Fǫr Skírnis

Fǫr Skírnis (FSk.) ‘Skírnir’s Journey’ is found in R (fol. 11r–12r). The initial prose and most of stt. 1 to 27—the rest having been lost—also appear in A (fol. 2r–v), under the title Skírnismál ‘The Sayings of Skírnir’. A variant version of the final stanza is quoted in SnEGylf (36, p. 31). Orthographical and palaeographical similarities to Hrbl., the next poem in R (but not A), suggest that the two poems were originally transcribed together and separate from the rest of R.

The date of composition is, as usual, uncertain. FSk. was once held to be one of the earliest surviving Eddic poems (tenth century or earlier), but some recent commentators favour a twelfth- or thirteenth-century date. Like other poems in this collection, however, even if FSk. reached its present form quite late, it may include much earlier material.

FSk. is mainly in ljóðaháttr, the usual Eddic metre for dialogue-poems; the extended form, galdralag, also features, especially in Skírnir’s curse (e.g., 29/4–7, 30/4–7, 32). There are, in addition, several half-stanzas in fornyrðislag (e.g., 34/1–4, 36/1–4). The poem’s extensive use of dialogue has led to the suggestion that it is based on, or intended for, dramatic performance.

This is the only poem in R to focus on the group of gods known as Vanir, and on the deity Freyr in particular. His union with the giantess Gerðr is mentioned elsewhere in Norse myth, however, where it constitutes a formal bond: Hdl. 30 records that Freyr married Gerðr, daughter of Gymir and Aurboða. Other texts also refer to this union: Ls. 42 states that Freyr ‘had Gymir’s daughter bought’ with gold and thus gave away his sword, and that consequently he will not know how to fight the sons of Muspell at Ragnarok; chapter 10 of Ynglinga saga says that ‘[Freyr’s] wife was called Gerðr, daughter of Gymir; their son was called Fjǫlnir’, progenitor of the Ynglingar dynasty.¹ These references suggest the former existence of other mythological material about Freyr and Gerðr.

Other than FSk., the only surviving full account of the myth of Freyr and Gerðr appears in SnEGylf (37, pp. 30–32), but its romanticized and considerably shorter account is probably based largely on a version of FSk. Snorri’s prose narrative agrees in the main with that of the poem, but there are some significant differences: according to Snorri, Freyr’s love for Gerðr is a punishment for his presumption in sitting in Hliðskjálf; the giantess Skaði plays no part in events; more is made of Freyr’s desperate love-sickness, in keeping with high-medieval notions of courtly love; Freyr, not his servant Skírnir, is the main figure; Gerðr accepts the proposed union at once, without gifts, violence or curses; and the story has explicit eschatological significance, because we learn that Freyr will miss his sword at Ragnarok.²

I have argued elsewhere that behind FSk. may lie a celestial myth about the transfer of light from sun to moon and back again, Gerðr arguably being (or having been), in my view, a lunar giantess who had acquired sunlight, which Skírnir, emissary of the sun-controlling god Freyr, seeks to reclaim for his master. This myth seems to be paralleled, albeit obscurely, in the confrontation of the eponymous hero of the Old English poem Beowulf, on behalf of Hroðgar, lord of the ‘Friends of Ing [= (Ingvi)Freyr]’ (i.e., Danes), with another hostile giantess, Grendel’s mother.³ But FSk. is also interpretable simply as a bridal-quest tale of the subjugation of a giantess to a male god’s sexual desire by means of gifts, physical violence (actual or threatened), rune-magic and cursing. Additionally, it shows the conflict of reason and passion in relations between gods and giants; they can, as a rule, live neither with nor without each other. On the one hand, the gods and giants are, despite their kinship, arch-enemies; on the other, they desire each other sexually. Hence, for example, Óðinn’s seduction of Gunnlǫð in Háv. and of an unnamed giantess in Hrbl.; Þórr’s fathering of Magni on the giantess Járnsaxa in SnESkáld; several giants’ desire for Freyja, Sif and (perhaps) Iðunn in Vsp., Þrk., SnEGylf and SnESkáld; and the giantess Skaði’s wish to marry Baldr in SnESkáld. Similarly, Freyr wants Gerðr, and she, despite antipathy to a suitor she believes to be her brother’s slayer, would rather have him than a giant.

