Þrymskviða
The Lay of Thrym
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 Þrymskviða 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 Þrymskviða.
II
Here Begins Þrymskviða
1
Wroth was Vingthór¹ when awaking he
Miolnir² missed, his mighty hammer;
his beard gan shake, his shaggy head
Fiorgyn’s first-born,³ he fumbled about him.
¹ ‘The Hurler’ (?), an epithet of Thór.
² ‘The Crusher’. It never misses in its aim and always returns into Thór’s hands.
³ I.e. Thór, cf. Hárb. 4, note.
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’s⁴ 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?”
⁴ The goddess of fertility and love; cf. Grímn. 14. Her bower is called Folkvang, ibid.
4
Freya said:
“Though of gold it were I gave it to thee,
and for thy sake, though of silver it were.”
Flew then Loki, the feather-coat whirred,
left behind him the halls of the gods,
and winged his way to the world of etins.
5
On a mound sate Thrym,⁵ the thurses’ lord;
golden halters for his hounds he twined,
and sleeked the manes of slender horses.⁶
⁵ ‘The Noisy’.
⁶ A Homeric situation. The action (like the fashioning of bow and arrow etc., Ríg. 27) is typical of the lord; also, sitting on a mound.
6
Thrym said:
“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:
dost hide Hlórrithi’s⁸ hammer with thee?”
⁷ Cf. Vsp. 40, note.
⁸ I.e. Thór’s.
7
Thrym said:
“Hlórrithi’s hammer I hide with me
full eight rosts⁹ deep the earth beneath;
Miolnir no wight may win from me,
but he Freya bring as bride to me.”
⁹ ‘Leagues’.
8
Flew then Loki, the feather-coat whirred,
left behind him the home of etins,
and winged his way to the world of gods.
Thór met him there in middle court.
These words then first fell from his lips:
9
“What welcome word rewards thy toil?
Tell while aloft thy long¹⁰ tidings:
sitting one oft his errand forgets,
and lying, tells lies altogether.”¹¹
¹⁰ I.e., however long they be.
¹¹ The meaning of these curious lines may be that, the longer the delay, the less accurate the report: a night’s ‘lying’ may pervert it utterly—out of regard for the host?
10
Loki said:
“A welcome word rewards my toil:
Thrym has thy hammer, the thurses’ lord.
Miolnir no wight may win from him,
but he Freya bring as bride with him.”
11
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.”
12
Wroth grew Freya, foamed with rage,
the shining halls shook with her wrath,
the Brísings’ necklace¹² burst asunder:
“most mad after men thou mayst call me,
if I wend with thee to the world of etins.”
¹² The Brísinga men was a necklace (torque) fashioned (according to the late Sǫrla þáttr) by four dwarfs. It is no doubt identical with the precious Brösinga mene in Beowulf (1199).
13
To the thing¹³ forthwith fared all gods,
and all goddesses gathered together.
Among them mooted the mighty gods
how they Hlórrithi’s hammer’d win back.
¹³ The assembly.
14
Whereon Heimdall, whitest of gods,—¹⁴
he fathomed the future as foreknowing van—:¹⁵
“Busk we Thór then in bridal linen,
and buckle on him the Brísings’ necklace.
15
“Let a house-wife’s door-keys¹⁶ dangle about him,
let woman’s weeds be worn by him,
Let him bear on breast bridal jewels,
a hood on his head, as befits a bride.”
¹⁶ Cf. Ríg. 23.
16
Then thus spake Thór, the Thunderer:
“a craven wretch may call me the gods
if I busk me in bridal linen.”
17
Then quoth Loki, Laufey’s son:¹⁷
“Hush thee now, Thór, and heed these words:
soon will the etins in Ásgarth¹⁸ dwell,
but thou fetch home the hammer from them.”
¹⁷ Cf. Lok. 52, note.
¹⁸ The habitations of the æsir.
18
Busked they Thór then in bridal linen,
buckled on him the Brísings’ necklace,
let a house-wife’s door-keys dangle about him,
and woman’s weeds be worn by him:
on his breast he bore bridal jewels,
a hood on his head as behooves a bride.
19
Then quoth Loki, Laufey’s son:
“with thee I will, to wait on thee,
we twain shall wend to the world of etins.”
20
Then home the goats¹⁹ to the hall were driven,
haltered with ropes, to run with the wain:
the mountains brake, the earth burned in fire,
rode Óthin’s son²⁰ to etin-world.
¹⁹ Thór’s wain is drawn by he-goats.
²⁰ Thór, by the giantess Fiorgyn or Hlóthyn.
21
Said Thrym these words, the thurses’ lord:
“stand up, etins, put straw on the benches:²¹
to be my bride they bring me Freya,
Niorthr’s daughter from Nóátún.”²²
²¹ This was done on festal occasions; cf. Bdr. 6.
²² Cf. Grímn. 16.
22
“In my garth there graze golden-horned kine,²³
oxen all black, to etins a joy;
many rings have I, many riches have I,
Freya alone I lacked, methinks.”
²³ Cf. H.Hv. 4, note.
23
Soon had the sun set in that land;²⁴
then ale was borne on the etins’ table;
ate there an ox and eight salmons,
all dainties dealt for women,
three measures of mead drank Miolnir’s wielder.
²⁴ Because of the location of the frost-giants in the far North (-east); but the line may be interpreted:
early at eve they in had come.
24
Said Thrym these words, the thurses’ lord:
“where sawest thou bride bite more sharply?
Ne’er saw I bride bite more broadly,
nor more of mead a maiden drink.”
25
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.”
26
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.”
27
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.”
28
In stepped the etin’s starveling sister,²⁵
bridal gifts she dared beg from her:
“Rings of red gold give thou to me,
if fain wouldst have all my friendship and love,
all my friendship and fondness too.”
²⁵ ‘The etin’s sister’ is, probably, a kenning for ‘giantess’—some kinswoman.
29
Said Thrym these words, the thurses’ lord:
“Bring the hammer the bride to bless;²⁶
on the maiden’s lap Miolnir lay ye,
in Vór’s²⁷ name then our wedlock hallow!”
²⁶ A consecration with the hammer is known also elsewhere, though not in the wedding ceremony. The hammer is a phallic symbol.
²⁷ ‘Oath’, a goddess, seemingly a hypostasis of Frigg, goddess of marriage.
30
Laughed Hlórrithi’s heart within him,
when his hammer beheld the hardy one;
Thrym he slew first, the thurses’ lord,
then crushed he all the etin’s kin.
31
Struck the etin’s starveling sister,—
for shillings she got a shock of the hammer,
a grinding blow for golden rings.
Thus Hlóthyn’s son²⁸ his hammer got him.
²⁸ Cf. note on 20, above.
III
Introductory note
This is the best known, and deservedly the most famous, poem in the collection; indeed, one of the few great ballads of world literature—a classic in so far as purely Northern material has here 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: the lay was a favorite also in the olden times, as is attested by the existence, in all lands inhabited by Scandinavians, of folk-ballads clearly based on it. The fact 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 Cod. Reg. which is, fortunately, in a good state of preservation.
The date of composition is most generally set quite early in the Tenth Century. Assuming this to be correct, Norwegian origin is likely.
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