Skirnirs JourneyFor Scirnis

1
Skirnirs Journey/For Scirnis

• Two versions of this myth exist, and Snorri cites
  the poem in his Edda.
• Freyr is the center of the poem, though his
  servant Skirnir (the Shining One) performs much
  of the action.
• Freyr is a male fertility god like his sister
  Freyia, one of the Vanir. He is the son of Niord
  and either Niords sister or the ice-giantess
  Skadi (who lives in an ice cave in the mountains).

2
The God Freyr

• Freyr was a god of wealth and fertility.
  Originally one of the Vanir, he came to the Æsir
  in the original exchange of hostages.
• Freyr ruled over Alfheim, land of the light
  elves.
• He owned the ship Skidbladnir, which could sail
  through the air and be folded up and placed in
  his pocket.
• His chariot was drawn by two boars, Gullinbursti
  (golden-bristled) and Slidrugtanni.
• Freyr means Lord and he was perhaps once the
  consort of his wife/sister Freyia (Lady).
• Freyr was also known as Yng, the legendary
  progenitor of the Norwegian royal family. (see
  For Scirnis)

3
Images of Freyr
4
Images of Freyr
5
Niord (Njörð) Skadi (Skaði)

• Skadi was a giantess whose father Thiassi was
  killed by Thor.
• She journeyed to Asgard and demanded compensation
  for the death of her father. Thor cast his eyes
  into the heavens where they shone as stars.
• She also claimed one of the Æsir as a husband
  Odin agreed, but declared that she must choose
  her husband by looking only at the feet of the
  gods!
• Believing the prettiest feet must belong to
  Baldr, she chose Niord, the sea-god by accident.

6
Niord and Skadi

• Skadi and Njord were opposites (Summer and
  Winter) for a while the marriage was happy and
  (according to some accounts) it produced the
  fertility gods Freyr and Freyia. (Or she is their
  step-mother).
• Niord was a god of the sea, of warmth and bounty
  and life. (Norse counterpart of Germanic
  Nerthus).
• Skadi was an giantess who lived in the snow and
  ice of the mountains, loved to hunt and ski and
  to listen to the howling wolves on clear winter
  nights.
• Eventually, the two separated and divorced.

7
For Scirnis

• The poem begins with Freyr sitting in Odins high
  seat Hlidskialf and looking out into the nine
  worlds.
• Perhaps as a punishment for assuming Odins
  place, perhaps simply as a danger for one not as
  wise as Odin, Freyr espies a young giantess
  walking from her hall to a storehouse and falls
  madly in love with her.
• His love becomes a great sickness, so great that
  his parents Niord and Skadi begin to worry.

8
For Scirnis

• The poem begins with Skadi imploring Skirnir to
  go to the aid of her (step-) son, the love-sick
  Freyr.
• Skirnir is afraid to unleash the wrath of Freyr,
  but obeys.
• Tell me, Freyr, war-leader of the gods,
• For I would like to know,
• Why do you sit alone in the long hall,
• My lord, day after day? (3)

9
For Scirnis

• Freyr is not very forthcoming, but Skirnir
  persists.
• In the courts of Gymir I saw walking
• A girl pleasing to me.
• Her arms shine and from there
• All the sea and air catch light. (6)
• More pleasing to me is the girl than any girl
  to any man,
• Young in bygone days
• None of the gods and elves wishes that
• We should be together. (7)

10
For Scirnis

• Skirnir volunteers to aid Freyr in his quest for
  the daughter of the Giant Gymir, but he needs
  some magical equipment for the journey
• Give me that horse which will carry me through
  the dark,
• Sure, flickering flame,
• And that sword which fights by itself
• Against the Giant race. (8)
• Freyr gives him the horse and the sword, and
  Skirnir sets off.

