Bests Thor

Thor was travelling from the east and he came to an inlet. On the other side of the inlet was the ferryman with his ship. Thor called:
1 ‘Who is that lad of lads who stands on that side of the inlet?’*

He answered:
2 ‘Who is that churl of churls who calls over the gulf?’

Thor said:
3 ‘Ferry me over the water and I’ll feed you in the morning;
I’ve a basket on my back, no food could be better;
I ate at leisure before I left home,
herrings and oatmeal—I’ve eaten my fill of these.’

The ferryman said:
4 ‘As your morning’s work you praise your breakfast!
You don’t know clearly what’s before you;
sad is your household, I think your mother’s dead.’*

Thor said:
5 ‘What you say now would seem great news
to most people, that my mother is dead.’

The ferryman said:
6 ‘It doesn’t look as if you own three decent farms;
barelegged you stand, wearing your beggar’s gear,
you don’t even have any breeches.’

Thor said:
7 ‘Steer the oaken ship here—
I’ll direct you to the landing stage—
anyway, who owns the ship which you keep next to the bank?’

The ferryman said:
8 ‘Hildolf he’s called, the man who ordered me to keep it,
that warrior wise in counsel, who lives in Counsel-island Sound;
he told me not to ferry highwaymen or horse-thieves
but good men alone, and those whom I recognized clearly;
tell me your name if you want to cross the inlet.’

Thor said:
9 ‘I’d tell my name, even if I were outlawed,
and my origin to all: I am Odin’s son,
brother of Meili, father of Magni,
powerful gods-leader; with Thor you converse here!
This I’ll ask now, what you are called.’

The ferryman said:
10 ‘I am called Harbard, I seldom conceal my name.’

Thor said:
11 ‘Why should you conceal your name, unless you are in a dispute?’

Harbard said:
12 ‘Whether or not I have a dispute, I’d defend my life
from such as you are, unless I were doomed.’

Thor said:
13 ‘It seems to me that it’d be an unpleasant labour
to wade over the water to you, and wet my prick.*
I’ll pay you back, you babe in arms,
for your jeering words, if I get over the water.’

Harbard said:
14 ‘Here I’ll stand and wait for you;
you’ve encountered no tougher man since Hrungnir’s death.’*

Thor said:
15 ‘This is what you’re talking about: that Hrungnir and I fought—
the great-spirited giant whose head was made of stone:
and yet I brought him down and made him fall before me.
What were you doing meanwhile, Harbard?’

Harbard said:
16 ‘I was with Fiolvar five winters long
on that island called All-green;
we fought there and wreaked slaughter,
we tried out many things,
had our choice of girls.’

Thor said:
17 ‘How did it turn out with your women?’

Harbard said:
18 ‘We had frisky women, if only they were well-disposed to us;
we had clever women, if only they were faithful to us;
they wound a rope out of sand,
and from a deep valley
they dug out the ground;
only I was superior to them all with my shrewdness;
I slept with the seven sisters,*
and I got all their hearts, and pleasure from them.
What were you doing meanwhile, Thor?’

Thor said:
19 ‘I killed Thiazi, the powerful-minded giant,*
I threw up the eyes of Allvaldi’s son*
into the bright heaven;
they are the greatest sign of my deeds,
those which since all men can see.
What were you doing meanwhile, Harbard?’

Harbard said:
20 ‘Mighty love-spells I used on the witches,
those whom I seduced from their men;
a tough giant I think Hlebard was,
he gave me a magic twig,
and I bewitched him out of his wits.’

Thor said:
21 ‘Malevolently you repaid him for his good gifts.’

Harbard said:
22 ‘One oak-tree thrives when another is stripped,
each is for himself in such matters.
What were you doing meanwhile, Thor?’

Thor said:
23 ‘I was in the east, and I fought against giants,
malicious women, who roamed in the mountains;
great would be the giant race if they all survived:
there’d be no humans within Midgard.
What were you doing meanwhile, Harbard?’

Harbard said:
24 ‘I was in Valland, and I followed the war,
I incited the princes, never reconciled them;
Odin owns the nobles who fall in battle
and Thor owns the race of thralls.’

Thor said:
25 ‘Unequally you’d share out warriors among the Æsir,
if you had as much power as you’d like.’

