s face so that its poison dripped on him. Loki’s wife, Sigyn,⁴⁹ᵃ sat by him and held a bowl under the poison, and she carried it out whenever it was full; but meanwhile the poison dripped on Loki. Then he tossed so fearfully that all the earth shook: men call this ‘earthquakes’ nowadays.⁵⁰
⁴⁹ He bears the same name as the son of Óthin who avenges Baldr, Vsp. 25, note.
⁴⁹ᵃ Cf. Vsp. 27 and note.
⁵⁰ The similarity with the story of the giant Typhœus confined under Ætna (Ovid, Metamorphoses V, 346) is striking.
III
Introductory note
It is safe to say that the Lokasenna is not, and never was, a popular lay, in any sense. It is the product of a witty and clever skald who conceived the idea of showing the solemn and glorious gods from their seamy side.ᵃ As interlocutor he uses Mephistophelian Loki who engages the various gods and goddesses in a senna (a flyting, or running dialogue of vituperation) of at times very spicy quality in which each and every one gets his or her share of defamation, until the disturber of the peace is finally put to flight by Thór’s threat of violence. The result is a veritable chronique scandaleuse of the Northern Olympus.
It follows from what has been said that we need not implicitly believe that all—or any—of the ‘sly god’s’ accusations are true or must agree with the generally accepted lore. They are, for the most part, imputations which the gods cannot, or care not to, controvert, for they are more easily made than disproved.
Technically, the poem is skilful both in composition and in the handling of the song metre. The connection between the stanzas is effected by the simple device of having one godhead defend the other, to be reviled in his turn by Loki.
The present position of the poem beside the Hymiskviþa is in all likelihood due to the Collector, who also wrote the very inept Final Prose about the capture and punishment of Loki which in the Snorra Edda more properly follows Baldr’s death.
For the text of the lay we are altogether dependent on the Cod. Reg. Very characteristically, it was not used as a source by Snorri (except for one stanza). The weight of evidence points to Norway as place of origin. It may have been composed in the latter half of the Tenth Century.
Ægir, who was also hight Gymir,¹ had made ale for the gods when he had gotten the kettle, as now has been told. To this feast came Óthin and his wife Frigg. But Thór was not there, because he was in the East.² His wife Sif²ᵃ came, as also Bragi and his wife, Ithun.⁴ Týr was there; he was one-handed, for the Fenriswolf had bitten off his hand, the time he was bound.⁵ There were also Niorth and Skathi his wife, Frey⁷ and Freya,⁸ and Víthar,⁹ the son of Óthin. Loki was there, and Frey’s servitors, Byggvir and Beyla.⁹ᵃ Besides, there was many another ás and alf.¹⁰ Ægir had two servitors, Fimafeng and Eldir.¹¹ Shining gold served there for light, and the cups filled themselves with ale. It was a place of great peace.¹² Now they who were there praised greatly the servantmen of Ægir. Loki hated to hear that and slew Fimafeng. Then the gods shook their shields and raised an outcry against Loki and drove him away to the woods. Then they returned to the feast. Loki came back again and found Eldir without. Loki greeted him and said:
ᵃ It is impossible to believe that the Lokasenna was composed in any spirit of serious propaganda, or even with a faith in the gods, as some eminent scholars claim.
¹ Not identical with the giant who is Gerth’s father, Skírn., 6, and below, 41.
² This does not agree with the conclusion of Hym.
²ᵃ Cf. Hárb. 48, note.
³ Cf. Grímn. 44, note.
⁴ ‘The Rejuvenating One’, the goddess of youth.
⁵ When the gods, after several vain attempts, had at last obtained fetters strong enough to hold Fenrir, the Wolf consented to be bound only if one of the gods would place his hand in his jaws as a pledge. Týr did so, and when the fetters proved unbreakable Fenrir bit it off. Thus Gylfag. chap. 34.
⁶ Cf. Vaf. 38, note.
⁷ Cf. Grímn. 5, note.
⁸ Cf. ibid. 14, note.
⁹ Cf. Vsp. 46.
⁹ᵃ ‘John Barleycorn’ (?) and ‘Milkmaid’ (?).
¹⁰ With the vanir, the races of gods of the Northern Olympus.
1. nom. sg. ás, nom. acc. plur. æsir, gen. plur. ása.
¹¹ ‘Handy’ and ‘Fire-Kindler’.
¹² I.e. a sanctuary where no deed of violence might be committed.
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