11
For Scirnis

• Skirnir travels swiftly to Jotunheim to the court
  of Gymir, which does not look very friendly.
• Tell me this, herdsman, as you sit on the mound
• And watch all the ways,
• How may I come to talk with the young girl,
• Past the dogs of Gymir? (11)
• Are you doomed or are you dead already?
• Conversation you shall never have
• With Gymirs excellent daughter. (12)

12
For Scirnis

• Skirnir replies with wisdom typical of Norsemen
• The choices are better than simply sobbing,
• For a man who is eager to advance
• For one day all my life was shaped,
• All my span laid down. (13)
• Meanwhile, Gerd (object of Freyrs longing) hears
  the commotion outside and invites the guest
  inside
• Tell him to come in into our hall
• And drink the famous mead
• Though I am afraid that out here may be
• My brothers slayer. (16)

13
For Scirnis

• Skirnir begins his wooing of Gerd immediately
• I am not of the elves or of the sons of the
  Æsir,
• Or of the wise Vanir,
• Though I come alone over the wild fire
• To see your company. (18)
• Eleven apples here I have all of gold,
• Those I will give you, Gerd,
• To buy your favor, that you may say that Freyr
  is
• The least hateful man alive to you. (19)
• Extreme understatement a common literary device
  in Germanic stories, from Beowulf to Icelandic
  sagas.

14
For Scirnis

• Gerd is unimpressed with Skirnir and his measly
  eleven golden apples (from the goddess Idunn?)
• Eleven apples I will never accept
• At any mans desire,
• Nor will Freyr and I settle down together
• As long as our lives last. (20)
• Skirnir then offers the magical golden arm-ring
  Draupnir
• I will not accept a ring, though it was burnt
• With Odins young son
• I lack no gold in the courts of Gymir,
• Sharing out my fathers property. (22)

15
For Scirnis

• Skirnir realizes that flattery and gifts will not
  work on this girl, so he turns to threats
• Do you see this sword, girl, slender, inlaid,
• Which I have here in my hand?
• Your head I shall cut from your neck
• Unless you say we are reconciled. (23)
• Gerd remains unimpressed
• Coercion I shall never endure
• At any mans desire
• Though I reckon this, if you and Gymir meet,
• Keen fighters, a battle is bound to occur. (24)

16
For Scirnis

• Skirnir then threatens the life of her father,
  the giant Gymir.
• To provide further encouragement, Skirnir tells
  of a magic spell that he will cast over Gerd and
  of her cursed future life (verses 26-36, pages
  65-67)
• She will be subject to his will, isolated, made
  repulsive.
• Madness, howling, tearing affliction,unbearable
  desire.
• No husband but a three-headed giant! No pleasure
  in men.
• Cursed by the gods, shell live in hell, drink
  goats piss, and be fill with unbearable desire
  for what she cant have.

17
For Scirnis

• Skirnirs vivid portrayal of her future life if
  she should reject Freyrs advances finally
  convinces Gerd to accept his proposal
• Be welcome now, lad, and receive the crystal
  cup,
• Full of ancient mead
• Though I had never thought that I should ever
  love
• One of the Vanir well. (37)
• Before Skirnir leaves, Gerd promises to meet
  Freyr
• Barri is the name, as we both know,
• Of a peaceful grove
• And after nine nights, there to the son of Niord
• Gerd shall grant love. (39)

18
For Scirnis

• Skirnir returns to Freyr in Asgard and reports
  that he has fulfilled his mission, and that Gerd
  will meet him in the Grove of Barri in nine days
  time.
• The poem ends with Freyr expressing his longing
  for Gerd and his frustration with the lengthy
  delay
• Long is one night, long are two,
• How shall I bear three?
• Often a month to me has seemed less
• Than half one of these pre-marital nights. (42)

19
For Scirnis

• From other sources (Snorri in the Ynglingasaga, a
  chapter of the Heimskringla), we know that Freyr
  and Gerd did in fact get married, and that they
  produced a son, Fiolnir, who was the progenitor
  of the Yngling dynasty of the early Norwegian
  kings.
• Skirnirs threatened curses reflect the
  mythological territory of Freyr sexual
  attraction, beauty, longing, desire, love and
  marriage, pleasure and reproduction. Gerd fears
  the loss or perversion of these attributes more
  than the loss of her life.
• Finally, because Freyr gave his magic sword to
  Skirnir, he will be weaponless at Ragnarok, where
  the fire-giant Surt will slay him.

20
The Song of Hyndla

• The Hyndluliod consists of two separate poems, a
  frame tale which concerns Freyias interview with
  the Giantess Hyndla on behalf of her protégé
  Ottar the Foolish, and a short prophesy recounted
  by Hyndla, often called the Short Prophesy
  (Voluspa in skamma).
• Much of the information recounted in the poem is
  otherwise unknown.
• The poem begins with the goddess Freyia in the
  cave of the giantess Hyndla, where she flatters
  the giantess, calling her sister and begging
  her to come to Valhall and visit Odin.
• Freyia promises her good fortune with Odin and
  with Thor.

