received the great kettle, as was told earlier. To his party came Odin and
his
wift Frigg. Thor did not come, for he was in the east. Sif Thor's wife, was
there, Bragi and his wift Idun. Tyr was there; he was one-handed; Fenris-wolf
had bitten off his hand while being bound. There was Njörd and his wift skach;
Frey and Freya, and Odin's son Vidar. Loki was there and Frey's servants Byggvir
and Beyla. There were many gods and elves. Aegir had two servers, Fimafeng
and
Eldir. The ale served itself There was a great peace in that place, all praised
Aegir's servers highly. Loki could not bear to hear praise, so he killed
Fimafeng. Then the gods shook their spears at Loki and cried out, driving
him
away to the woods; then they returned to their drinking. Loki turned back
and
met Eldir outside. Loki said to him:
1 LOKI: Stay where you are, step no further, Eldir, till
you have told me Of
what the gods, of what the elves, Are talking over their ale.
2 ELDIR: They boast of their weapons, their boldness in
arms As they sit by the
banquet-board, But none of the gods, none of the elves Speak of or wish you
well.
3 LOKI: I shall go in to eye them feasting In Aegir's
banquet hall: I intend to
stir up strife and hate, Mingle gall with their mead.
4 ELDIR: If you go in to eye them feasting In Aegir's
banquet hall And sprinkle
the gods with spite and malice, They will wipe your face with your words.
5 LOKI: I tell you, Eldir, if we two should begin To bandy
bitter words, I
should be ready with apt replies Were you to wag your tongue.
(Loki enters the hall.)
6 From a long journey has Loftus come And thirsty is his
throat: I ask the gods
to give me a cup, A great goblet of mead.
7 Why so silent and sullen, gods, Too moody to speak with
me? Appoint me a seat,
a place at the feast, Or else bid me be off.
8 BRAGI: An appointed seat, a place at the feast, The
gods will never give you:
You are not one they wish to invite As a friend to their pleasure feast.
9 LOKI: Remember, Odin, in the olden days What blood-brothers
we were: You would
never have dreamed of drinking ale Unless it was brought for us both.
10 ODIN: Make room, Vidar, room for the Wolf's Father
to sit at our feast, Lest
Loki abuse us with bitter words In Aegir's banquet hall.
11 LOKI: Hail to the gods, hail to the goddesses, Hail
to the Holy Powers, Hail
to you all, all but one, You, Bragi, on that bench.
12 BRAGI: I will give you a mare, a mace also, And, to
better the bargain, a
ring, To refrain, Loki, from malicious words, Inciting the gods against you.
13 LOKI: Neither horses nor arm-rings have you to give,
For you lack both,
Bragi, Of all who sit here, elves and gods, The most backward in battle, The
shyest when arrows are shot.
14 BRAGI: If I were outside, not sitting at table In Aegir's
banquet hall, My
arm would have your head from your neck, With pain repay your lies.
15 LOKI: Boldly you speak, less boldly you act, Bragi,
the bench-ornament: If
you are angry, come out and fight, A hero should feel no fear.
16 IDUN: Think, Bragi, I beg, of our children, Of all
our kith and kin And do
not bandy abuse with Loki In Aegir's banquet hall.
17 LOKI: Enough, Idun! I know what you are, The most wanton
of women: Once,
half-washed you wound your arms About your brother's killer.
18 IDUN: I will not bandy abuse with Loki In Aegir's banquet
hall: Be calm,
Bragi, and keep the peace, Nor let ale rouse you to rage.
19 GEFJUN: Why at the table should two gods Bandy bitter
words? Loki is envious,
as we all know, And hates the Holy Powers.
20 LOKI: Enough, Gefjun! I know your secrets, I know your
seducer's name, The
white god who gave you a jewel To lay your leg over his.
21 ODIN: You are mad, Loki,you have lost your wits, To
give offense to Gefjun:
She is wise, I think, and what is to come Beholds as clearly as I.