Although lust between gods and giantesses is evident, when it comes to more formal ties the gods generally maintain an apartheid. Exceptions include the marriage of the Njǫrðr to Skaði in SnEGylf, and her subsequent marriage to Óðinn in Ynglinga saga. In FSk. it seems that the former marriage has yet to fail, but Freyr is nonetheless aware that his desire—judging from the marriage referred to in other texts—for more than a passing liaison with Gerðr is taboo: ‘of Æsir and elves, no one will wish it, that we two should be united’ (FSk. 7). Happily, his marriage was not only allowed but proved to be a unique intergroup success in Eddic mythology.

Indeed, the story of Freyr and Gerðr, or at least the putative basis thereof, has often been interpreted as a fertility myth. More specifically, it has been thought by some to manifest the Indo-European myth of a hieros gamos ‘sacred marriage’ or a mating between Sky and Earth.⁴ In FSk., according to this interpretation, the virile sun-god Freyr—his messenger Skírnir ‘Cleansing One’ perhaps being a personified sunbeam—wins Gerðr ‘(She of the) Enclosed Place’, who represents the unfertilized ground. Although this specific view differs somewhat from my reading of the poem, allusive mythic imagery can support more than one interpretation.

Despite its focus on one of the Vanir (a perspective shared in Eddic poetry only by Hdl.), FSk. also has similarities and links to its Eddic neighbours: for example, (1) the quest to giantland finds parallel in Háv., Vm. and Hym., and especially in the ironic reversal of the bridal quest in Þrk. and perhaps Alv.; also in Fj., which displays strong similarities to FSk. in terms of theme, scene and language; (2) the theme of love, or at least lust, between gods and giants echoes that touched on in Vsp., Háv., Hrbl. and Þrk., although Freyr’s passivity contrasts with the active approach of the giants and Óðinn; (3) Gymir/Ægir’s loss of his daughter is compounded by the loss of his prize cauldron in Hym.; (4) the potential confrontation with Gymir finds parallel in the hostile giants of Háv., Vm., Hym. and Þrk., and foreshadows the last battles of Vsp.; (5) notable verbal similarities exist with Ls.

FSk. also has close affinities with bridal-quest tales that became popular in the twelfth century and with curse-literature. The bridal-quest tales contain corresponding motifs, such as the worried parents, the wooer’s love from afar, the well-protected virgin, the hostility of the bride’s father to the wooing, and the difficulties overcome by the wooer’s helper.

Synopsis

Further Reading

Clunies Ross, M., Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Medieval Northern Society, 2 vols. (Odense: Odense University Press, 1994–98).

Clunies Ross, M., ‘Royal Ideology in Early Scandinavia: A Theory Versus the Texts’, JEGP 113 (2014), 18–33, https://doi.org/10.5406/jenglgermphil.113.1.0018

Cohen, S., ‘“Nine Nights” in Indo-European Myth’, Comparative Mythology 5 (2019), 33–43, https://www.compmyth.org/journal/index.php/cm/article/view/20

Dronke, U., ‘Art and Tradition in Skírnismál’, in N. Davis and C. L. Wrenn, ed., English and Medieval Studies Presented to J. R. R. Tolkien on the Occasion of His Seventieth Birthday (London: Harper Collins, 1962), pp. 250–68.

Dronke, U., ed., The Poetic Edda: Volume II. Mythological Poems (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997).

Enright, M. J., Lady with a Mead Cup: Ritual, Prophecy and Lordship in the European Warband from La Tène to the Viking Age (Blackrock: Four Courts Press, 1996).

Gunnell, T., The Origins of Drama in Scandinavia (Woodbridge: D. S. Brewer, 1995).

