A Quarrel with the Ferryman

Why can't mighty Thor get across the water?

On his way home from a journey east, Thor reaches an inlet. On the far shore stands a ferryman with a boat. Thor asks for a crossing, offering food in return. The ferryman calls himself Harbard. Soon the two begin boasting about their deeds.

Thor tells how he defeated Hrungnir, the giant with a head of stone. He also tells of killing giant women in the east. If all the giants had lived, he says, humans could never have survived. Harbard boasts about secret meetings with women.

They speak of war, too. Harbard says he set kings fighting and never let them make peace. In the end, Thor never gets a ride in the boat. With no other choice, he asks for the way by land. The ferryman describes a long route.

In *The Lay of Harbard*, the ferryman never calls himself Odin. However, Harbard is among the names Odin lists as his own in *The Sayings of Grimnir*.

Read commentaryHide commentary