Groa Knows Spells

Svipdag:
1 ‘Wake up Groa! wake excellent lady!
I awaken you at the doors of the dead.
If you remember, you invited your son
to come to the grave-mound.’

Groa:
2 ‘What is it now troubles my only son?
What evil has come upon you
when you call on your mother who has turned to dust
and has passed away from the homes of men?’

Svipdag:
3 ‘An ugly game the malicious woman has pushed me into—*
that one who put her arms around my father—
she has ordered me to go where she knows there’s no going,
to see Menglod.’

Groa:
4 ‘Long is the journey, long are the pathways,
long are men’s desires—
if it happens that you gain your wish,
then Skuld will dispose in accord with the fates.’*

Svipdag:
5 ‘Chant me some chants—those which are good ones,
mother, save your son!
It will be all up with me on the journey,
I think I am too young a lad for this.’

Groa:
6 ‘This first one I will chant for you: they say this one is very useful,
this one Rind sang for Rani:*
so you may shrug off from your shoulder anything that seems fearful to you—
you must be your own guide.

7 ‘This second one I will chant for you: if you must go on this errand,
whether you like it or not;
may Urd’s charms keep you safe on all sides*
when you are on your way!

8 ‘This third one I will chant for you: if mighty rivers
threaten your life as they fall—
may Horn and Rud turn back towards hell*
and always diminish up before you.

9 ‘This fourth one I will chant for you: if your enemies lie in wait
on the gallows-path,
may their spirits swerve into your keeping
and their minds turn to reconciliation.

10 ‘This fifth one I will chant for you:* if a fetter is bound about your limbs—
A loosing-spell I’ll have called out
over your calves so the manacle drops from your arms
and the fetter from your feet.

11 ‘This sixth one I will chant for you: if you come to the sea,
running higher than men can stand,
may calm and quiet ocean run together for you in the mill-box*
and may more peaceful voyages lie ahead for you.

12 ‘This seventh one I will chant for you: if frost assails you
up on the mountain height,
may no corpse-cold come to ravage your flesh
nor bind your body in its joints.

13 ‘This eighth one I will chant for you: lest night overtake you in the open
out on a misty path,
so that it’s inconceivable that she might do you harm—
a dead Christian woman.*

14 ‘This ninth one I will chant for you:
in case you have to bandy words
with the spear-magnificent giant:*
may eloquence and good sense
come into mouth and heart,
and you be granted enough of both.

15 ‘Never now go where peril seems poised ahead;
may no wickedness bar you from your desires!
I stood within the doors by an earth-fast stone,
while I chanted these chants for you.

16 ‘Your mother’s words, take, son, from here,
and let them settle in your breast;
endless good fortune you’ll have all your life long,
while you keep my words in mind.’


- Poetic Edda, Grógaldr