Poetic EddaNorse MythologyAncient Myth / ComparativeOld NorseSharePoetic Edda 11Bellows - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableBellowsLanguageEnglishEspañol‹Poetic Edda 1Poetic Edda 2Poetic Edda 3Poetic Edda 4Poetic Edda 5Poetic Edda 6Poetic Edda 7Poetic Edda 8Poetic Edda 9Poetic Edda 10Poetic Edda 11Poetic Edda 12Poetic Edda 13Poetic Edda 14Poetic Edda 15Poetic Edda 16Poetic Edda 17Poetic Edda 18Poetic Edda 19Poetic Edda 20Poetic Edda 21Poetic Edda 22Poetic Edda 23Poetic Edda 24Poetic Edda 25Poetic Edda 26Poetic Edda 27Poetic Edda 28Poetic Edda 29Poetic Edda 30Poetic Edda 31Poetic Edda 32Poetic Edda 33Poetic Edda 34Poetic Edda 35Poetic Edda 36Poetic Edda 37Poetic Edda 38Poetic Edda 39Poetic Edda 40Poetic Edda 41Poetic Edda 42Poetic Edda 43Poetic Edda 44Poetic Edda 45Poetic Edda 46Poetic Edda 47Poetic Edda 48Poetic Edda 49Poetic Edda 50Poetic Edda 51Poetic Edda 52Poetic Edda 53Poetic Edda 54Poetic Edda 55Poetic Edda 56Poetic Edda 57Poetic Edda 58Poetic Edda 59Poetic Edda 60Poetic Edda 61Poetic Edda 62Poetic Edda 63Poetic Edda 64Poetic Edda 65Poetic Edda 66Poetic Edda 67Poetic Edda 68Poetic Edda 69Poetic Edda 70Poetic Edda 71Poetic Edda 72Poetic Edda 73Poetic Edda 74Poetic Edda 75Poetic Edda 76Poetic Edda 77Poetic Edda 78Poetic Edda 79Poetic Edda 80Poetic Edda 81Poetic Edda 82Poetic Edda 83Poetic Edda 84Poetic Edda 85Poetic Edda 86›Introductory NotePoetic Edda 11ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1The Harbarthsljoth is found complete in the Codex Regius, where it follows the Skirnismol, and from the fourth line of stanza 19 to the end of the poem in the Arnamagnæan Codex, of which it occupies the first page and a half. 2The poem differs sharply from those which precede it in the Codex Regius, both in metrical form and in spirit. It is, indeed, the most nearly formless of all the Eddic poems. The normal metre is the Malahattr (cf. Introduction, where an example is given). The name of this verse-form means “in the manner of conversation,” and the Harbarthsljoth’s verse fully justifies the term. The Atli poems exemplify the conventional use of Malahattr, but in the Harbarthsljoth the form is used with extraordinary freedom, and other metrical forms are frequently employed. A few of the speeches of which the poem is composed cannot be twisted into any known Old Norse metre, and appear to be simply prose. 3How far this confusion is due to interpolations and faulty transmission of the original poem is uncertain. Finnur Jonsson has attempted a wholesale purification of the poem, but his arbitrary condemnation of words, lines, and entire stanzas as spurious is quite unjustified by any positive evidence. I have accepted Mogk’s theory that the author was “a first-rate psychologist, but a poor poet,” and have translated the poem as it stands in the manuscripts. I have preserved the metrical confusion of the original by keeping throughout so far as possible to the metres found in the poem; if the rhythm of the translation is often hard to catch, the difficulty is no less with the original Norse. 4The poem is simply a contest of abuse, such as the early Norwegian and Icelander delighted in, the opposing figures being Thor and Othin, the latter appearing in the disguise of the ferryman Harbarth. Such billingsgate lent itself readily to changes, interpolations and omissions, and it is little wonder that the poem is chaotic. It consists mainly of boasting and of references, often luckily obscure, to disreputable events in the life of one or the other of the disputants. Some editors have sought to read a complex symbolism into it, particularly by representing it as a contest between the noble or warrior class (Othin) and the peasant (Thor). But it seems a pity to take such a vigorous piece of broad farce too seriously. 5Verse-form, substance, and certain linguistic peculiarities, notably the suffixed articles, point to a relatively late date (eleventh century) for the poem in its present form. Probably it had its origin in the early days, but its colloquial nature and its vulgarity made it readily susceptible to changes. 