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  "work": {
    "slug": "poetic-edda",
    "name": "Poetic Edda"
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      "name": "The Eddas",
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  "chapter": {
    "num": 15,
    "slug": "17-svipdagsmol",
    "title": "Svipdagsmol",
    "of": 37,
    "words": 3889,
    "text": "## Svipdagsmol\n\n\n\n\n#### The Ballad of Svipdag\n\n###### INTRODUCTORY NOTE\n\nThe two poems, *Grougaldr* (*Groa's Spell*) and *Fjolsvinnsmol* (the *Ballad of Fjolsvith*), which many editors have, very wisely, united under the single title of Svipdagsmol, are found only in paper manuscripts, none of them antedating the seventeenth century. Everything points to a relatively late origin for the poems: their extensive use of \"kennings\" or poetical circumlocutions, their romantic spirit, quite foreign to the character of the unquestionably older poems, the absence of any reference to them in the earlier documents, the frequent errors in mythology, and, finally, the fact that the poems appear to have been preserved in unusually good condition. Whether or not a connecting link of narrative verse joining the two parts has been lost is an open question; on the whole it seems likely that the story was sufficiently well known so that the reciter of the poem (or poems) merely filled in the gap with a brief prose summary in pretty much his own words. The general relationship between dialogue and narrative in the Eddic poems is discussed in the introductory note to the *Grimnismol*, in connection with the use of prose links.\n\nThe love story of Svipdag and Mengloth is not referred to elsewhere in the *Poetic Edda*, nor does Snorri mention it; however, Groa, who here appears as Svipdag's mother, is spoken of by Snorri as a wise woman, the wife of Orvandil, who helps Thor with her magic charms. On the other hand, the essence of the story, the hero's winning of a bride ringed about by flames, is strongly suggestive of parts of the Sigurth-Brynhild traditions. Whether or not it is to be regarded as a nature or solar myth depends entirely on one's view of the whole \"solar myth\" school of criticism, not so highly esteemed today as formerly; such an interpretation is certainly not necessary to explain what is, under any circumstances, a very charming romance told, in the main, with dramatic effectiveness.\n\nIn later years the story of Svipdag and Mengloth became popular throughout the North, and was made the subject of many Danish and Swedish as well as Norwegian ballads. These have greatly assisted in the reconstruction of the outlines of the narrative surrounding the dialogue poems here given.\n\n\n#### I. GROUGALDR\n\n##### GROA'S SPELL\n\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n1. \"Wake thee, Groa! | wake, mother good!\nAt the doors of the dead I call thee;\nThy son, bethink thee, | thou badst to seek\nThy help at the hill of death.\"\n*\n\nGroa spake:*\n2. \"What evil vexes | mine only son,\nWhat baleful fate hast thou found,\nThat thou callest thy mother, | who lies in the mould,\nAnd the world of the living has left?\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n3. \"The woman false | whom my father embraced\nHas brought me a baleful game;\nFor she bade me go forth | where none may fare,\nAnd Mengloth the maid to seek.\"\n*\n\nGroa spake:*\n4. \"Long is the way, | long must thou wander,\nBut long is love as well;\nThou mayst find, perchance, | what thou fain wouldst have,\nIf the fates their favor will give.\"\n\n[1. *Svipdag* (\"Swift Day\"): the names of the speakers are lacking in the manuscripts.\n\n3. *The woman*: Svipdag's stepmother, who is responsible for [fp. 236] his search for *Mengloth* (\"Necklace-Glad\"). This name has suggested that Mengloth is really Frigg, possessor of the famous Brisings' necklace, or else Freyja (cf. *Lokasenna*, 20: note).]\n\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n5. \"Charms full good | then chant to me, mother,\nAnd seek thy son to guard;\nFor death do I fear | on the way I shall fare,\nAnd in years am I young, methinks.\"\n*\n\nGroa spake:*\n6. \"Then first I will chant thee | the charm oft-tried,\nThat Rani taught to Rind;\nFrom the shoulder whate'er | mislikes thee shake,\nFor helper thyself shalt thou have.\n\n7. \"Then next I will chant thee, | if needs thou must travel,\nAnd wander a purposeless way:\nThe bolts of Urth | shall on every side\nBe thy guards on the road thou goest.