THE JOURNEY OR LAY OF SKIRNIR.
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Sæmundur fróði, Snorri Sturluson, Blackwell, Joseph Andrew, and Thorpe, Benjamin
Skirnir.
23. Seest thou this sword, young maiden! thin, glittering-bright, which I have here in hand? I thy head will sever from thy neck, if thou speakst not favourably to me.
Gerd.
24. Suffer compulsion will I never, to please any man; yet this I foresee, if thou and Gymir meet, ye will eagerly engage in fight.
Skirnir.
25. Seest thou this sword, young maiden! thin, glittering-bright, which I have here in hand? Beneath its edge shall the old Jotun fall: thy sire is death-doomed.
26. With a taming-wand I smite thee, and I will tame thee, maiden! to my will. Thou shalt go thither, where the sons of men shall never more behold thee.
27. On an eagle's mount thou shalt early sit, looking and turned towards Hel. Food shall to thee more loathsome be than is to any one the glistening serpent among men.
28. As a prodigy thou shalt be, when thou goest forth; Hrimnir shall at thee gaze, all beings at thee stare; more wide-known thou shalt become than the watch among the gods,[37] if thou from thy gratings gape.
29. Solitude and disgust, bonds and impatience, shall thy tears with grief augment. Set thee down, and I will tell thee of a whelming flood of care, and a double grief.
30. Terrors shall bow thee down the livelong day, in the Jotuns' courts. To the Hrimthursar's halls, thou shalt each day crawl exhausted, joyless crawl; wail for pastime shalt thou have, and tears and misery.
31. With a three-headed Thurs thou shalt be ever bound, or be without a mate. Thy mind shall tear thee from morn to morn: as the thistle thou shalt be which has thrust itself on the house-top.
32. To the wold I have been, and to the humid grove, a magic wand to get. A magic wand I got.
33. Wroth with thee is Odin, wroth with thee is the Æsir's prince; Frey shall loathe thee, even ere thou, wicked maid! shalt have felt the gods' dire vengeance.
34. Hear ye, Jotuns! hear ye, Hrimthursar! sons of Suttung! also ye, Æsir's friends! how I forbid, how I prohibit man's joy unto the damsel, man's converse to the damsel.
35. Hrimgrimnir the Thurs is named, that shall possess thee, in the grating of the dead beneath; there shall wretched thralls, from the tree's roots, goats' water give thee. Other drink shalt thou, maiden! never get, either for thy pleasure, or for my pleasure.
36. Thurs[38] I cut for thee, and three letters mere: ergi, and oedi, and othola. So will I cut them out, as I have cut them, in, if there need shall be.
Gerd.
37. Hail rather to thee, youth! and accept an icy cup, filled with old mead; although I thought not that I ever should love one of Vanir race.
Skirnir.
38. All my errand will I know, ere I hence ride home. When wilt thou converse hold with the powerful son of Niord?
Gerd.
39. Barri the grove is named, which we both know, the grove of tranquil paths. Nine nights hence, there to Niord's son Gerd will grant delight.
Skimir then rode home. Frey was standing without, and spoke to him, asking tidings:
40. Tell me, Skirnir! ere thou thy steed unsaddlest, and a foot hence thou goest, what thou hast accomplished in Jotunheim, for my pleasure or thine?
Skirnir.
41. Barri the grove is named, which we both know, the grove of tranquil paths. Nine nights hence, there to Niord's son Gerd will grant delight.
Frey.
42. Long is one night, yet longer two will be; how shall I three endure. Often a month to me less has seemed than half a night of longing.