Hárbarðsljóð

Hárbarðsljóð (Hrbl.) ‘The Song of Hárbarðr’ survives in R (fol. 12r–13v). Stt. 19 (partially) to 60 also occur at the start of A (fol. 1r–v), where they precede BDr. The acephalous nature of the A version aside, the two texts of Hrbl. are substantially the same. Both manuscripts indicate the speakers from st. 20 onwards; R also does so in stt. 1, 2, 11 and 19. Orthographical and palaeographical similarities to FSk., the preceding poem in R, suggest that these two poems were originally transcribed together and separate from the rest of R.

As usual for poems in this collection, Hrbl.’s date of composition is uncertain. Snorri Sturluson neither names nor quotes from Hrbl. in his Prose Edda, though SnEGylf might contain an echo of st. 13. If it does, the poem probably existed in some form before about 1225.

What might be a comic inversion of the events of Hrbl. appears in chapter 59 of an Old Norse translation of a lost, late-twelfth-century Latin account, by an Icelandic monk called Oddr Snorrason, of the life of Óláfr Tryggvason, king of Norway in the late tenth century.¹ In it a man—obviously the god Þórr, though his name is not given—calls out for passage on Óláfr’s ship. He gets this immediately, boards the ship, and proceeds to address the king’s men with mörg hæðilig orð ‘many scornful/ludicrous words’ and to provide fine entertainment. He laughs at them, and they at him, and utters many boasts. In particular, he claims to know a lot and that they will be unable to ask him anything he does not know. He then reveals that he once made the land safe for people by killing the last-remaining giantesses—all two of them, the other giants having died suddenly. After that he dives into the sea and disappears.

Additionally, a clue that might push the compositional date of a version of Hrbl. back hundreds of years to heathen times appears in chapter 102 of the thirteenth-century Brennu-Njáls saga ‘Saga of Burnt-Njáll’. It contains a skaldic verse, attributed to the Icelander Úlfr Uggason, concerning events in Iceland around 998, which seems to allude to a testing confrontation between Hárbarðr and Þórr across the strait of a fjord.² If Úlfr did compose this verse, it indicates that a tradition dealing with the same subject matter treated in Hrbl. existed in the late tenth century.

Hrbl. displays a variety of metres (málaháttr/fornyrðislag, ljóðaháttr and galdralag), which, together with considerable alliterative irregularity and prose passages, prompted some early scholars to suspect substantial textual corruption and interpolation. Modern scholarship, however, rejects their attempts to reconstruct a supposed ‘original’ form of the poem.

The surviving text could well be a two-person dialogue intended for dramatic performance. If so, the initial prose was perhaps not to be spoken, but read by the ‘actors’ in preparation for a performance.

Hrbl.’s position within R appears significant. By focusing on both Óðinn and Þórr, it forms a thematic bridge between a series of four poems that feature Óðinn prominently (Vsp., Háv., Vm. and Grm.) and a series of three poems that feature Þórr prominently (Hym., Ls. and Þrk.), the intervening FSk. notwithstanding.

Among these poems, Hrbl.’s closest thematic similarities are with Ls.³ The latter poem is a disputation between the trickster-god Loki and the other gods, including a similarly dim-witted Þórr. In both poems, Þórr is mocked for having hidden in a giant’s glove (Hrbl. 26, Ls. 60), using some identical wording. In both, too, it is alleged that Þórr’s wife has a lover (Hrbl. 48, Ls. 54). These similarities might indicate a direct relationship between the two poems. Most of their formal similarities, however, stem from a shared generic heritage. Both belong to a genre of poetic invective, known in English as a ‘flyting’, in which two men—rarely more, and seldom women—exchange insults, boasts, accusations and challenges to each other’s honour. The most recognizable instances, by virtue of their titles, are by sixteenth-century Scots poets, notably William Dunbar’s ‘The Flyting of Dunbar and Kennedie’ and Alexander Montgomerie’s ‘Polwart and Montgomerie Flyting’.

The art of stylized provocation in verse, however, dates back thousands of years in serious works of heroic literature. It is evident, for example, in the Homeric epics of ancient Greece and in Old English verse. Old English poetry preserves, for instance, a flyting between the Dane Unferð and the hero of Beowulf (ll. 499–606); there are also the verbal exchanges between ealdorman Byrhtnoð and a viking messenger in the Battle of Maldon; and a suggestive description of a drunkard’s boasting and sniping in Vainglory. Middle High German verse provides, in Âventiure 25 of the Niebelungenlied, an exchange between the travelling hero Hagen and a haughty ferryman who refuses to transport strangers.