Harris, J., ‘Cursing with the Thistle: “Skírnismál” 31, 6–8, and OE Metrical Charm 9, 16–17’, Neuphilologische Mitteilungen 76 (1975), 26–33 [rpt. with prefatory note by C. Larrington and afterword by J. Harris in P. Acker and C. Larrington, ed., The Poetic Edda: Essays on Old Norse Mythology (New York: Routledge, 2002), pp. 79–93].

Jochens, J., Old Norse Images of Women (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1996).

Kalinke, M. E., Bridal-Quest Romance in Medieval Iceland (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1990).

McKinnell, J., Meeting the Other in Norse Myth and Legend (Cambridge, UK: D. S. Brewer, 2005).

Mitchell, S. A., ‘Fǫr Scírnis as Mythological Model: frið at kaupa’, ANF 98 (1983), 108–22.

Mitchell, S. A., Witchcraft and Magic in the Nordic Middle Ages (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2011), https://doi.org/10.9783/9780812203714  

Motz, L., ‘Gerðr: A New Interpretation of the Lay of Skírnir’, Maal og minne (1981), 121–36.

Motz, L., ‘The Sacred Marriage — A Study in Norse Mythology’, in M. A. Jazayery and W. Winter, ed., Languages and Cultures: Studies in Honor of Edgar C. Polomé (Berlin: De Gruyter, 1988), pp. 449–59.

Orton, P. R., ‘The Wife’s Lament and Skírnismál: Some Parallels’, in R. McTurk and A. Wawn, ed., Úr Dölum til Dala: Guðbrandur Vigfússon Centenary Essays (Leeds: Leeds Studies in English, 1989), pp. 205–37.

Pettit, E., The Waning Sword: Conversion Imagery and Celestial Myth in ‘Beowulf’ (Cambridge, UK: Open Book Publishers, 2020), https://doi.org/10.11647/obp.0190

Polomé, E. C., ‘Etymology, Myth and Interpretation: Some Comments on Skírnismál’, in A. M. Simon-Vandenbergen, ed., Studies in Honour of René Derolez (Gent: Seminarie voor Engelse en Oud-Germaanse Taalkunde, 1987), pp. 453–65.

Sävborg, D., ‘Love among Gods and Men: Skírnismál and its Tradition’, in A. Andrén, K. Jennbert and C. Raudvere, ed., Old Norse Religion in Long-Term Perspectives: Origins, Changes, and Interactions. An International Conference in Lund, Sweden, June 3–7, 2004 (Lund: Nordic Academic Press, 2006), pp. 336–40.

Sayers, W., ‘Skírnismál, Byggvir, and John Barleycorn’, ANF 131 (2016), 21-46.

Sheffield, A. G., Frey: God of the World, 2^nd edn. (n.pl., Lulu.com, 2007).

Simek, R., ‘Lust, Sex and Domination. Skírnismál and the Foundation of the Norwegian Kingdom’, in Ásdís Egilsdóttur and R. Simek, ed., Sagnaheimur: Studies in Honour of Hermann Pálsson on his 80th Birthday, 26th May 2001 (Vienna: Fassbaender, 2001), pp. 229–46.

Fǫr Skírnis

1. ‘Rístu nú, Skírnir,   ok gakk at beiða

okkarn mála mǫg,

ok þess at fregna:   hveim inn fróði sé

ofreiði afi!’

Skírnir kvað:

2. ‘Illra orða   er mér ón at ykkrum syni,

ef ek geng at mæla við mǫg,

ok þess at fregna:   hveim inn fróði sé

ofreiði afi.

3. ‘Segðu þat, Freyr,   fólkvaldi goða,

ok ek vilja vita:

hví þú einn sitr   endlanga sali,

minn dróttinn, um daga?’

Freyr kvað:

4. ‘Hví um segjak þér,   seggr inn ungi,

mikinn móðtrega?

Þvíat álfrǫðull   lýsir um alla daga,

ok þeygi at mínum munum.’

Skírnir kvað:

5. ‘Muni þína   hykka ek svá mikla vera,

at þú mér, seggr, né segir;

þvíat ungir saman   várum í árdaga,

vel mættim tveir trúask.’