21
Hyndluliod

• The giantess Hyndla sees through Freyias
  enticements
• Deceitful you are, Freyia, when you question
  me,
• When you look at me that way,
• When youre taking your lover on the way to
  Vallhall,
• Yound Ottar, son of Innstein. (6)
• Freyia pretends not to understand what Hyndla is
  saying
• Youre confused, Hyndla, you must be dreaming,
• When you say my lover is on the road to Valhall
• There my boar is glowing with his golden
  bristles,
• Battleswine, whom those skillful dwarfs,
• Dain and Nabbi, made for me. (7)

22
Hyndluliod

• Background
• Ottar the Foolish, the young lover and favorite
  of Freyia, is involved in a dispute with a
  certain Angantyr over inheritance, and he needs
  to know his exact ancestry to prove his case.
• Freyia has transformed him into a boar
  (Battleswine an animal sacred to both Freyr
  and Freyiasymbol of sexual potency?), so that he
  can secretly listen in on what the giant
  prophetess knows about him.
• Freyia finally convinces Hyndla to dismount from
  her wolf and converse about the two mortals and
  their ancestry.

23
Hyndluliod

• Hyndla knows that Battleswine is really Ottar,
  and she is finally ready to recount his ancestry.
• Ottar is related to many famous families, the
  Skioldungs, the Skifings, the Odlings and
  Ylfings, among others.
• Family heritage immensely important in the Norse
  culture. No family names (still none today in
  Iceland), but ones family relationships
  determined ones place in society. It is not
  unusual for Icelanders to be able to trace their
  family line back 1000 years.
• Some of the names mentioned are legendary,
  others, like Aud the deep-minded, are historical.

24
Hyndluliod

• Verse 25 refers to Iormunrekk and Sigurd. The
  former was a Burgundian chieftain from the fifth
  century A.D., and the latter is the famous dragon
  slayer Siegfried. The next two verses list other
  famous names from the Volsungasaga.
• By acquiring such proof of ancestry, Ottar is
  linking his life to that of powerful legendary
  figures, in effect establishing an official
  patent of paternity that will legitimate his
  claim to the inheritance.

25
Hyndluliod

• At Verse 29 there is a break in the genealogical
  narration.
• Hyndla continues here with a description of the
  Æsir, who are also part of Ottars kin. The
  giantess mentions Baldr, Vali, Odin, Freyr and
  Gerd, among others who are less well known. More
  legitimation.
• Verse 33 provides an interesting insertion
• All the seeresses are descended from Vidolf,
• All the wizards from Vilmeid,
• And the seid-practicers from Svarthofdi,
• All the giants from Ymir.

26
Hyndluliod

• Seid was a form of magic associated with the
  Vanir. It is usually practiced by women, but Odin
  knew its secrets.
• Verses 34-39 are unclear they might refer to
  Heimdall or to an unknown god.
• Verse 40 introduces Loki, and lists some of his
  more unusual affairs he transformed himself
  into a mare to mate with Svadilfari and give
  birth to Sleipnir, and Loki slept with the
  giantess Angrboda to father the three most famous
  Norse monsters. Lopt is another name for Loki,
  but the reference is unclear.
• Verses 43-44 refer to One was born greater than
  all, which may be a Christian reference in the
  poem.

27
Hyndluliod

• Verse 45 returns us to the frame tale with Hyndla
  and Freyia
• Give some memory-ale to my boar,
• So that he can hold fast to all these words
• From this conversation on the third morning,
• When he and Angantyr reckon up their lineage.
  (45)
• Memory-ale is a magic potion that would enable
  Ottar to remember everything exactly as it was
  spoken here.
• Hyndla concludes with a few insults directed at
  Freyia
• You ran to di, always full of desire,
• Many have thrust themselves up the front of your
  skirt
• Gallop away, noble lady, out into the night,
• As Heidrun runs in heat among the he-goats. (47)

28
Hyndluliod

• The poem concludes with the curse by Hyndla, but
  Freyia blesses her lover and worshipper
• Your curse will have no effect,
• Bride of the giant, you intend to call down
  evil
• He shall drink the precious liquid,
• I pray that Ottar may thrive in all good
  things. (50)