Most numerous and important for Hrbl., though, are the other Old Norse instances. They include, in addition to Ls., passages in the three Helgi-poems in R.⁴ HH. I (32–44) describes an exchange of accusations of unnatural behaviour between a ship’s watchman and the land-based warrior Guðmundr, a less-charged version of which appears in HH. II (24–29 [19–24]). HHv. (12–30) contains a flyting between the ship-based warrior Atli and the land-based giantess Hrímgerðr, again with a distinctly sexual slant.

Old Norse has two words that describe apparently different types of flyting: senna (cf. ON sannr ‘truth’) and mannjafnaðr ‘man-comparison’. Scholars, however, have struggled to agree which features, if any, distinguish one type from the other. As a result, they have variously classified Hrbl. as a senna, a mannjafnaðr, both a senna (st. 1–14) and a mannjafnaðr (st. 15–46), and as a member of a joint senna-mannjafnaðr flyting genre. What no one disputes, however, is that the two types are closely related. And two of the most important studies of Hrbl. agree, albeit in different ways, that the poem draws on both types.⁵

As Carol Clover has shown, Hrbl. displays a wealth of similarities to other Germanic flytings, of whichever type. When analysed collectively, they reveal the basic conventions of early Germanic verse invective—conventions which must be understood for an informed reading of Hrbl. (and Ls.). The typical features of a Germanic flyting are:

• A stereotyped setting, often a drinking-feast in a hall or a stretch of water across which a travelling hero and an argumentative ‘coastguard’ rail at each other.
• An initial greeting or provocation, and an exchange of words in which each speaker seeks to identify the other.
• A stylized, turn-by-turn disputation comprising claims, accusations, defences and counterclaims. These are couched in strongly boasting, self-inflating, insulting, dismissive or strategically concessive terms, with much use of repetition, parallel syntax, and a marked contrast between ‘I’ and ‘you’. Threats, curses and vows are common.
• Content that, bound by socio-literary tradition, pits the praiseworthy ‘hard life’ of fighting, travelling and adventuring against the scorned ‘soft life’ of domesticity, cowardice, sexual dalliance and perversity, and that scorns beggarly appearance and crimes against kin. Thus circumscribed, each disputant strives to be the more eloquent in either raising himself above his opponent or in putting him down.
• An assumption of a basic level of truthfulness by the disputants. Therefore, any exaggerations or lies—which in Hrbl. might include many of Hárbarðr’s otherwise unsubstantiated claims—must be plausible.
• An ending without physical violence, although violence may soon follow. In Hrbl., as in HH. I 44 (cf. Beowulf ll. 588–89), the flyting ends with the loser being wished an evil end.

For Clover, Hrbl. parodies the flyting genre by combining faithful adherence to convention in its choice of scene, and in Þórr’s technique and subject matter, with winning subversion from Hárbarðr. However, not everyone is convinced that Hrbl. is a fully fledged parody. One scholar proposes that ‘the senna is a romantic-comic form that contains the seeds of self-reflexive farce’.⁶

Hrbl.’s characterization is largely paralleled elsewhere in Norse literature. Its depiction of Þórr accords broadly with that found in, for example, Hym. and Þrk. Þórr is portrayed as a down-to-earth, hot-tempered, slow-witted fighter who prides himself on his stupendous martial exploits against giants in defence of humankind and gods. His dealings with the giants Hrungnir, Þjazi and Fjalarr, but not Svárangr’s sons, are known from other sources. Their mention might be enough to compensate for Þórr’s unimaginatively orthodox verbal delivery and win him most flytings, but he fails to realize that Óðinn is playing by new rules invented specially to confound him.

Unlike in Hym. and Þrk., Þórr does not win in Hrbl. He is denied passage across the sound, does not get to fight, and appears slow-witted beside Hárbarðr, by whom he is variously bemused, intrigued and enraged. All Þórr is left with at the end is a long walk home and his honour as a fighting man. Thus, Hrbl.’s humour has more bite than that of Hym. and Þrk.; it exposes Þórr’s intellectual limitations and shows how verbal skill and quick wits can negate physical strength.