Freyr kvað:

6. ‘Í Gymis gǫrðum   ek sá ganga

mér tíða mey;

armar lýstu,   en af þaðan

allt lopt ok lǫgr.

7. ‘Mær er mér tíðari   en manni hveim

ungum í árdaga;

Ása ok álfa,   þat vill engi maðr,

at vit sátt sém.’

Skírnir kvað:

8. ‘Mar gefðu mér þá,   þann er mik um myrkvan beri,

vísan vafrloga,

ok þat sverð   er sjálft vegisk

við jǫtna ætt.’

Freyr kvað:

9. ‘Mar ek þér þann gef   er þik um myrkvan berr

vísan vafrloga,

ok þat sverð   er sjálft mun vegask,

ef sá er horskr er hefir.’

Skírnir mælti við hestinn:

10. ‘Myrkt er úti,   mál kveð ek okkr fara

úrig fjǫll yfir,

þyrja þjóð yfir;

báðir vit komumk,   eða okkr báða tekr

sá inn ámátki jǫtunn!’

Skírnir reið í Jǫtunheima til Gymis garða. Þar váru hundar ólmir, ok bundnir fyrir skíðgarðs hliði, þess er um sal Gerðar var. Hann reið at þar er féhirðir sat á haugi ok kvaddi hann:

11. ‘Segðu þat, hirðir,   er þú á haugi sitr

ok varðar alla vega:

hvé ek at andspilli   komumk ins unga mans,

fyr greyjum Gymis?’

Hirðir kvað:

12. ‘Hvárt ertu feigr,   eða ertu framgenginn?

Andspillis vanr   þú skalt æ vera

góðrar meyjar Gymis!’

Skírnir kvað:

13. ‘Kostir ru betri,   heldr en at kløkkva sé,

hveim er fúss er fara;

einu dœgri   mér var aldr um skapaðr

ok allt líf um lagit!’

Gerðr kvað:

14. ‘Hvat er þat hlym hlymja   er ek heyri nú til

ossum rǫnnum í?

Jǫrð bifask,   en allir fyrir

skjálfa garðar Gymis!’

Ambátt kvað:

15. ‘Maðr er hér úti,   stiginn af mars baki,

jó lætr til jarðar taka.’

Gerðr kvað:

16. ‘Inn biððu hann ganga   í okkarn sal

ok drekka inn mæra mjǫð,

þó ek hitt óumk,   at hér úti sé

minn bróðurbani.

17. ‘Hvat er þat álfa   né Ása sona

né víssa Vana?

Hví þú einn um komt   eikinn fúr yfir

ór salkynni at sjá?’

Skírnir kvað:

18. ‘Emkat ek álfa,   né Ása sona,

né víssa Vana,

þó ek einn um komk   eikinn fúr yfir

yður salkynni at sjá.

19. ‘Epli ellifu   hér hefi ek, algullin,

þau mun ek þér, Gerðr, gefa,

frið at kaupa,   at þú þér Frey kveðir

óleiðastan at lifa!’

Gerðr kvað:

20. ‘Epli ellifu   ek þigg aldregi

at mannskis munum,

né vit Freyr,   meðan okkart fjǫr lifir,

byggjum bæði saman!’

Skírnir kvað:

21. ‘Baug ek þér þá gef,   þann er brendr var

með ungum Óðins syni;

átta eru jafnhǫfgir   er af drjúpa

ina níundu hverja nótt!’

Gerðr kvað:

22. ‘Baug ek þikkak,   þótt brendr sé

með ungum Óðins syni;

era mér gulls vant   í gǫrðum Gymis,

at deila fé fǫður!’

Skírnir kvað:

23. ‘Sér þú þenna mæki, mær,   mjóvan, málfán,

er ek hefi í hendi hér?

Hǫfuð hǫggva   ek mun þér hálsi af,

nema þú mér sætt segir!’

Gerðr kvað:

24. ‘Ánauð þola   ek vil aldregi

at mannskis munum;

þó ek hins get,   ef it Gymir finnisk

vígs ótrauðir,   at ykkr vega tíði!’

Skírnir kvað:

25. ‘Sér þú þenna mæki, mær,   mjóvan, málfán,

er ek hefi í hendi hér?

