Prose EddaNorse MythologyAncient Myth / ComparativeOld NorseShareProse Edda 32Anderson - EnglishMoreVersion - 1 availableAndersonLanguageEnglishEspañol‹Prose Edda 1Prose Edda 2Prose Edda 3Prose Edda 4Prose Edda 5Prose Edda 6Prose Edda 7Prose Edda 8Prose Edda 9Prose Edda 10Prose Edda 11Prose Edda 12Prose Edda 13Prose Edda 14Prose Edda 15Prose Edda 16Prose Edda 17Prose Edda 18Prose Edda 19Prose Edda 20Prose Edda 21Prose Edda 22Prose Edda 23Prose Edda 24Prose Edda 25Prose Edda 26Prose Edda 27Prose Edda 28Prose Edda 29Prose Edda 30Prose Edda 31Prose Edda 32Prose Edda 33Prose Edda 34Prose Edda 35›Menja And Fenja.Prose Edda 32ListenPlay this chapter in spoken English.Save chapterListen to chapter1Why is gold called Frode’s meal? The saga giving rise to this is the following: 2Odin had a son by name Skjold, from whom the Skjoldungs are descended. He had his throne and ruled in the lands that are now called Denmark, but were then called Gotland. Skjold had a son by name Fridleif, who ruled the lands after him. Fridleif’s son was Frode. He took the kingdom after his father, at the time when the Emperor Augustus established peace in all the earth and Christ was born. But Frode being the mightiest king in the northlands, this peace was attributed to him by all who spake the Danish tongue, and the Norsemen called it the peace of Frode. No man injured the other, even though he might meet, loose or in chains, his father’s or brother’s bane. There was no thief or robber, so that a gold ring would be a long time on Jalanger’s heath. King Frode sent messengers to Svithjod, to the king whose name was Fjolner, and bought there two maid-servants, whose names were Fenja and Menja. They were large and strong. About this time were found in Denmark two mill-stones, so large that no one had the strength to turn them. But the nature belonged to these mill-stones that they ground whatever was demanded of them by the miller. The name of this mill was Grotte. But the man to whom King Frode gave the mill was called Hengekjapt. King Frode had the maid-servants led to the mill, and requested them to grind for him gold and peace, and Frode’s happiness. Then he gave them no longer time to rest or sleep than while the cuckoo was silent or while they sang a song. 3It is said that they sang the song called the Grottesong, and before they ended it they ground out a host against Frode; so that on the same night there came the sea-king, whose name was Mysing, and slew Frode and took a large amount of booty. Therewith the Frode-peace ended. Mysing took with him Grotte, and also Fenja and Menja, and bade them grind salt, and in the middle of the night they asked Mysing whether he did not have salt enough. He bade them grind more. They ground only a short time longer before the ship sank. But in the ocean arose a whirlpool (Maelstrom, mill-stream) in the place where the sea runs into the mill-eye. Thus the sea became salt. ‹Previous chapterProse Edda 31Next chapterProse Edda 33›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