22 LOKI: Enough, Odin! You have never been A just judge
of warriors: You have
often allowed, as allow you should not, Faint-hearted fighters to win.
23 ODIN: If I have allowed, as allow I should not, Faint-hearted
fighters to
win, You lived under the earth for eight winters, And bore babies there, Were
milked like a milch-cow And played a woman's part.
24 LOKI: Charms on Samsey, they say you worked, Wicked
spells like a witch, Flew
about in the form of a wizard And played a woman's part.
25 FRIGG: You are mad, Loki, to mention here, Aloud among
the living, What
befell two gods in former days, And disdain their deeds of old.
26 LOKI: Enough, Frigg! You are Fjörgyn's daughter And
have ever played the
whore: Both Ve and Vili, Vidrir's wife, You allowed to lie with you.
27 FRIGG: If I still had a son, sitting here, As brave
as Baldur was, You would
not escape unscathed from the hall, Before you fought with him.
28 LOKI: If you like, Frigg, there's a lot more I can
tell you about my tricks:
For I saw to it that your son died, That Baldur will not come back.
29 FREYA: You are mad, Loki, to mention here Your foul
and ugly arts: Frigg
knows all that is fated to be, Though she does not say so herself.
30 LOKI: Enough, Freya! I know well You have been as bad
as the rest: With all
who sit here, elves and gods, With each you have played the whore.
31 FREYA: False is your tongue. You will find before long
That ill comes to the
evil: The gods are enraged, the goddesses also Unhappy will you go hence.
32 LOKI: Enough, Freya! I know you a witch Who has done
many wicked deeds: You
enticed into bed your own brother, remember, And then, Freya, you broke-wind.
33 NJÖRD: It's a small matter if a maiden chooses To lie
with a husband or
lover, But a shameful sight is a She-god Who has given birth to babies.
34 LOKI: Beware, Njörd! I know you were sent From the
east as a hostage to gods:
For Hymir's daughters you did as a urine-trough, They made water in your mouth.
35 NJÖRD: It comforted me when I came from afar In the
east as a hostage to
gods, To beget a son who is greatly loved And appears the prince of gods.
36 LOKI: Beware, Njörd! It is wise to be modest. Your
secret I shall not
conceal: On your own sister that son you begot. What else would one expect?
37 TYR: Frey is the best of all bold riders In the golden
courts of the gods,
Never dallies with maidens, nor men's wives, But frees all from their fetters.
38 LOKI: Enough, Tyr! You have never known how To make
peace between men: Feeble
you are since Fenris bit Your right hand off at the wrist.
39 TYR: I lost a hand, but you lost a son, The wolf brought
woe to us both: In
painful fetters shall Fenris lie Until the twilight of gods.
40 LOKI: Enough, Tyr! You know that your wife Mothered
a son by me: Nor rag nor
penny were you paid for that In recompense, wretched one.
41 FREY: I see a channel and a chained wolf lying Until
the twilight of gods:
Forger of lies, unless you be silent, That fate will fall on you next.
42 LOKI: With gold you bought Gymir's daughter, For her
you sold your sword:
When Muspell's sons over Mirkwood ride, Faint shall you feel at heart.
43 BYGGVIR: Could I own to the lineage of Ingvi-Frey And
sit in so honored a
seat, I would pound you, crow, to pulp for your words And break every one
of
your bones.
44 LOKI: What do I see wagging its tail And yelping like
a spoiled pup? To Frey
it must sound like slave-girls' Jibber-jabber at the quern.
45 BYGGVIR: My name is Byggvir, known, I think, To all
for my hot temper: Happy
am I that Hropt's kin Are gathered over their ale.
46 LOKI: Enough, Byggvir! You have never learned How to
carve meat for men: When
others fought you hid yourself Under the straw of the hall.