Óðinn (Hárbarðr), although also a warrior, is altogether more mysterious, as in texts like Háv., Grm. and Vm. As in those poems, he adopts a pseudonym and a disguise. His appearance as a ferryman is paralleled in chapter 212 of the fourteenth-century Ólafs saga Tryggvasonar en mesta ‘The Greatest Saga of Ólafr Tryggvason’, where he appears as a nǫkkva maðr ‘man of boats’,⁷ and in the prologue to Grm., where he gets a ship for Agnarr and Geirrǫðr. Most similar is his appearance in Sf. as a karl ‘old man’ who offers to ferry the hero Sigmundr, who is carrying his dead son Sinfjǫtli, across a fjord, but who, having taken the body on board, leaves Sigmundr on the shore and tells him to walk around the fjord (cf. chapter 10 of VS). Here, in transporting the dead but not the living, Óðinn resembles the aged and abusive ferryman Charon, psychopomp of Greek myth. The Óðinn-aliases Farmaguð and Farmatýr ‘God of Cargoes’ may partly reflect this role, not just Óðinn’s function as god of the hanged, the ‘cargo’ of the gallows. His ‘ownership’ of noblemen who fall in battle (Hrbl. 24) is well-known from other sources.

Þórr’s usual tormentor in Old Norse myth is Loki, with whom Hárbarðr has often been compared (and sometimes identified) by scholars. But antagonism between Óðinn and Þórr is also found in the long version of Gautreks saga ‘The Saga of Gautrekr’, and it might explain Óðinn’s likely betrothal of Þórr’s foster-daughter(?) to a dwarf in Alv. In chapter 7 of Gautreks saga, which is partly based on a late-twelfth-century(?) poem in fornyrðislag, Þórr and Óðinn—or rather Óðinn’s human avatar—take it in turns to bestow curses and blessings on Starkaðr, a follower of Óðinn.⁸ Þórr bestows the curses, Óðinn’s stand-in counters with the blessings, and part of their exchange recalls the contrast in Hrbl. 24 between Óðinn as god of nobles and Þórr as god of commoners. Whereas in Hrbl., however, Óðinn clearly has the upper hand over Þórr, who is characterized as a one-dimensional giant-killer, in the saga the antagonists appear equally matched.

Synopsis

Further Reading

Arnold, M., Thor: Myth to Marvel (London: Continuum, 2011), https://doi.org/10.5040/9781472599292

Arnold, M., ‘Hárbarðsljóð: Parody, Pragmatics and the Socio-Mythic Controversy’, Saga-Book 38 (2014), 5–26.

Bax, M., and T. Padmos, ‘Two Types of Verbal Dueling in Old Icelandic: The Interactional Structure of the Senna and the Mannjafnaðr in Hárbarðsljóð’, SS 55 (1983), 149–74.

Clover, C. J., ‘The Germanic Context of the Unferþ Episode’, Speculum 55 (1980), 444–68.

Clover, C. J., ‘Hárbarðsljóð as Generic Farce’, SS 51 (1979), 124–45; also rpt. In P. Acker and C. Larrington, ed., The Poetic Edda: Essays on Old Norse Mythology (New York: Routledge, 2002), pp. 95–118.

Davidson, H. R. E., ‘Insults and Riddles in the Edda Poems’, in R. J. Glendinning and Haraldur Bessason, ed., Edda: A Collection of Essays (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1983), pp. 25–46.

Frotscher, A. G., ‘The War of the Words — A History of Flyting from Antiquity to the Later Middle Ages’ (PhD thesis, University of Oxford, 2004).

Guarienti, G., ‘Senna, mannjafnaðr and Riddle-Contests: Verbal Duels in the fornaldarsögur’ (MA thesis, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia, 2018/2019).

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

Gurevich, A. Y., ‘On the Nature of the Comic in the Elder Edda: A Comment on an Article by Professor Höfler’, Mediaeval Scandinavia 9 (1976), 127–37.

Harris, J., ‘Eddic Poetry’, in C. J. Clover and J. Lindow, ed., Old Norse-Icelandic Literature: A Critical Guide (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1985), pp. 68–156.

Klingenberg, H., ‘Types of Eddic Mythological Poetry’, in R. J. Glendinning and Haraldur Bessason, ed., Edda: A Collection of Essays (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1983), pp. 134–64.

Lassen, A., Odin’s Ways: A Guide to the Pagan God in Medieval Literature (New York: Routledge, 2022).

