Poetic EddaNorse MythologyAncient Myth / ComparativeOld NorseSharePoetic Edda 25Bellows - 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 25ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1The Hyndluljoth is found in neither of the great manuscripts of the Poetic Edda, but is included in the so-called Flateyjarbok (Book of the Flat Island), an enormous compilation made somewhere about 1400. The lateness of this manuscript would of itself be enough to cast a doubt upon the condition in which the poem has been preserved, and there can be no question that what we have of it is in very poor shape. It is, in fact, two separate poems, or parts of them, clumsily put together. The longer one, the Poem of Hyndla proper, is chiefly a collection of names, not strictly mythological but belonging to the semi-historical hero-sagas of Norse tradition. The wise-woman, Hyndla, being asked by Freyja to trace the ancestry of her favorite, Ottar, for the purpose of deciding a wager, gives a complex genealogy including many of the heroes who appear in the popular sagas handed down from days long before the Icelandic settlements. The poet was learned, but without enthusiasm; it is not likely that he composed the Hyndluljoth much before the twelfth century, though the material of which it is compounded must have been very much older. Although the genealogies are essentially continental, the poem seems rather like a product of the archæological period of Iceland. 2Inserted bodily in the Hyndluljoth proper is a fragment of fifty-one lines, taken from a poem of which, by a curious chance, we know the name. Snorri quotes one stanza of it, calling it “the short Voluspo.” The fragment preserved gives, of course, no indication of the length of the original poem, but it shows that it was a late and very inferior imitation of the great Voluspo. Like the Hyndluljoth proper, it apparently comes from the twelfth century; but there is nothing whatever to indicate that the two poems were the work of the same man, or were ever connected in any way until some blundering copyist mixed them up. Certainly the connection did not exist in the middle of the thirteenth century, when Snorri quoted “the short Voluspo.” 3Neither poem is of any great value, either as mythology or as poetry. The author of “the short Voluspo” seems, indeed, to have been more or less confused as to his facts; and both poets were too late to feel anything of the enthusiasm of the earlier school. The names of Hyndla’s heroes, of course, suggest an unlimited number of stories, but as most of these have no direct relation to the poems of the Edda, I have limited the notes to a mere record of who the persons mentioned were, and the saga-groups in which they appeared. 41. “Maiden, awake! | wake thee, my friend, My sister Hyndla, | in thy hollow cave! Already comes darkness, | and ride must we To Valhall to seek | the sacred hall. 52. “The favor of Heerfather | seek we to find, To his followers gold | he gladly gives; To Hermoth gave he | helm and mail-coat, And to Sigmund he gave | a sword as gift. 63. “Triumph to some, | and treasure to others, To many wisdom | and skill in words, Fair winds to the sailor, | to the singer his art, And a manly heart | to many a hero. 74. “Thor shall I honor, | and this shall I ask, That his favor true | mayst thou ever find; . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . Though little the brides | of the giants he loves. 85. “From the stall now one | of thy wolves lead forth, And along with my boar | shalt thou let him run; For slow my boar goes | on the road of the gods, And I would not weary | my worthy steed.” 96. “Falsely thou askest me, | Freyja, to go, For so in the glance | of thine eyes I see; On the way of the slain | thy lover goes with thee, Ottar the young, | the son of Instein.” 107. “Wild dreams, methinks, | are thine when thou sayest My lover is with me | on the way of the slain; There shines the boar | with bristles of gold, Hildisvini, | he who was made By Dain and Nabbi, | the cunning dwarfs. 118. “Now let us down | from our saddles leap, And talk of the race | of the heroes twain; The men who were born | of the gods above, . