Slaughter Wedding Party

22 Then said Thrym, lord of ogres:
‘Be upstanding, giants, and strew the benches!
Now they are bringing me Freyia as my wife,
Niord’s daughter from Noatun!

23 ‘Gold-horned cows walk here in the yard,
jet-black oxen to the giant’s delight;
heaps I have of treasures, heaps I have of luxuries,
only Freyia seemed to be missing.’

24 They came together there early in the evening,
and ale was brought for the giants;
he ate one whole ox, eight salmon,
all the dainties meant for the women;
Sif’s husband drank three casks of mead.

25 Then said Thrym, lord of ogres:
‘Where have you seen brides eating more ravenously?
I’ve never seen any brides with a broader bite,
nor any girl drink so much mead.’

26 The very shrewd maid sat before him,
she found an answer to the giant’s speech:
‘Freyia ate nothing for eight nights,
so madly eager was she to come to Giant-land.’

27 He bent under the head-dress, he was keen to kiss her,
instead he sprang back right along the hall:
‘Why are Freyia’s eyes so terrifying?
It seems to me fire is burning from them.’

28 The very shrewd maid sat before him,
she found an answer to the giant’s speech:
‘Freyia did not sleep for eight nights,
so madly eager was she to come to Giant-land.’

29 In came the wretched sister of the giants,
she dared to ask for a gift from the bride:
‘Let the red-gold rings flow from your arms,
if you want to merit my love,
my love and all my favour.’

30 Then said Thrym, lord of ogres:
‘Bring in the hammer to sanctify the bride,
lay Miollnir on the girl’s lap,
consecrate us together by the hand of Var!’

31 Hlorridi’s heart laughed in his breast,
when he, stern in courage, recognized the hammer;
first he killed Thrym, lord of ogres,
and battered all the race of giants.

32 He killed the old sister of the giants,
she who’d asked for the gift from the bride;
striking she got instead of shillings,
and hammer-blows instead of heaps of rings.

So Odin’s son got the hammer back.


- Poetic Edda, Thrymskvida