Lindow, J., ‘Thor’s Duel with Hrungnir’, alvíssmál 6 (1996), 3-20.

Mitchell, S., ‘Heroic Legend and Onomastics: Hálfs saga, Das Hildebrandslied and the Listerby Stones’, https://chs.harvard.edu/steven-mitchell-heroic-legend-and-onomastics-halfs-saga-das-hildebrandslied-and-the-listerby-stones/

Parks, W., Verbal Dueling in Heroic Narrative: The Homeric and Old English Traditions (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1990).

Swenson, K., Performing Definitions: Two Genres of Insult in Old Norse Literature (Columbia, SC: Camden House, 1991).

Von See, K., B. La Farge, E. Picard, I. Priebe and K. Schulz, Kommentar zu den Liedern der Edda, Bd. 2: Götterlieder (Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter, 1997).

Wills, T., ‘Þórr and Wading’, in J. Krüger, V. Busch, K. Seidel, C. Zimmermann and U. Zimmermann, ed., Die Faszination des Verborgenen und seine Entschlüsselung – Rāđi saR kunni: Beiträge zur Runologie, skandinavistischen Mediävistik und germanischen Sprachwissenschaft (Berlin: De Gruyter, 2017), pp. 411–28, https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110548136-029

Hárbarðsljóð

1. ‘Hverr er sá sveinn sveina   er stendr fyr sundit handan?’

Hann svaraði:

2. ‘Hverr er sá karl karla   er kallar um váginn?’

Þórr kvað:

3. ‘Ferðu mik um sundit,   fœði ek þik á morgun!

Meis hefi ek á baki,   verðra matrinn betri;

át ek í hvíld,   áðr ek heiman fór,

síldr ok hafra,   saðr em ek enn þess!’

Ferjukarlinn kvað:

4. ‘Árligum verkum   hrósar þú verðinum,

veiztattu fyrir gǫrla:

dǫpr eru þín heimkynni,   dauð hygg ek at þín móðir sé!’

Þórr kvað:

5. ‘Þat segir þú nú   er hverjum þikkir

mest at vita,   at mín móðir dauð sé.’

Ferjukarlinn kvað:

6. ‘Þeygi er   sem þú þrjú bú góð eigir;

berbeinn þú stendr   ok hefir brautinga gervi,

þatki at þú hafir brœkr þínar!’

Þórr kvað:

7. ‘Stýrðu hingat eikjunni!   Ek mun þér stǫðna kenna,

eða hverr á skipit   er þú heldr við landit?’

Ferjukarlinn kvað:

8. ‘Hildólfr sá heitir   er mik halda bað,

rekkr inn ráðsvinni   er býr í Ráðseyjarsundi;

baðat hann hlennimenn flytja   eða hrossa þjófa,

góða eina   ok þá er ek gerva kunna;

segðu til nafns þíns,   ef þú vill um sundit fara!’

Þórr kvað:

9. ‘Segja mun ek til nafns míns,   þótt ek sekr sják,

ok til alls øðlis:   ek em Óðins sonr,

Meila bróðir   en Magna faðir,

þrúðvaldr goða —   við Þór knáttu hér dœma!

Hins vil ek nú spyrja,   hvat þú heitir.’

Ferjukarlinn kvað:

10. ‘Hárbarðr ek heiti,   hylk um nafn sjaldan!’

Þórr kvað:

11. ‘Hvat skaltu of nafn hylja,   nema þú sakar eigir?’

Hárbarðr kvað:

12. ‘En þótt ek sakar eiga,   þá mun ek forða fjǫrvi mínu

fyr slíkum sem þú ert,   nema ek feigr sé!’

Þórr kvað:

13. ‘Harm ljótan mér þikkir í því,

at vaða um váginn til þín   ok væta ǫgur minn!

Skylda ek launa kǫgursveini þínum

kanginyrði,   ef ek komumk yfir sundit!’

Hárbarðr kvað:

14. ‘Hér mun ek standa   ok þín heðan bíða;

fanntaðu mann inn harðara   at Hrungni dauðan!’

Þórr kvað:

15. ‘Hins viltu nú geta,   er vit Hrungnir deildum,

sá inn stórúðgi jǫtunn,   er ór steini var hǫfuðit á;

þó lét ek hann falla   ok fyrir hníga!