\n\n8. \"Then third I will chant thee, | if threatening streams\nThe danger of death shall bring:\n\n[6. For this catalogue of charms (stanzas 6-14) cf. the *Ljothatal* (*Hovamol*, 147-165). *Rani and Rind*: the manuscripts, have these words in inverse relation; I have followed Neckel's emendation. Rind was the giantess who became the mother of Vali, Othin's son, the one-night-old avenger of Baldr (cf. *Voluspo*, 33-34, and *Baldrs Draumar*, 11 and note). Rani is presumably Othin, who, according to a skaldic poem, won Rind by magic.\n\n7. Urth: one of the three Norns, or Fates; Cf. *Voluspo*, 20.]\n\n\nYet to Hel shall turn | both Horn and Ruth,\nAnd before thee the waters shall fail.\n\n9. \"Then fourth I will chant thee, | if come thy foes\nOn the gallows-way against thee:\nInto thine hands | shall their hearts be given,\nAnd peace shall the warriors wish.\n\n10. \"Then fifth I will chant thee, | if fetters perchance\nShall bind thy bending limbs:\nO'er thy thighs do I chant | a loosening-charm,\nAnd the lock is burst from the limbs,\nAnd the fetters fall from the feet.\n\n11. \"Then sixth I will chant thee, | if storms on the sea\nHave might unknown to man:\nYet never shall wind | or wave do harm,\nAnd calm is the course of thy boat.\n\n12. \"Then seventh I chant thee, | if frost shall seek\nTo kill thee on lofty crags:\nThe fatal cold | shall not grip thy flesh,\nAnd whole thy body shall be.\n\n[8. *Horn and Ruth*: these two rivers, here used merely to symbolize all dangerous streams, are not included in the catalogue of rivers given in *Grimnismol*, 27-29, for which reason some editors have changed the names to Hron and Hrith.\n\n10. This stanza is a close parallel to *Hovamol*, 150, and the fifth line may well be an interpolation from line 4 of that stanza.]\n\n\n13. \"Then eighth will I chant thee, | if ever by night\nThou shalt wander on murky ways:\nYet never the curse | of a Christian woman\nFrom the dead shall do thee harm.\n\n14. \"Then ninth will I chant thee, | if needs thou must strive\nWith a warlike giant in words:\nThy heart good store | of wit shall have,\nAnd thy mouth of words full wise.\n\n15. \"Now fare on the way | where danger waits,\nLet evils not lessen thy love!\nI have stood at the door | of the earth-fixed stones,\nThe while I chanted thee charms.\n\n16. \"Bear hence, my son, | what thy mother hath said,\nAnd let it live in thy breast;\nThine ever shall be the | best of fortune,\nSo long as my words shall last.\"\n\n[13. *A dead Christian woman*: this passage has distressed many editors, who have sought to emend the text so as to make it mean simply \"a dead witch.\" The fact seems to be, however, that this particular charm was composed at a time when Christians were regarded by all conservative pagans as emissaries of darkness. A dead woman's curse would naturally be more potent, whether she was Christian or otherwise, than a living one's. Presumably this charm is much older than the poem in which it here stands.\n\n16. At this point Groa's song ends, and Svipdag, thus fortified, goes to seek Mengloth. All the link that is needed between the poems is approximately this: \"Then Svipdag searched long for [fp. 239] Mengloth, and at last he came to a great house set all about with flames. And before the house there was a giant.\"]\n\n\n#### II. FJOLMINNSMOL\n\n##### THE LAY OF FJOLSVITH\n\n17. Before the house | he beheld one coming\nTo the home of the giants high.\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n\"What giant is here, | in front of the house,\nAnd around him fires are flaming?\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n3. \"What seekest thou here? | for what is thy search?\nWhat, friendless one, fain wouldst thou know?\nBy the ways so wet | must thou wander hence,\nFor, weakling, no home hast thou here.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n19. \"What giant is here, | in front of the house,\nTo the wayfarer welcome denying?\"\n\n[17. Most editors have here begun a new series of stanza numbers, but if the *Grougaldr* and the *Fjolsvinnsmol* are to be considered. as a single poem, it seems more reasonable to continue the stanza numbers consecutively. Bugge thinks a stanza has been lost before 17, including Fjolsvith's name, so that the \"he\" in line 1 might have something to refer to. However, just such a prose link as I have suggested in the note on stanza 16 would serve the purpose. Editors have suggested various rearrange merits in the lines of stanzas 17-19. The substance, however, is clear enough. The giant *Fjolsvith* (\"Much-Wise\"), the warder of the house in which Mengloth dwells, sees Svipdag coming and stops him with the customary threats. The assignment of the [fp. 240] speeches in stanzas 17-20, in the absence of any indications in the manuscripts, is more or less guesswork.]