Fyr þessum eggjum   hnígr sá inn aldni jǫtunn,

verðr þinn feigr faðir!

26. ‘Tamsvendi ek þik drep,   en ek þik temja mun,

mær, at mínum munum;

þar skaltu ganga   er þik gumna synir

síðan æva sé!

27. ‘Ara þúfu á   skaltu ár sitja,

horfa heimi ór,   snugga Heljar til;

matr sé þér meirr leiðr   en manna hveim

inn fráni ormr með firum!

28. ‘At undrsjónum þú verðir   er þú út kømr!

Á þik Hrímnir hari,   á þik hvatvetna stari;

Víðkunnari þú verðir   en vǫrðr með goðum!

Gapiðu grindum frá!

29. ‘Tópi ok ópi,   tjǫsull ok óþoli

vaxi þér tár með trega!

Seztu niðr,   en ek mun segja þér

sváran sútbreka

ok tvennan trega!

30. ‘Tramar gneypa   þik skulu gerstan dag

jǫtna gǫrðum í;

til hrímþursa hallar   þú skalt hverjan dag

kranga kosta laus,

kranga kosta vǫn;

grát at gamni   skaltu í gǫgn hafa

ok leiða með tárum trega!

31. ‘Með þursi þríhǫfðuðum   þú skalt æ nara,

eða verlaus vera;

þitt geð grípi,

þik morn morni;

ver þú sem þistill,   sá er var þrunginn

í ǫnn ofanverða!

32. ‘Til holts ek gekk   ok til hrás viðar,

gambantein at geta,

gambantein ek gat!

33. ‘Reiðr er þér Óðinn,   reiðr er þér Ásabragr,

þik skal Freyr fjásk,

in fyrinilla mær,   en þú fengit hefir

gambanreiði goða!

34. ‘Heyri jǫtnar,   heyri hrímþursar,

synir Suttunga,   sjálfir Ásliðar,

hvé ek fyrbýð,   hvé ek fyrirbanna

manna glaum mani,

manna nyt mani!

35. ‘Hrímgrímnir heitir þurs   er þik hafa skal

fyr nágrindr neðan;

þar þér vílmegir   á viðar rótum

geita hland gefi!

Œðri drykkju   fá þú aldregi,

mær, at þínum munum,

mær, at mínum munum!

36. ‘Þurs ríst ek þér   ok þrjá stafi:

ergi ok œði   ok óþola;

svá ek þat af ríst,   sem ek þat á reist,

ef gørask þarfar þess!’

Gerðr kvað:

37. ‘Heill verðu nú heldr, sveinn,   ok tak við hrímkálki

fullum forns mjaðar!

Þó hafða ek þat ætlað,   at myndak aldregi

unna Vaningja vel!’

Skírnir kvað:

38. ‘Ørindi mín   vil ek ǫll vita,

áðr ek ríða heim heðan,

nær þú á þingi   munt inum þroska

nenna Njarðar syni.’

Gerðr kvað:

39. ‘Barri heitir,   er vit bæði vitum,

lundr lognfara;

en ept nætr níu   þar mun Njarðar syni

Gerðr unna gamans.’

Þá reið Skírnir heim. Freyr stóð úti ok kvaddi hann ok spurði tíðinda:

40. ‘Segðu mér þat, Skírnir,   áðr þú verpir sǫðli af mar

ok þú stígir feti framarr:

hvat þú árnaðir   í Jǫtunheima,

þíns eða míns munar?’

Skírnir kvað:

41. ‘Barri heitir,   er vit báðir vitum,

lundr lognfara;

en ept nætr níu   þar mun Njarðar syni

Gerðr unna gamans.’

Freyr kvað:

42. ‘Lǫng er nótt,   langar ru tvær,

hvé um þreyjak þrjár?

Opt mér mánaðr   minni þótti

en sjá hálf hýnótt!’

Skírnir’s Journey

Freyr, son of Njǫrðr, had sat himself in Hliðskjálf, and he looked through all worlds.5 He looked into Jǫtunheimar6 and saw there a fair maiden as she walked from her father’s hall to her bower.⁷ From this he received great sicknesses of heart.