Hvat vanntu þá meðan, Hárbarðr?’

Hárbarðr kvað:

16. ‘Var ek með Fjǫlvari   fimm vetr alla,

í ey þeiri   er Algrœn heitir;

vega vér þar knáttum   ok val fella,

margs at freista,   mans at kosta!’

Þórr kvað:

17. ‘Hversu snúnuðu yðr konur yðrar?’

Hárbarðr kvað:

18. ‘Sparkar áttu vér konur,   ef oss at spǫkum yrði,

horskar áttu vér konur,   ef oss hollar væri;

þær ór sandi   síma undu

ok ór dali djúpum

grund um grófu;

varð ek þeim einn ǫllum   efri at ráðum,

hvílda ek hjá þeim systrum sjau,

ok hafða ek geð þeira allt ok gaman!

Hvat vanntu þá meðan, Þórr?’

Þórr kvað:

19. ‘Ek drap Þjaza,   inn þrúðmóðga jǫtun,

upp ek varp augum   Allvalda sonar

á þann inn heiða himin;

þau eru merki mest   minna verka,

þau er allir menn síðan um sé!

Hvat vanntu meðan, Hárbarðr?’

Hárbarðr kvað:

20. ‘Miklar manvélar   ek hafða við myrkriður,

þá er ek vélta þær frá verum!

Harðan jǫtun   ek hugða Hlébarð vera;

gaf hann mér gambantein,

en ek vélta hann ór viti!’

Þórr kvað:

21. ‘Illum huga launaðir þú þá góðar gjafar.’

Hárbarðr kvað:

22. ‘Þat hefir eik   er af annarri skefr,

um sik er hverr í slíku!

Hvat vanntu meðan, Þórr?’

Þórr kvað:

23. ‘Ek var austr   ok jǫtna barðak,

brúðir bǫlvísar   er til bjargs gengu;

mikil myndi ætt jǫtna   ef allir lifði —

vætr myndi manna   undir Miðgarði!

Hvat vanntu meðan, Hárbarðr?’

Hárbarðr kvað:

24. ‘Var ek á Vallandi   ok vígum fylgðak,

atta ek jǫfrum,   en aldri sættak;

Óðinn á jarla,   þá er í val falla,

en Þórr á þræla kyn!’

Þórr kvað:

25. ‘Ójafnt skipta   er þú myndir með Ásum liði,

ef þú ættir vilgi mikils vald!’

Hárbarðr kvað:

26. ‘Þórr á afl œrit,   en ekki hjarta;

af hræzlu ok hugbleyði   þér var í hanzka troðit,

ok þóttiska þú þá Þórr vera;

hvárki þú þá þorðir   fyr hræzlu þinni

hnjósa né físa   svá at Fjalarr heyrði!’

Þórr kvað:

27. ‘Hárbarðr inn ragi,   ek mynda þik í Hel drepa,

ef ek mætta seilask um sund!’

Hárbarðr kvað:

28. ‘Hvat skyldir þú um sund seilask,   er sakir ru alls øngar?

Hvat vanntu þá, Þórr?’

Þórr kvað:

29. ‘Ek var austr   ok ána varðak,

þá er mik sóttu   þeir Svárangs synir;

grjóti þeir mik bǫrðu,   gagni urðu þeir þó lítt fegnir,

þó urðu þeir mik fyrri   friðar at biðja!

Hvat vanntu þá meðan, Harbárðr?’

Hárbarðr kvað:

30. ‘Ek var austr   ok við einhverja dœmðak,

lék ek við ina línhvítu   ok launþing háðak,

gladdak ina gullbjǫrtu,   gamni mær unði!’

Þórr kvað:

31. ‘Góð áttu þér mankynni þar þá!’

Hárbarðr kvað:

32. ‘Liðs þíns væra ek þá þurfi, Þórr,

at ek helda þeiri inni línhvítu mey!’

Þórr kvað:

33. ‘Ek mynda þér þá þat veita,   ef ek viðr of kœmisk!’

Hárbarðr kvað:

34. ‘Ek mynda þér þá trúa,   nema þú mik í tryggð véltir!’

Þórr kvað:

35. ‘Emkat ek sá hælbítr   sem húðskór forn á vár!’

Hárbarðr kvað:

36. ‘Hvat vanntu meðan, Þórr?’

Þórr kvað:

37. ‘Brúðir berserkja   barðak í Hléseyju;

þær hǫfðu verst unnit,   vélta þjóð alla!’