\n\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n\"Greeting full fair | thou never shalt find,\nSo hence shalt thou get thee home.\n\n20. \"Fjolsvith am I, | and wise am I found,\nBut miserly am I with meat;\nThou never shalt enter | within the house,--\nGo forth like a wolf on thy way!\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n21. \"Few from the joy | of their eyes will go forth,\nWhen the sight of their loves they seek;\nFull bright are the gates | of the golden hall,\nAnd a home shall I here enjoy.\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n22. \"Tell me now, fellow, | what father thou hast,\nAnd the kindred of whom thou camst.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n\"Vindkald am I, | and Varkald's son,\nAnd Fjolkald his father was.\n\n23. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\n\n[22. *Vindkald* (\"Wind-Cold\"), *Varkald* (\"Cold of Early Spring') and *Fjolkald* (\"Much Cold\"): Svipdag apparently seeks to persuade Fjolsvith that he belongs to the frost giants.]\n\n\nWho is it that holds | and has for his own\nThe rule of the hall so rich?\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n224. \"Mengloth is she, | her mother bore her\nTo the son of Svafrthorin;\nShe is it that holds | and has for her own\nThe rule of the hall so rich.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n25. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\nWhat call they the gate? | for among the gods\nNe'er saw man so grim a sight.\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n26. \"Thrymgjol they call it; | 'twas made by the three,\nThe sons of Solblindi;\nAnd fast as a fetter | the farer it holds,\nWhoever shall lift the latch.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n27. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\n\n[24. Svafrthorin: who he was, or what his name means, or who his son was, are all unknown.\n\n26. *Thrymgjol* (\"Loud-Clanging\"): this gate, like the gate of the dead, shuts so fast as to trap those who attempt to use it (cf. *Sigurtharkvitha en skamma*, 68 and note). it was made by the dwarfs, sons of *Solblindi* (\"Sun-Blinded\"), the traditional crafts men, who could not endure the light of day.]\n\n\nWhat call they the house? | for no man beheld\n'Mongst the gods so grim a sight.\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n28. \"Gastropnir is it, | of old I made it\nFrom the limbs of Leirbrimir;\nI braced it so strongly | that fast it shall stand\nSo long as the world shall last.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n29. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\nWhat call they the tree | that casts abroad\nIts limbs o'er every land?\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n30. \"Mimameith its name, | and no man knows\nWhat root beneath it runs;\nAnd few can guess | what shall fell the tree,\nFor fire nor iron shall fell it.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n31. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\n\n[28. *Gastropnir*: \"quest-Crusher.\" *Leirbrimir's* (\"Clay-Giant's\") limbs: a poetic circumlocution for \"clay\"; cf. the description of the making of earth from the body of the giant Ymir, *Vafthruthnismol*, 21.\n\n30. *Mimameith* (\"Mimir's Tree\"): the ash Yggdrasil, that overshadows the whole world. The well of Mimir was situated at its base; Cf. *Voluspo*, 27-29.]\n\n\nWhat grows from the seed | of the tree so great,\nThat fire nor iron shall fell?\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n32. \"Women, sick | with child, shall seek\nIts fruit to the flames to bear;\nThen out shall come | what within was hid,\nAnd so is it mighty with men.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n33. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\nWhat cock is he | on the highest bough,\nThat glitters all with gold?\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n34. \"Vithofnir his name, | and now he shines\nLike lightning on Mimameith's limbs;\nAnd great is the trouble | with which he grieves\nBoth Surt and Sinmora.\"\n\n[32. Gering suggests that two stanzas have been lost between stanzas 15 and 16, but the giant's answer fits the question quite well enough. The fruit of Yggdrasil, when cooked, is here assumed to have the power of assuring safe childbirth.\n\n34. *Vithofnir* (\"Tree-Snake\"): apparently identical with either the cock Gollinkambi (cf. *Voluspo*, 43) or Fjalar (cf. *Voluspo*, 42), the former of which wakes the gods to battle, and the latter the giants. *Surt*: the giant mentioned in *Voluspo*, 52, as ruler of the fire-world; here used to represent the giants in general, who are constantly in terror of the cock's eternal watchfulness. *Sinmora*: presumably Surt's wife, the giantess who possesses the weapon by which alone the cock Vithofnir may be slain.]