6Owing to the chaotic state of the text, and the fact that none of the editors or commentators have succeeded in improving it much, I have not in this case attempted to give all the important emendations and suggestions. The stanza-divisions are largely arbitrary. 7Thor was on his way back from a journey in the East, and came to a sound; on the other side of the sound was a ferryman with a boat. Thor called out: 81. “Who is the fellow yonder, | on the farther shore of the sound?” 92. “What kind of a peasant is yon, | that calls o’er the bay?” 103. “Ferry me over the sound; | I will feed thee therefor in the morning; A basket I have on my back, | and food therein, none better; At leisure I ate, | ere the house I left, Of herrings and porridge, | so plenty I had.” 114. “Of thy morning feats art thou proud, | but the future thou knowest not wholly; Doleful thine home-coming is: | thy mother, methinks, is dead.” 125. “Now hast thou said | what to each must seem The mightiest grief, | that my mother is dead.” 136. “Three good dwellings, | methinks, thou hast not; Barefoot thou standest, | and wearest a beggar’s dress; Not even hose dost thou have.” 147. “Steer thou hither the boat; | the landing here shall I show thee; But whose the craft | that thou keepest on the shore?” 158. “Hildolf is he | who bade me have it, A hero wise; | his home is at Rathsey’s sound. He bade me no robbers to steer, | nor stealers of steeds, But worthy men, | and those whom well do I know. Say now thy name, | if over the sound thou wilt fare.” 169. “My name indeed shall I tell, | though in danger I am, And all my race; | I am Othin’s son, Meili’s brother, | and Magni’s father, The strong one of the gods; | with Thor now speech canst thou get. And now would I know | what name thou hast.” 1710. “Harbarth am I, | and seldom I hide my name.” 1811. “Why shouldst thou hide thy name, | if quarrel thou hast not?” 1912. “And though I had a quarrel, | from such as thou art Yet none the less | my life would I guard, Unless I be doomed to die.” 2013. “Great trouble, methinks, | would it be to come to thee, To wade the waters across, | and wet my middle; Weakling, well shall I pay | thy mocking words, If across the sound I come.” 2114. “Here shall I stand | and await thee here; Thou hast found since Hrungnir died | no fiercer man.” 2215. “Fain art thou to tell | how with Hrungnir I fought, The haughty giant, | whose head of stone was made; And yet I felled him, | and stretched him before me. What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?” 2316. “Five full winters | with Fjolvar was I, And dwelt in the isle | that is Algrön called; There could we fight, | and fell the slain, Much could we seek, | and maids could master.” 2417. “How won ye success with your women?” 2518. “Lively women we had, | if they wise for us were; Wise were the women we had, | if they kind for us were; For ropes of sand | they would seek to wind, And the bottom to dig | from the deepest dale. Wiser than all | in counsel I was, And there I slept | by the sisters seven, And joy full great | did I get from each. What, Thor, didst thou the while?” 2619. “Thjazi I felled, | the giant fierce, And I hurled the eyes | of Alvaldi’s son To the heavens hot above; Of my deeds the mightiest | marks are these, That all men since can see. What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?” 2720. “Much love-craft I wrought | with them who ride by night, When I stole them by stealth from their husbands; A giant hard | was Hlebarth, methinks: His wand he gave me as gift, And I stole his wits away.” 2821. “Thou didst repay good gifts with evil mind.” 2922. “The oak must have | what it shaves from another; In such things each for himself. What, Thor, didst thou the while?” 3023. “Eastward I fared, | of the giants I felled Their ill-working women | who went to the mountain; And large were the giants’ throng | if all were alive; No men would there be | in Mithgarth more. What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?” 3124. “In Valland I was, | and wars I raised, Princes I angered, | and peace brought never; The noble who fall | in the fight hath Othin, And Thor hath the race of the thralls.” 