Hárbarðr kvað:

38. ‘Klæki vanntu þá, Þórr,   er þú á konum barðir!’

Þórr kvað:

39. ‘Vargynjur váru þær,   en varla konur;

skeldu skip mitt,   er ek skorðat hafðak,

œgðu mér járnlurki,   en eltu Þjálfa!

Hvat vanntu meðan, Hárbarðr?’

Hárbarðr kvað:

40. ‘Ek vark í hernum   er hingat gørðisk

gnæfa gunnfana,   geir at rjóða!’

Þórr kvað:

41. ‘Þess viltu nú geta, er þú fórt oss óljúfan at bjóða!’

Hárbarðr kvað:

42. ‘Bœta skal þér þat þá   munda baugi,

sem jafnendr unnu,   þeir er okkr vilja sætta!’

Þórr kvað:

43. ‘Hvar namtu þessi   in hnœfiligu orð,

er ek heyrða aldregi   hnœfiligri?’

Hárbarðr kvað:

44. ‘Nam ek at mǫnnum þeim inum aldrœnum er búa í heimis skógum!’

Þórr kvað:

45. ‘Þó gefr þú gott nafn dysjum er þú kallar þat heimis skóga!’

Hárbarðr kvað:

46. ‘Svá dœmi ek um slíkt far!’

Þórr kvað:

47. ‘Orðkringi þín   mun þér illa koma,

ef ek ræð á vág at vaða;

úlfi hæra   hygg ek at þú œpa munir,

ef þú hlýtr af hamri hǫgg!’

Hárbarðr kvað:

48. ‘Sif á hó heima,   hans mundu fund vilja;

þann muntu þrek drýgja,   þat er þér skyldara!’

Þórr kvað:

49. ‘Mælir þú at munns ráði,   svá at mér skyldi verst þikkja;

halr inn hugblauði,   hygg ek at þú ljúgir!’

Hárbarðr kvað:

50. ‘Satt hygg ek mik segja,   seinn ertu at fǫr þinni;

langt myndir þú nú kominn, Þórr,   ef þú litum fœrir!’

Þórr kvað:

51. ‘Hárbarðr inn ragi,   heldr hefir þú nú mik dvalðan!’

Hárbarðr kvað:

52. ‘Ása-Þórs   hugða ek aldregi mundu

glepja féhirði farar!’

Þórr kvað:

53. ‘Ráð mun ek þér nú ráða:   ró þú hingat bátinum!

Hættum hœtingi —   hittu fǫður Magna!’

Hárbarðr kvað:

54. ‘Farðu firr sundi!   Þér skal fars synja!’

Þórr kvað:

55. ‘Vísa þú mér nú leiðina,   allz þú vill mik eigi um váginn ferja!’

Hárbarðr kvað:

56. ‘Lítit er synja,   langt er at fara:

stund er til stokksins,   ǫnnur til steinsins,

haltu svá til vinstra vegsins   unz þú hittir Verland;

þar mun Fjǫrgyn   hitta Þór, son sinn,

ok mun hon kenna honum áttunga brautir   til Óðins landa!’

Þórr kvað:

57. ‘Mun ek taka þangat í dag?’

Hárbarðr kvað:

58. ‘Taka við víl ok erfiði   at uppverandi sólu,

er ek get þána!’

Þórr kvað:

59. ‘Skammt mun nú mál okkat vera,   allz þú mér skœtingu einni svarar;

launa mun ek þér farsynjun,   ef vit finnumk í sinn annat!’

Hárbarðr kvað:

60. ‘Farðu nú, þars þik hafi allan gramir!’

The Song of Hárbarðr

Þórr travelled from the east-way9 and came to a sound. On the other side of the sound was the ferryman with the boat.¹⁰

Þórr called out:

1. ‘Who’s that boy of boys¹¹ who stands on the other side of the sound?’

He replied:

2. ‘Who’s that old man of old men who shouts across the strait?’¹²

Þórr said:

3. ‘Ferry me over the sound, I’ll feed you in the morning!¹³

I’ve a basket on my back, the food couldn’t be better;

I ate at leisure, before I left home,¹⁴

herrings and he-goats¹⁵ — I’m still stuffed with it!’