\n\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n35. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\nWhat call they the hounds, | that before the house\nSo fierce and angry are?\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n36. \"Gif call they one, | and Geri the other,\nIf now the truth thou wouldst know;\nGreat they are, | and their might will grow,\nTill the gods to death are doomed.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n37. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\nMay no man hope | the house to enter,\nWhile the hungry hounds are sleeping?\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n38. \"Together they sleep not, | for so was it fixed\nWhen the guard to them was given;\nOne sleeps by night, | the next by day,\nSo no man may enter ever.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n39, \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\n\n[35. The last two lines have been variously emended.\n\n36. *Gif* and *Geri*: both names signify \"Greedy.\" The first part of line 3 is conjectural; the manuscripts indicate the word \"eleven,\" which clearly fails to make sense.]\n\n\nIs there no meat | that men may give them,\nAnd leap within while they eat?\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n40. \"Two wing-joints there be | in Vithofnir's body,\nIf now the truth thou wouldst know;\nThat alone is the meat | that men may give them,\nAnd leap within while they eat.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n41. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\nWhat weapon can send | Vithofnir to seek\nThe house of Hel below?\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n42. \"Lævatein is there, | that Lopt with runes\nOnce made by the doors of death;\nIn Lægjarn's chest | by Sinmora lies it,\nAnd nine locks fasten it firm.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n43. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\nMay a man come thence, | who thither goes,\nAnd tries the sword to take?\"\n\n[42. *Lævetein* (\"Wounding Wand\"): the manuscripts differ as to the form of this name. The suggestion that the reference is to the mistletoe with which Baldr was killed seems hardly reason able. *Lopt*: Loki. *Lægjarn* (\"Lover of Ill\"): Loki; cf. *Voluspo*, 35, [fp. 246] where the term appears as an adjective applied to Loki. This is Falk's emendation for the manuscripts' \"Sægjarn,\" meaning \"Sea Lover.\" *Sinmora*: cf. stanza 34.]\n\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n44. \"Thence may he come | who thither goes,\nAnd tries the sword to take,\nIf with him he carries | what few can win,\nTo give to the goddess of gold.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n45. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\nWhat treasure is there | that men may take\nTo rejoice the giantess pale?\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n46. \"The sickle bright | in thy wallet bear,\nMid Vithofnir's feathers found;\nTo Sinmora give it, | and then shall she grant\nThat the weapon by thee be won.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n47. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\nWhat call they the hall, | encompassed here\nWith flickering magic flames?\"\n\n[44. *Goddess of gold*: poetic circumlocution for \"woman,\" here meaning Sinmora.\n\n46. *Sickle*: i.e., tail feather. With this the circle of impossibilities is completed. To get past the dogs, they must be fed with the wing-joints of the cock Vithofnir; the cock can be killed only [fp. 247] with the sword in Sinmora's possession, and Sinmora will give up the sword only in return for the tail feather of the cock.]\n\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n48. \"Lyr is it called, | and long it shall\nOn the tip of a spear-point tremble;\nOf the noble house | mankind has heard,\nBut more has it never known.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n49. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\nWhat one of the gods | has made so great\nThe hall I behold within?\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n50. \"Uni and Iri, | Bari and Jari,\nVar and Vegdrasil,\nDori and Ori, | Delling, and there\nWas Loki, the fear of the folk.\"\n\n[48. *Lyr* (\"Heat-Holding\"): just what the spear-point reference means is not altogether clear. Presumably it refers to the way in which the glowing brightness of the lofty hall makes it seem to quiver and turn in the air, but the tradition, never baffled by physical laws, may have actually balanced the whole building on a single point to add to the difficulties of entrance.