The Lay of Thrym
© 2023 Edward Pettit, CC BY-NC 4.0 https://doi.org/10.11647/OBP.0308.09
- Angry then was Vingþórr, when he awoke
and missed his hammer;
his beard shuddered, his hair shook,
Jǫrð’s son groped around himself. - And he spoke these words first of all:
‘Listen now, Loki, to what I now say,
it’s unknown anywhere on earth
or in sky above — the Áss has been robbed of his hammer!’ - They went to fair Freyja’s dwellings,
and he spoke these words first of all:
‘Will you lend me your feather-skin, Freyja,
[to see] if I can find my hammer?’
Freyja said:
- ‘I would give it to you even if it were made of gold,
and grant it even if it were made of silver!’ - Then Loki flew — the feather-skin resounded —
until he came outside the Æsir’s courts
and he came inside the giants’ lands. - Þrymr sat on a grave-mound, the lord of giants,
he twisted gold bands for his bitches,
and evenly trimmed manes for his horses.
Þrymr said:
- ‘How is it with the Æsir? How is it with the elves?
Why have you come alone into Jǫtunheimar?’
‘It’s ill with the Æsir, it’s ill with the elves.
Have you hidden Hlórriði’s hammer?’ - ‘I’ve hidden Hlórriði’s hammer
eight leagues beneath the earth;
no man shall get it back,
unless he fetches me Freyja for a wife!’ - Then Loki flew — the feather-skin resounded —
until he came outside the giants’ lands
and he came inside the Æsir’s courts;
he met Þórr amid the courts,
and he spoke these words first of all: - ‘Have you a message worth the hardship?
Tell your long tidings in the air!
Stories often slip the mind of a sitting man,
and a lying one deals in lies!’ - ‘I have [both] hardship and a message:
Þrymr has your hammer, the lord of giants;
no man will get it back,
unless he fetches him Freyja for a wife!’ - They went to find fair Freyja,
and he said these words first of all:
‘Bind yourself, Freyja, in a bride’s linen!
We two shall drive into Jǫtunheimar!’ - Freyja became incensed then and snorted,
at which all the hall of the Æsir shook;
the great torc of the Brísingar fractured:
‘You’d know me to be most man-eager,
if I drive with you into Jǫtunheimar!’ - At once the Æsir were all in assembly,
and the Ásynjur all in consultation,
and the powerful deities deliberated about it,
how they might recover Hlórriði’s hammer. - Then Heimdallr, whitest of Æsir, said this —
he knew the future well, like other Vanir:
‘Let’s bind Þórr, then, in a bride’s linen,
let him have the great torc of the Brísingar! - ‘Let’s have keys clanging at his belt,
and women’s skirts falling over his knees,
and on his breast broad jewels,
and top it off tidily about his head!’ - Then Þórr, the powerful Áss, said this:
‘The Æsir will call me perverted [unmanly],
if I let myself be bound in a bride’s linen!’ - Then Loki, Laufey’s son, said this:
‘Be silent, Þórr, [enough] of those words!
At once will the giants occupy Ásgarðr,
unless you bring home your hammer!’ - Then they bound Þórr in a bride’s linen
and the great torc of the Brísingar;
they had keys clanging at his belt,
and women’s skirts falling round his knees,
and on his breast broad jewels,
and they topped it off tidily about his head! - Then Loki, Laufey’s son, said:
‘I shall also be with you as bridesmaid,
we two shall drive into Jǫtunheimar!’ - At once the goats were driven home,
hurried to the traces, they had to run hard;
rocks broke, earth burnt with flame,
Óðinn’s son drove into Jǫtunheimar! - Then Þrymr, lord of giants, said this:
‘Stand up, giants, and strew the benches!
Now they’re fetching me Freyja for a wife,
Njǫrðr’s daughter, from Nóatún! - ‘Golden-horned cows walk here in the courtyard,
all-black oxen, for a giant’s amusement;
I have a host of treasures, I have a host of torcs,
it seems to me I lack only Freyja!’ - They came there early in the evening,
and ale was brought forth for the giants;
he alone ate an ox, eight salmon,
all the delicacies which women should [eat];
Sif’s man drank three casks of mead! - Then Þrymr, lord of giants, said this:
‘Where have you seen brides bite more keenly?
I’ve not seen brides bite more broadly ,
nor a maiden drink more mead!’ - The all-wise bridesmaid sat in front,
who found words in answer to the giant’s speech:
‘Freyja ate nothing for eight nights,
so mad keen was she [to come] into Jǫtunheimar!’ - He bent down under the linen, desired to kiss her,
but [then] he sprang back the length of the hall:
‘Why are Freyja’s eyes frightful?
It seems to me that fire burns from her eyes!’ - The all-wise bridesmaid sat in front,
who found words in answer to the giant’s speech:
‘Freyja didn’t sleep for eight nights,
so mad keen was she [to come] into Jǫtunheimar!’ - In came the wretched sister of giants,
the one who dared to ask for a bride-fee:
‘Let red rings [fall] from your arms,
if you want to win my affection,
my affection, all favour!’ - Then Þrymr, lord of giants, said this:
‘Bring in the hammer to hallow the bride,
lay Mjǫllnir in the maiden’s lap,
hallow us both together by Vár’s hand!’ - Hlórriði’s heart laughed in his chest
when, hard-hearted, he recognized his hammer;
he slew Þrymr first, the lord of giants,
and all the giant’s family he laid low! - He slew the aged sister of giants,
the one who had asked for a bride-fee;
she received a shattering blow instead of shillings,
and a hammer’s stroke instead of a host of rings!
Thus Óðinn’s son came by his hammer again.
* Original text modified by the editor for clarification and ease of reading