Harbard said:
26 ‘Thor has quite enough strength, and no guts;
in fear and cowardice you were stuffed in a glove,*
and you didn’t then seem like Thor;
you dared in your terror neither
to sneeze nor fart in case Fialar might hear.’

Thor said:
27 ‘Harbard, you pervert! I would knock you into hell
if I could stretch over the water.’

Harbard said:
28 ‘Why should you stretch over the water, since we have no dispute?
What were you doing meanwhile, Thor?’

Thor said:
29 ‘I was in the east and I defended the river
where Svarang’s sons attacked me;*
they pelted me with stones, yet they didn’t rejoice in advantage,
before me they had to sue first for peace.
What were you doing meanwhile, Harbard?’

Harbard said:
30 ‘I was in the east and I was consorting with someone,
I sported with a linen-white lady and set up a secret meeting,
I made the gold-bright one happy, the girl enjoyed her pleasure.’

Thor said:
31 ‘You had good dealings with the girl there.’

Harbard said:
32 ‘I could have done with your help, Thor,
to hold the linen-white girl.’

Thor said:
33 ‘I’d have helped you with that, if I could have managed it.’

Harbard said:
34 ‘I’d have trusted you then, if you didn’t betray my trust.’

Thor said:
35 ‘I’m not a heel-biter like an old leather shoe in spring.’

Harbard said:
36 ‘What were you doing meanwhile, Thor?’

Thor said:
37 ‘Berserk women I battled in Hlesey;
they’d done the worst things, betrayed the whole people.’

Harbard said:
38 ‘That was a shameful deed, Thor, to fight against women.’

Thor said:
39 ‘They were she-wolves, and scarcely women,
they rattled my ship which I’d beached on trestles,
they threatened me with an iron club, and chased Thialfi.
What were you doing meanwhile, Harbard?’

Harbard said:
40 ‘I was in the army, which set out here
to raise battle-banners
and to redden the spear.’

Thor said:
41 ‘This is tantamount to saying that you set out to bring us harm.’

Harbard said:
42 ‘I’ll compensate you for that with an arm-ring*
which arbitrators use, those who want to settle things between us.’

Thor said:
43 ‘Where did you find such despicable words?
I’ve never heard words more despicable!’

Harbard said:
44 ‘I learned them from those ancient men who have their home in the woods.’*

Thor said:
45 ‘That’s giving a good name to burial cairns, when you call them
the “home in the woods”.’

Harbard said:
46 ‘That’s how I talk of such things.’

Thor said:
47 ‘Your glibness with words will bring evil upon you,
if I decide to wade over the sound;
louder than the wolf I think you’ll howl,
if you get a blow from my hammer.’

Harbard said:
48 ‘Sif has a lover at home, he’s the one you want to meet,*
that’s the test of strength you ought to attempt, that’s more pressing for you.’

Thor said:
49 ‘You say just what comes into your mouth, so that it seems the worst to me,
coward, I think you’re lying.’

Harbard said:
50 ‘Truth I think I’m saying, you’re slow in your journey,
you’d now be well on your way, Thor, if you’d travelled by day and night.’

Thor said:
51 ‘Harbard, you pervert, you’ve held me up too long!’

Harbard said:
52 ‘I never thought Asa-Thor would let
a herdsman hold up his journeys.’

Thor said:
53 ‘I’ll give you some advice now: row the boat here,
let’s stop this quarrelling, come and meet Magni’s father!’

Harbard said:
54 ‘Go further away from the inlet,
you shall be refused passage!’

Thor said:
55 ‘Show me the way since you won’t ferry me over the water!’

Harbard said:
56 ‘It’s a little thing to refuse: it’s a long time to travel;
a while to the stock, another to the stone,
keep to the left-hand road until you come to Verland;
there Fiorgyn will meet Thor, her son,*
and she will show him the kinsmen’s road, to get to Odin’s land.’

Thor said:
57 ‘Can I get there today?’

Harbard said:
58 ‘With toil and difficulty you’ll get there, while the sun’s in the sky,
since I think it’s thawing.’

Thor said:
59 ‘Short will our conversation be now, since you answer me only with jeers.
I’ll reward you for refusing to ferry me, if we meet another time.’

Harbard said:
60 ‘Go where the monsters’ll get you!’


- Poetic Edda, Harbardzljod