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . 129. “A wager have made | in the foreign metal Ottar the young | and Angantyr; We must guard, for the hero | young to have, His father’s wealth, | the fruits of his race. 1310. “For me a shrine | of stones he made,— And now to glass | the rock has grown;— Oft with the blood | of beasts was it red; In the goddesses ever | did Ottar trust. 1411. “Tell to me now | the ancient names, And the races of all | that were born of old: Who are of the Skjoldungs, | who of the Skilfings, Who of the Othlings, | who of the Ylfings, Who are the free-born, | who are the high-born, The noblest of men | that in Mithgarth dwell?” 1512. “Thou art, Ottar, | the son of Instein, And Instein the son | of Alf the Old, Alf of Ulf, | Ulf of Sæfari, And Sæfari’s father | was Svan the Red. 1613. “Thy mother, bright | with bracelets fair, Hight, methinks, | the priestess Hledis; Frothi her father, | and Friaut her mother;— Her race of the mightiest | men must seem. 1714. “Of old the noblest | of all was Ali, Before him Halfdan, | foremost of Skjoldungs; Famed were the battles | the hero fought, To the corners of heaven | his deeds were carried. 1815. “Strengthened by Eymund, | the strongest of men, Sigtrygg he slew | with the ice-cold sword; His bride was Almveig, | the best of women, And eighteen boys | did Almveig bear him. 1916. “Hence come the Skjoldungs, | hence the Skilfings, Hence the Othlings, | hence the Ynglings, Hence come the free-born, | hence the high-born, The noblest of men | that in Mithgarth dwell: And all are thy kinsmen, | Ottar, thou fool! 2017. “Hildigun then | her mother hight, The daughter of Svava | and Sækonung; And all are thy kinsmen, | Ottar, thou fool! It is much to know,— | wilt thou hear yet more? 2118. “The mate of Dag | was a mother of heroes, Thora, who bore him | the bravest of fighters, Frathmar and Gyrth | and the Frekis twain, Am and Jofurmar, | Alf the Old; It is much to know,— | wilt thou hear yet more? 2219. “Her husband was Ketil, | the heir of Klypp, He was of thy mother | the mother’s-father; Before the days | of Kari was Frothi, And born of Hild | was Hoalf then. 2320. “Next was Nanna, | daughter of Nokkvi, Thy father’s kinsman | her son became; Old is the line, | and longer still, And all are thy kinsmen, | Ottar, thou fool! 2421. “Isolf and Osolf, | the sons of Olmoth, Whose wife was Skurhild, | the daughter of Skekkil, Count them among | the heroes mighty, And all are thy kinsmen, | Ottar, thou fool! 2522. “Gunnar the Bulwark, | Grim the Hardy, Thorir the Iron-shield, | Ulf the Gaper, Brodd and Hörvir | both did I know; In the household they were | of Hrolf the Old. 2623. “Hervarth, Hjorvarth, | Hrani, Angantyr, Bui and Brami, | Barri and Reifnir, Tind and Tyrfing, | the Haddings twain,— And all are thy kinsmen, | Ottar, thou fool! 2724. “Eastward in Bolm | were born of old The sons of Arngrim | and Eyfura; With berserk-tumult | and baleful deed Like fire o’er land | and sea they fared,— And all are thy kinsmen, | Ottar, thou fool! 2825. “The sons of Jormunrek | all of yore To the gods in death | were as offerings given; He was kinsman of Sigurth,— | hear well what I say,— The foe of hosts, | and Fafnir’s slayer. 2926. “From Volsung’s seed | was the hero sprung, And Hjordis was born | of Hrauthung’s race, And Eylimi | from the Othlings came,— And all are thy kinsmen, | Ottar, thou fool! 3027. “Gunnar and Hogni, | the heirs of Gjuki, And Guthrun as well, | who their sister was; But Gotthorm was not | of Gjuki’s race, Although the brother | of both he was: And all are thy kinsmen, | Ottar, thou fool! 3128. “Of Hvethna’s sons | was Haki the best, And Hjorvarth the father | of Hvethna was; . . . . . . . . | . . . . . . . . 3229. “Harald Battle-tooth | of Auth was born, Hrörek the Ring-giver | her husband was; Auth the Deep-minded | was Ivar’s daughter, But Rathbarth the father | of Randver was: And all are thy kinsmen, | Ottar, thou fool!” ‹Previous chapterPoetic Edda 24Next chapterPoetic Edda 26›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. Public domain in the United States via Project Gutenberg