The Lay of Skírnir
© 2023 Edward Pettit, CC BY-NC 4.0 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0308.05
Freyr, son of Njǫrðr, had sat himself in Hliðskjálf, and he looked through all worlds. He looked into Jǫtunheimar and saw there a fair maiden as she walked from her father’s hall to her bower. From this he received great sicknesses of heart. Freyr’s servant was called Skírnir. Njǫrðr asked him to get Freyr to talk.
Then Skaði said:
- ‘Arise now, Skírnir, and go urge
our boy to speak,
and ask him this: with whom the virile youth
is so very angry!’
Skírnir said:
- ‘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. - ‘Tell me this, Freyr, folk-leader of gods,
which I want to know:
why do you sit alone, my lord,
in the long halls, for days?’
Freyr said:
- ‘Why should I tell you, young man,
my great mind-distress?
Because the elf-disc shines through all days,
and yet not to my delight.’
Skírnir said:
- ‘I don’t think your desires are so great,
man, that you can’t tell me;
for we were young together in early days,
we two could trust each other well.’
Freyr said:
- ‘In Gymir’s courts I saw walking a girl
for whom I long;
her arms gleamed, and from them
all the sky and sea. - ‘The girl is lovelier to me than
to any young man in ancient days;
of Æsir and elves, no one will wish it,
that we two should be united.’
Skírnir said:
- ‘Then give me the horse, the one that can bear me through dark,
discerning flicker-flame,
and the sword which fights by itself
against the family of giants.’
Freyr said:
- ‘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:
- ‘It’s dark outside — time, I say, for us to journey
over moist mountains,
to gallop over land;
we shall both achieve our aim, or that almighty giant
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:
- ‘Tell [me] this, 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?’
The herdsman said:
- ‘Are you doomed, or are you already dead?
You shall always be wanting to speak with
with the good maiden of Gymir!’
Skírnir said:
- ‘There are better choices than crying
for anyone eager to go on;
on one day a span was shaped for me
and all my life laid down!’
Gerðr said:
- ‘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!’
A servant woman said:
- ‘A man is outside here, dismounted from horseback,
he’s letting his steed graze.’
Gerðr said:
- ‘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. - ‘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 fire
to see our household?’
Skírnir said:
- ‘I am not of the elves, nor of the Æsir’s sons,
nor of the wise Vanir,
but I have come alone over oaken fire
to see your household. - ‘Eleven apples I have here, all golden,
these will I give you, Gerðr,
to buy your affection, so that you may say that Freyr
is the least loathsome one alive!’
Gerðr said:
- ‘Eleven apples I will never take,
for any man’s wishes,
nor, while our life endures, shall Freyr and I
both dwell together!’
Skírnir said:
- ‘Then I give you a ring, the one which was burnt
with Óðinn’s young son;
eight are the equally heavy ones that drip from it
every ninth night!’
Gerðr said:
- ‘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,
to share my father’s wealth!’
Skírnir said:
- ‘Do you see this sword, girl, slender, sign-coloured,
which I have here in my hand?
I shall hew the head from your neck,
unless you pronounce a pact with me!’
Gerðr said:
- ‘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!’
Skírnir said:
- ‘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! - ‘With a taming wand I strike you, and I will tame you,
girl, to my wishes;
you shall go where the sons of men
will never see you again! - ‘On the eagle’s hill you shall sit early,
gaze out from the world, look longingly to Hel;
may food be more loathsome to you than the shining snake is
to any man among the living! - ‘May you be a wondrous sight when you come out!
May Hrímnir ogle at you, may everyone stare at you!
May you be more widely known than the watchman among the gods!
Gape from the gates! - ‘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(?)
and a twofold grief! - ‘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! - ‘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 bursting
at the end of the harvest! - ‘I went to a forest and to a sappy tree,
a tribute(?)-twig (magic wand) to get,
a tribute(?)-twig (magic wand) I got! - ‘Óðinn will be angry with you, Ásabragr will be angry with you,
Freyr shall loathe you,
abominable girl, and you will have received
the gods’ tribute(?)-wrath! - ‘Hear, giants, hear, frost-giants,
sons of Suttungi, you Æsir-hosts yourselves,
how I forbid, how I ban
happy talk with men from the girl,
use of men from the girl! - ‘Hrímgrímnir the giant is called who shall have you
down below corpse-gates;
there at the tree’s roots vile boys
will give you goats’ piss!
Better drink you will never get,
girl, by your wishes,
girl, by my wishes! - ‘I carve “giant” for you and three staves:
“perversion” and “frenzy” and “unbearable lust”;
I will shave it off, just as I carved it on,
if reasons should arise for this!’
Gerðr said:
- ‘Hail to you rather now, lad, and accept a frost-cup
full of ancient mead!
Yet I’d thought that I would never
love a Vaningi well!’
Skírnir said:
- ‘My whole errand I want to know
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:
- ‘It’s called Barri, which we both know,
a grove of the calm-weather traveller(?);
and there, after nine nights, Gerðr will give pleasure
to Njǫrðr’s son.’
Then Skírnir rode home. Freyr was standing outside and greeted him and asked for news:
- ‘Tell me this, Skírnir, before you unsaddle the horse
and take one step further:
what did you achieve in Jǫtunheimar,
of your wish or mine?’
Skírnir said:
- ‘It’s called Barri, which we both know,
a grove of the calm-weather traveller(?);
and there, after nine nights, Gerðr will give pleasure
to Njǫrðr’s son.’
Freyr said:
- ‘Long is a night, long are two,
how can I last for three?
Often a month has seemed to me shorter
than this [one] half nuptial-night(?)!’
* Original text modified by the editor for clarification and ease of reading