The ferryman said:

4. ‘You boast of early deeds at breakfast,¹⁶

you don’t fully understand what lies ahead:

your household’s downcast, I think your mother’s dead!’¹⁷

Þórr said:

5. ‘Now you’re saying that which will seem to everyone

most distressing, that my mother is dead.’

The ferryman said:

6. ‘It’s not as if you own three good farms;¹⁸

you stand barelegged and have a beggar’s garb —

you don’t even have your breeches!’¹⁹

Þórr said:

7. ‘Steer the little ferryboat over here! I’ll show you the landing-place —

and who owns the ship which you keep by the shore?’

The ferryman said:

8. ‘Hildólfr20 he’s called, who asked me to keep it,

the counsel-shrewd warrior who lives in Ráðseyjarsund;21

he told me not to ferry robbers or rustlers of horses,

only good men and those whom I know well;

state your name, if you want to travel across the sound!’²²

Þórr said:

9. ‘I would tell my name, even if I were outlawed,

and all my lineage, too: I am Óðinn’s son,

Meili’s23 brother and Magni’s24 father,

strong-ruler of gods — it’s Þórr you’re speaking to here!

10. ‘I’m called Hárbarðr, I seldom hide my name!’25

Þórr said:

11. ‘Why should you hide your name, unless you have disputes?’

Hárbarðr said:

12. ‘But even if I have disputes, I’d defend my life

before such a one as you are, unless I were doomed!’²⁶

Þórr said:

13. ‘A horrible shame it seems to me in this respect,

to wade over the bay to you and wet my burden(?)!²⁷

I’d pay you back for your insolent words,

you swaddling-clothed(?) brat,²⁸ if I could get over the sound!’²⁹

Hárbarðr said:

14. ‘Here I’ll stand and here I’ll await you;

you’ve not found a harder man since Hrungnir’s death!’30

Þórr said:

15. ‘Now you want to talk of the time when Hrungnir and I had dealings,

What were you doing meanwhile, Hárbarðr?’31

Hárbarðr said:

16. ‘I was with Fjǫlvarr all of five years,

on the island which is called Algrœn;

tested many things, tried out the girls!’32

Þórr said:

17. ‘How did it turn out with your women?’

Hárbarðr said:

18. ‘We had sparky women, if they submitted to us;³³

we had knowing women, if they were nice to us;³⁴

out of sand they plaited ropes

and out of a deep dale

they dug the ground;

I alone became superior to them³⁵ all by scheming,

I slept beside those seven sisters,

and I had all their lust and love-play!³⁶

What were you doing meanwhile, Þórr?’

Þórr said:

19. ‘I slew Þjazi, the strong-minded giant,37

I threw the eyes of Allvaldi’s son38 up

into the shining sky;³⁹

they are the greatest signs of my deeds,

those which all people since may see!

What were you doing meanwhile, Hárbarðr?’

Hárbarðr said:

20. ‘Mighty girl-wiles⁴⁰ I had for mirk-riders,⁴¹

when I lured them away from men!⁴²

A hard giant I thought Hlébarðr43 to be;

he gave me a tribute(?)-twig,⁴⁴

and I wangled him out of his wits!’⁴⁵

Þórr said:

21. ‘With ill-will you repaid good gifts, then.’

Hárbarðr said:

22. ‘[One] oak has what’s scraped from another;⁴⁶

it’s everyone for himself in such things!

What were you doing meanwhile, Þórr?’

Þórr said:

23. ‘I was in the east and I fought giants,

brides skilled in mischief who went to a mountain;⁴⁷

the kindred of giants would be large if all had lived —

there would be no men under Miðgarðr!48

What were you doing meanwhile, Hárbarðr?’

Hárbarðr said:

24. ‘I was in Valland49 and I followed⁵⁰ battles;

I incited princes, and I never made peace;⁵¹

Óðinn owns the earls, those who fall in battle,

but Þórr owns the kindred of thralls!’52

Þórr said:

25. ‘You’d divide people unequally among the Æsir,

if you possessed very much power!’53

Hárbarðr said:

26. ‘Þórr has sufficient strength, but no heart;

and you didn’t seem to be Þórr then;54

because of your dread you then dared neither

sneeze nor fart so that Fjalarr heard!’55

Þórr said:

27. ‘Hárbarðr, you pervert, I’d strike you into Hel,56

if I could stretch across the sound!’

Hárbarðr said:

28. ‘Why should you stretch across the sound, when our disputes are all as none?