\n\n50. *Loki*, the one god named, was the builder of the hall, with the aid of the nine dwarfs. Jari, Dori, and Ori appear in the Voluspo catalogue of the dwarfs (stanzas 13 and 15); *Delling* appears in *Hovamol*, 161, and *Vafthruthnismol*, 25, in the latter case, however, the name quite possibly referring to some one else. The other dwarfs' names do not appear elsewhere. The manuscripts differ as to the forms of many of these names.]\n\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n51. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\nWhat call they the mountain | on which the maid\nIs lying so lovely to see?\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n52. \"Lyfjaberg is it, | and long shall it be\nA joy to the sick and the sore;\nFor well shall grow | each woman who climbs it,\nThough sick full long she has lain.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n53. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\nWhat maidens are they | that at Mengloth's knees\nAre sitting so gladly together?\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n54. \"Hlif is one named, | Hlifthrasa another,\nThjothvara call they the third;\n\n[52. *Lyfjaberg* (\"Hill of Healing\"): the manuscripts vary as to this name; I have followed Bugge's suggestion. This stanza implies that Mengloth is a goddess of healing, and hence, per haps, an hypostasis of Frigg, as already intimated by her name (cf. stanza 3, note). In stanza 54 Eir appears as one of Mengloth's handmaidens, and Eir, according to Snorri (*Gylfaginning*, 35) is herself the Norse Hygeia. Compare this stanza with stanza 32.\n\n54. The manuscripts and editions show many variations in these names. They may be approximately rendered thus: Helper, Help-Breather, Folk-Guardian, Shining, White, Blithe, Peaceful, Kindly (?), and Gold-Giver.]\n\n\nBjort and Bleik, | Blith and Frith,\nEir and Aurbotha.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n55. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\nAid bring they to all | who offerings give,\nIf need be found therefor?\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n56. \"Soon aid they all | who offerings give\nOn the holy altars high;\nAnd if danger they see | for the sons of men,\nThen each from ill do they guard.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n57. \"Now answer me, Fjolsvith, | the question I ask,\nFor now the truth would I know:\nLives there the man | who in Mengloth's arms\nSo fair may seek to sleep?\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n58. \"No man there is | who in Mengloth's arms\nSo fair may seek to sleep,\nSave Svipdag alone, | for the sun-bright maid\nIs destined his bride to be.\"\n\n[55. One of the manuscripts omits stanzas 55 and 56.\n\n56. The first line is based on a conjectural emendation.]\n\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n59. \"Fling back the gates! | make the gateway wide!\nHere mayst thou Svipdag see!\nHence get thee to find | if gladness soon\nMengloth to me will give.\"\n*\n\nFjolsvith spake:*\n60. \"Hearken, Mengloth, | a man is come;\nGo thou the guest to see!\nThe hounds are fawning, | the house bursts open,--\nSvipdag, methinks, is there.\"\n*\n\nMengloth spake:*\n61. \"On the gallows high | shall hungry ravens\nSoon thine eyes pluck out,\nIf thou liest in saying | that here at last\nThe hero is come to my hall.\n\n62. \"Whence camest thou hither? | how camest thou here?\nWhat name do thy kinsmen call thee?\nThy race and thy name | as a sign must I know,\nThat thy bride I am destined to be.\"\n*\n\nSvipdag spake:*\n63. \"Svipdag am I, | and Solbjart's son;\nThence came I by wind-cold ways;\n\n[63. Solbjart (\"Sun-B right\"): not elsewhere mentioned. *The words of Urth*: i.e., the decrees of fate; cf. stanza 7.]\n\n\nWith the words of Urth | shall no man war,\nThough unearned her gifts be given.\"\n*\n\nMengloth spake:*\n64. \"Welcome thou art, | for long have I waited;\nThe welcoming kiss shalt thou win!\nFor two who love | is the longed-for meeting\nThe greatest gladness of all.\n\n65. \"Long have I sat | on Lyfjaberg here,\nAwaiting thee day by day;\nAnd now I have | what I ever hoped,\nFor here thou art come to my hall.\n\n66. \"Alike we yearned; | I longed for thee,\nAnd thou for my love hast longed;\nBut now henceforth | together we know\nOur lives to the end we shall live.\"\n\n[65. Lyfjaberg cf. stanza 52 and note.]",
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