Source text: “Edda Fragments”

Eddubrot

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English translation made by AI from the Old Norse.

1

Edda Fragment 1 Har says that he (Gylfi) will not get out unharmed unless he is wiser, and:
“Stand forward while you ask;
the one who speaks shall sit.”

2

Njord has a wife called Skadi, daughter of the giant Thjazi. Skadi wishes to live where her father lived—among certain mountains, in a place called Thrymheim—but Njord wishes to be near the sea. They agreed to spend nine nights in Thrymheim and then another nine at Noatun. But when Njord returned to Noatun from the mountains, he spoke this verse:
“Loathsome to me are the mountains;
I was not long upon them,
only nine nights;
the howling of wolves
seemed foul to me
beside the singing of swans.”
Then Skadi spoke this verse:
“I could not sleep
on the beds of the sea
for the bird’s clamour;
it wakes me,
coming from the sea
each morning, the gull.”

3

And he (Heimdall) himself also says in Heimdall’s Chant:
“I am the child of nine mothers,
I am the son of nine sisters.”

4

(The fourteenth goddess is) Gna. Frigg sends her into various worlds on her errands. She has a horse that runs through air and over water, called Hofvarpnir. Once, as she rode, some Vanir saw her riding through the air. Then one said:
“What flies there,
what travels there
or glides through the air?”
She answers:
“I do not fly,
though I travel
and glide through the air
on Hofvarpnir,
whom Hamskerpir sired
with Gardrofa.”

5

Next the Aesir sent messengers throughout the world to ask that Baldr be wept out of Hel, and all did so: people and living creatures, the earth and stones, trees and every metal . . . . As the messengers were going home, having carried out their errand well, they found a giantess sitting in a cave. She called herself Thokk. They asked her to weep Baldr out of Hel. She answers:
“Thokk will weep
with dry tears
for Baldr’s journey to the pyre;
living or dead,
the man’s son brought me no joy;
let Hel keep what she has.”
But people suppose that this was Loki, Laufey’s son, who has done the most evil among the Aesir.

6

Then Thor came to the river called Vimur, the greatest of all rivers. He buckled on his belt of strength and braced Grid’s staff against the current, while Loki held on beneath the belt. When Thor reached the middle of the river, it rose so high that it broke over his shoulders. Then Thor spoke this verse:
“Do not rise now, Vimur,
since I must wade through you
to the giants’ dwellings;
know that if you rise,
then my divine strength will rise
as high as heaven.”

7

When Thor came to Geirrod’s, he and his companions were first shown to a goat-house for lodging. There was one chair to sit on, and Thor sat there. Then he noticed that the chair was rising beneath him towards the roof. He thrust Grid’s staff up against the rafters and pressed down hard on the chair. There was a great crack, followed by a scream. Geirrod’s daughters, Gjalp and Greip, had been beneath the chair, and he had broken both their backs. Then Thor said:
“Once I used
my divine strength
in the giants’ dwellings,
when Gjalp and Greip,
Geirrod’s daughters,
wanted to lift me to heaven.”

8

In Asgard, before the doors of Valhalla, stands a grove called Glasir, and all its leaves are red gold, as is said here in verse:
Glasir stands
with golden leaves
before Sigtyr’s halls.
It is the fairest woodland among gods and men.

9

These are horse names in Thorgrim’s Lay:
Hrafn and Sleipnir,
excellent horses,
Val and Lettfeti;
Tjaldari was there,
Gulltopp and Goti;
I heard Soti named,
Mor and Lung with Mar.
Vigg and Stuf
were with Skeidvad;
Blakk could carry a warrior,
Silfrintopp and Sinir;
so I heard Fak mentioned,
Gullfaxi and Jor among the gods.
Blodughofi was the horse’s name
that they said carried
mighty Atridi;
Gils and Falhofnir,
Gler and Skeidbrimir;
Gyllir was also mentioned there.

10

These ox names are in Thorgrim’s Lay:
The names of ancient oxen
I have learned thoroughly,
those of Raud and Haefir;
Rekinn and Kyrr,
Himinhrjot and Apli,
Arf and Arfuni.

11

These horses are also listed in Kalf’s Verse:
Day rode Drosul,
and Dvalin Modnir,
Hjalmther Hafeti,
and Haki Fak;
Beli’s slayer rode
Blodughofi,
and the Haddingar’s prince
rode Skeidvad.
Vestein rode Val,
and Vifil Stuf,
Meinthjof Mor,
and Morgin Vakr,
Ali Hrafn,
when they rode onto the ice,
while another, a grey horse,
turned east beneath Adils,
wounded by a spear.
Bjorn rode Blakk,
and Bjar Kert,
Atli Glaum,
and Adils Slungnir,
Hogni Holkvir,
and Harald Folkvir,
Gunnar Goti,
and Sigurd Grani.

12

The tub is called Saeg,
and the pole Simul;
Bil and Hjuki carry it.
It is said that they are in the moon.

13

The fetter that holds him (Fenrir) is called Gleipnir. Two fetters were made for him first, Dromi and Laeding, and neither held. Then Gleipnir was made from six things:
From a cat’s footfall
and a woman’s beard,
from a fish’s breath
and birds’ milk,
from a mountain’s roots
and a bear’s sinews:
from these
Gleipnir was made.

14

Two ravens flew
from Hnikar’s shoulders,
Huginn to the hanged,
and Munin to the slain.

15

Sigmund now takes the sword, and they saw through the stone slab between them, never stopping until they have cut through it, as is said in verse:
With strength they cut
the mighty slab,
Sigmund with the sword
and Sinfjotli.