What were you doing then, Þórr?’57

Þórr said:

29. ‘I was in the east and I defended the river

when Svárangr’s sons assaulted me;58

they pelted me with rocks, but took little pleasure in the victory,⁵⁹

they first had to beg me for peace!

What were you doing then, meanwhile, Hárbarðr?’

Hárbarðr said:

30. ‘I was in the east and I spoke to some woman;⁶⁰

I played with the linen-white lady and had secret liaisons,⁶¹

I gladdened the gold-bright woman, the girl gave me pleasure!’

Þórr said:

31. ‘You had good dealings with the girl there, then!’⁶²

Hárbarðr said:

32. ‘I’d have needed your help then, Þórr,

Þórr said:

33. ‘I’d have granted it to you then, if I’d been able!’

Hárbarðr said:

34. ‘I’d have trusted you then, unless you betrayed me!’

Þórr said:

35. ‘I’m not such a heel-biter as an old hide shoe in spring!’⁶³

Hárbarðr said:

36. ‘What were you doing meanwhile, Þórr?’

Þórr said:

37. ‘I was fighting brides of berserks⁶⁴ on Hlésey;65

they’d done the worst things, deceived all humankind!’⁶⁶

Hárbarðr said:

38. ‘You did a shameful thing then, Þórr, when you fought with women!’

Þórr said:

39. ‘They were she-wolves, and scarcely women;

they smashed my ship, which I’d shored up,

threatened me with iron clubs, and chased Þjálfi!67

What were you doing meanwhile, Hárbarðr?’

Hárbarðr said:

40. ‘I was in the army which⁶⁸ made ready here

to raise the battle-standard, to redden the spear!’⁶⁹

Þórr said:

41. ‘Now you want to talk about this, when you went to offer us unpleasant terms!’⁷⁰

Hárbarðr said:

42. ‘I shall compensate you for that, then, with an arm-ring,⁷¹

just as the arbiters awarded, those who want to reconcile us!’⁷²

Þórr said:

43. ‘Where did you learn these offensive words,

than which I’ve never heard more offensive!’

Hárbarðr said:

44. ‘I learnt them from those old people who live in the forests of home!’⁷³

Þórr said:

45. ‘But you’re giving cairns a good⁷⁴ name when you call them “forests of home”!’⁷⁵

Hárbarðr said:

46. ‘That’s how I think of such things!’

Þórr said:

47. ‘Your glibness will serve you badly,

if I decide to wade across the bay;

louder than a wolf I think you’ll howl,

if you take a hit from my hammer!’

Hárbarðr said:

48. ‘Sif has a lover at home,76 him you’ll want to meet;

you’ll use your might on him, that’s more urgent for you!’

Þórr said:

49. ‘You’re shooting your mouth off,⁷⁷ so that it should seem worst to me;

you gutless man, I think you’re lying!’

Hárbarðr said:

50. ‘I think I speak true, you’re slow on your journey;

you’d have come a long way by now, Þórr, if you’d travelled with oars(?)!’78

Þórr said:

51. ‘Hárbarðr, you pervert, it’s rather you who’s delayed me now!’

Hárbarðr said:

52. ‘I never thought a herdsman⁷⁹ would

thwart the travels of Ása-Þórr!’80

Þórr said:

53. ‘I’ll tell you what to do now: row the boat over here!

Let’s stop bickering — meet Magni’s father!’

Hárbarðr said:

54. ‘Clear off from the sound! Passage shall be refused you!’

Þórr said:

55. ‘Show me the way now, since you won’t ferry me over the bay!’

Hárbarðr said:

56. ‘It’s a little thing to refuse, [but] it’s a long way to go:

it’s one stretch to the stump, another to the stone,

then take the left-hand road until you reach Verland;81

there Fjǫrgyn will find Þórr, her son,

and she will show him the kinsmen’s ways to Óðinn’s lands!’82

Þórr said:

57. ‘Will I get there today?’

Hárbarðr said:

58. ‘You’ll get there with toil and trouble while the sun’s up,⁸³

as I think it will thaw!’

Þórr said:

59. ‘Short will be our talk now, since you answer me only with scorn;

I’ll pay you back for refusing me passage, if we meet another time!’

Hárbarðr said:

60. ‘Go now, to where fierce ones⁸⁴ may have you whole!’⁸⁵

Textual Apparatus to Harbarðsljóð