3225. “Unequal gifts | of men wouldst thou give to the gods, If might too much thou shouldst have.” 3326. “Thor has might enough, | but never a heart; For cowardly fear | in a glove wast thou fain to crawl, And there forgot thou wast Thor; Afraid there thou wast, | thy fear was such, To fart or sneeze | lest Fjalar should hear.” 3427. “Thou womanish Harbarth, | to hell would I smite thee straight, Could mine arm reach over the sound.” 3528. “Wherefore reach over the sound, | since strife we have none? What, Thor, didst thou do then?” 3629. “Eastward I was, | and the river I guarded well, Where the sons of Svarang | sought me there; Stones did they hurl; | small joy did they have of winning; Before me there | to ask for peace did they fare. What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?” 3730. “Eastward I was, | and spake with a certain one, I played with the linen-white maid, | and met her by stealth; I gladdened the gold-decked one, | and she granted me joy.” 3831. “Full fair was thy woman-finding.” 3932. “Thy help did I need then, Thor, | to hold the white maid fast.” 4033. “Gladly, had I been there, | my help to thee had been given.” 4134. “I might have trusted thee then, | didst thou not betray thy troth.” 4235. “No heel-biter am I, in truth, | like an old leather shoe in spring.” 4336. “What, Thor, didst thou the while?” 4437. “In Hlesey the brides | of the Berserkers slew I; Most evil they were, | and all they betrayed.” 4538. “Shame didst thou win, | that women thou slewest, Thor.” 4639. “She-wolves they were like, | and women but little; My ship, which well | I had trimmed, did they shake; With clubs of iron they threatened, | and Thjalfi they drove off. What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?” 4740. “In the host I was | that hither fared, The banners to raise, | and the spear to redden.” 4841. “Wilt thou now say | that hatred thou soughtest to bring us?” 4942. “A ring for thy hand | shall make all right for thee, As the judge decides | who sets us two at peace.” 5043. “Where foundest thou | so foul and scornful a speech? More foul a speech | I never before have heard.” 5144. “I learned it from men, | the men so old, Who dwell in the hills of home.” 5245. “A name full good | to heaps of stones thou givest When thou callest them hills of home.” 5346. “Of such things speak I so.” 5447. “Ill for thee comes | thy keenness of tongue, If the water I choose to wade; Louder, I ween, | than a wolf thou cryest, If a blow of my hammer thou hast.” 5548. “Sif has a lover at home, | and him shouldst thou meet; More fitting it were | on him to put forth thy strength.” 5649. “Thy tongue still makes thee say | what seems most ill to me, Thou witless man! Thou liest, I ween.” 5750. “Truth do I speak, | but slow on thy way thou art; Far hadst thou gone | if now in the boat thou hadst fared.” 5851. “Thou womanish Harbarth! | here hast thou held me too long.” 5952. “I thought not ever | that Asathor would be hindered By a ferryman thus from faring.” 6053. “One counsel I bring thee now: | row hither thy boat; No more of scoffing; | set Magni’s father across.” 6154. “From the sound go hence; | the passage thou hast not.” 6255. “The way now show me, | since thou takest me not o’er the water.” 6356. “To refuse it is little, | to fare it is long; A while to the stock, | and a while to the stone; Then the road to thy left, | till Verland thou reachest; And there shall Fjorgyn | her son Thor find, And the road of her children | she shows him to Othin’s realm.” 6457. “May I come so far in a day?” 6558. “With toil and trouble perchance, While the sun still shines, | or so I think.” 6659. “Short now shall be our speech, | for thou speakest in mockery only; The passage thou gavest me not | I shall pay thee if ever we meet.” 6760. “Get hence where every evil thing shall have thee!” ‹Previous chapterPoetic Edda 10Next chapterPoetic Edda 12›Similar passagesBy tradition and source labelFind similarCompare selectedCompare with similarAsk Deep ThoughtSelect passages to search for parallels.Tap any verse to select it, then compare selected passages or ask Deep Thought. 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