47 HEIMDAL: Drink, Loki, has dulled your wits, It is time
to leave it alone:
When ale begins to take hold of a man, He babbles babyish nonsense.
48 LOKI: Enough, Heimdal! I know that fate Assigned you
a servile task With a
damp bottom you are doomed to stay Awake to guard the gods.
49 SKADI: You are lively, Loki, but, like it or not, You
will not be loose for
long: The gods will bind you to the blade of a sword With the guts of your
ice-cold heir.
50 LOKI: If the gods bind me to the blade of a sword With
the guts of my
ice-cold heir, I was foremost at the slaughter, first to lay Harsh hands on
Thjazi.
51 SKADI: If foremost at the slaughter, first to lay Harsh
hands on Thjazi,
Ominous words shall you hear in my temple, Dire prophecies on my plains.
52 LOKI: Livelier your words to Laufey's son When you
bid him come to your bed:
Now is the time for telling all, That must be told of too.
53 SIF: Hail, Loki! Let me hand you now A cup of cold
mead: Admit that in one
among the gods Even you can find no fault.
54 LOKI: That would be Sif, for, wary ever And cautious,
you kept to yourself,
Except that you lay with a lover once As well as Thor, I think, And the lucky
one was Loki.
55 BEYLA: The fells tremble, the fields shake, That must
be Thor returning: He
will surely smite the shameless mocker Of gods and the sons of gods.
56 LOKI: Enough, Beyla! You are Byggvir's wife And mingle
in much evil: A
disgrace it is that where gods sit Such a dung-bird and coward should come.
(Thor enters.)
57 THOR: Be silent and grovel, or my great hammer Mjöllnir
shall shut your
mouth: Your shoulder's stone I will strike from its neck, Lifeless you shall
lie.
58 LOKI: So! The Son of Earth is here at last! Why do
you rant and rage? Less
bold you will be when you battle with Fenris And he swallows Odin whole.
59 THOR: Be silent and grovel, or my great hammer Mjöllnir
shall shut your
mouth: Be silent or Thor will throw you to the East Where no god shall see
you
again.
60 LOKI: Of your eastward journey, if I were you, I would
not speak before
warriors: You cowered, Thor, in the thumb of a glove, And forgot that you
were a
god.
61 THOR: Be silent and grovel, or my great hammer Mjöllnir
shall shut your
mouth: My hand will fell you with Hrungnir's-killer, Break every one of your
bones.
62 LOKI: I reckon I shall live to a ripe old age For all
your threats with the
hammer: Skrymir's straps were strong, you found, When you could not get to
your
gear And almost died of hunger.
63 THOR: Be silent and grovel, or my great hammer Mjöllnir
shall shut your
mouth: I will send you to ilel with Urungnir's-killer, Down to the gates of
the
dead.
64 LOKI: I have said to gods and the sons of gods What
my mind was amused to
say: But now I shall go, for I know your rages, With Thor I'm afraid to fight.
65 Ale have you brewed, Aegir, but never Will you give
a feast again: My flames
play over all you possess, Already they burn your back.
* * *
But afier that Loki hid in Franang's Falls in the form of a salmon. There
the
gods took him. He was bound with the bowels of his son Nan. But his son Narfi
turned into a wolf Skadi too a poison snake and hung it up over the face of
Loki; the poison dropped down. Sigyn, Loki's wife, sat there and held a bowl
under the poison, and when the bowl was full she carried it off; but, meanwhile,
the poison dropped on Loki. Then he struggled so hard that all the earth
trembled. We call that now an earthquake.
Notes
Many of the anecdotes mentioned by Loki are unfathomable and not mentioned
elsewhere in the Scandinavian mythological fragments preserved. A notable
exception is the tale of Thor's trip to the land of the giants, and the way
in
which he was outwitted by Utgard-Loki, their king, which Snorri tells in full
(chapters 44-7). Similarly, many of the names do not occur elsewhere.