Freyr’s servant was called Skírnir.8 Njǫrðr asked him to get Freyr to talk.

Then Skaði said:9

1. ‘Arise now, Skírnir, and go urge10

our boy to speak,

and ask him this: with whom the virile¹¹ youth

is so very angry!’

Skírnir said:

2. ‘Evil words I expect from your son,

if I go to speak with the boy,

and ask him this: with whom the virile youth

is so very angry.

3. ‘Tell me this, Freyr, folk-leader12 of gods,

which I want to know:

why do you sit alone, my lord,

in the long halls, for days?’

Freyr said:

4. ‘Why should I tell you, young man,

my great mind-distress?

Because the elf-disc¹³ shines through all days,

and yet not to my delight.’

Skírnir said:

5. ‘I don’t think your desires are so great,

man, that you can’t tell me;

for we were young together in early days,¹⁴

we two could trust each other well.’

Freyr said:

6. ‘In Gymir’s courts I saw walking a girl15

for whom I long;

her arms gleamed, and from them

all the sky and sea.16

7. ‘The girl is lovelier to me than

to any young man in ancient days;

of Æsir and elves, no one will wish it,

Skírnir said:

8. ‘Then give me the horse, the one that can bear me through¹⁷ dark,

discerning¹⁸ flicker-flame,

and the sword which fights by itself

against the family of giants.’

Freyr said:

9. ‘I give you that horse which will bear you through dark,

discerning, flicker-flame,

and the sword which will fight by itself,

if he who has it is wise.’

Skírnir said to the horse:

10. ‘It’s dark outside — time, I say, for us to journey

over moist mountains,¹⁹

to gallop over land;²⁰

we shall both achieve our aim, or that almighty giant²¹

will take us both!’

Skírnir rode into Jǫtunheimar, to Gymir’s courts. There were ferocious hounds, and they were bound in front of the gate in the wooden fence which was around Gerðr’s hall. He rode to where a herdsman was sitting on a grave-mound and greeted him:

11. ‘Tell [me] this,²² herdsman, as you sit on a grave-mound

and watch all ways:

how can I get to talk with the young girl,

despite Gymir’s dogs?’

12. ‘Are you doomed, or are you already dead?²³

You shall always be wanting to speak with

with the good maiden of Gymir!’

Skírnir said:

13. ‘There are better choices than crying

for anyone eager to go on;

on²⁴ one day a span²⁵ was shaped for me²⁶

and all my life laid down!’

Gerðr said:

14. ‘What’s that din of dins which I hear now

in our houses?

The earth’s shaking, and with it all

Gymir’s courts are quaking!’

15. ‘A man is outside here, dismounted from horseback,

he’s letting his steed graze.’²⁷

Gerðr said:

16. ‘Ask him to come inside our hall

and to drink the famous mead,

although I fear that outside here may be

my brother’s slayer.²⁸

17. ‘Who is it of the elves, if you are not of the Æsir’s sons,

nor of the wise Vanir?

Why have you come alone over oaken fire29

to see our household?’

Skírnir said:

18. ‘I am not of the elves, nor of the Æsir’s sons,

nor of the wise Vanir,30

but I have come alone over oaken fire

to see your household.

19. ‘Eleven apples I have here, all golden,³¹

these will I give you, Gerðr,

to buy your affection,32 so that you may say that Freyr

Gerðr said:

20. ‘Eleven apples I will never take,

for any man’s wishes,

nor, while our life endures, shall Freyr and I

both dwell together!’33

Skírnir said:

21. ‘Then I give you a ring, the one which was burnt

with Óðinn’s young son;34

eight are the equally heavy ones that drip from it

every ninth night!’³⁵

Gerðr said:

22. ‘I refuse the ring, even if it was burnt

with Óðinn’s young son;

for me there is no want of gold in Gymir’s courts,

Skírnir said:

23. ‘Do you see this sword, girl, slender, sign-coloured,³⁶

which I have here in my hand?

I shall hew the head from your neck,

unless you pronounce a pact with me!’

Gerðr said:

24. ‘I will never submit to coercion

for any man’s wishes;

but I think this, that if you and Gymir meet,

not slow to battle, you will both long to fight!’37

Skírnir said:

25. ‘Do you see this sword, girl, slender, sign-coloured,

which I have here in my hand?

Before these edges that aged giant will sink,

your father is fated to die!

26. ‘With a taming wand I strike you,³⁸ and I will tame you,

girl, to my wishes;

you shall go where the sons of men

will never see you again!³⁹

27. ‘On the eagle’s hill you shall sit early,⁴⁰

gaze out from the world,⁴¹ look longingly to Hel;

28. ‘May you be a wondrous sight when you come out!

May Hrímnir42 ogle at you, may everyone stare at you!

May you be more widely known than the watchman among the gods!⁴³

Gape from the gates!⁴⁴

29. ‘May idiocy and howling, frustration and unbearable lust

increase your tears with grief!

Sit down, and I shall tell you of a

heavy tormenting desire(?)⁴⁵

and a twofold grief!

30. ‘Evil creatures will oppress you all day

in the giants’ courts;

to the frost-giants’ hall you shall every day

creep without choice,

creep in want of choice;

you shall have sobbing in exchange for pleasure,

and nurse sorrows with tears!

31. ‘With a three-headed giant you shall always dwell,

or [else] be manless;

may lust seize you,

may longing waste you;

be like a thistle, the one which was filled to bursting⁴⁶

at the end of the harvest!

32. ‘I went to a forest and to a sappy tree,

a tribute(?)-twig⁴⁷ to get,

a tribute(?)-twig I got!

33. ‘Óðinn will be angry with you, Ásabragr48 will be angry with you,

Freyr shall loathe you,

the gods’ tribute(?)-wrath!49

34. ‘Hear, giants, hear, frost-giants,

sons of Suttungi,50 you Æsir-hosts yourselves,

use of men51 from the girl!

35. ‘Hrímgrímnir52 the giant is called who shall have you

down below corpse-gates;⁵³

there at the tree’s roots⁵⁴ vile boys

will give you goats’ piss!

Better drink you will never get,

girl, by your wishes,

girl, by my wishes!

36. ‘I carve “giant”⁵⁵ for you and three staves:

“perversion” and “frenzy” and “unbearable lust”;⁵⁶

I will shave it⁵⁷ off, just as I carved it on,

if reasons should arise for this!’⁵⁸

Gerðr said:

37. ‘Hail to you rather now, lad, and accept a frost-cup⁵⁹

full of ancient mead!⁶⁰

Yet I’d thought that I would never

love a Vaningi61 well!’

Skírnir said:

38. ‘My whole errand I want to know⁶²

before I ride home from here,

[I want to know] when you, at a tryst, will submit to

the mature son of Njǫrðr.’

Gerðr said:

39. ‘It’s called Barri,63 which we both know,

a grove of the calm-weather traveller(?);⁶⁴

and there, after nine nights,⁶⁵ Gerðr will give pleasure

to Njǫrðr’s son.’66

Then Skírnir rode home. Freyr was standing outside and greeted him and asked for news:

40. ‘Tell me this, Skírnir, before you unsaddle the horse

what did you achieve in Jǫtunheimar,

41. ‘It’s called Barri, which we both know,

and there, after nine nights, Gerðr will give pleasure

to Njǫrðr’s son.’67

Freyr said:

42. ‘Long is a night, long are two,

how can I last for three?⁶⁸

Often a month has seemed to me shorter

than this [one] half nuptial-night(?)!’⁶⁹

Textual Apparatus to Fǫr Skírnis

Speech directions (e.g., Skírnir kvað ‘Skírnir said’) are abbreviated in R and A, often in the outer margins; some are wholly or partly missing in R where the edges of pages have been cut away. Only those wholly or largely absent from both texts are italicized in this edition of FSk. Some italicized speech directions may never have been present in either text.

41/1–6] This stanza is heavily abbreviated in R