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Þrymskviða (Þrym's Poem;<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> the name can be anglicised as Thrymskviða, Thrymskvitha, Thrymskvidha or Thrymskvida) is one of the best known poems from the Poetic Edda. The Norse myth had enduring popularity in Scandinavia and continued to be told and sung in several forms until the 19th century.
SynopsisEdit
In the poem Þrymskviða, Thor wakes and finds that his powerful hammer, Mjöllnir, is missing. Thor turns to Loki first, and tells him that nobody knows that the hammer has been stolen. The two then go to the courtTemplate:Refn of the goddess Freyja, and Thor asks her if he may borrow her feather cloak so that he may attempt to find Mjöllnir. Freyja agrees, saying she would lend it even if it were made of silver and gold, and Loki flies off, the feather cloak whistling.
In Jötunheimr, the jötunn lord Þrymr sits on a burial mound, plaiting golden collars for his female dogs, and trimming the manes of his horses. Þrymr sees Loki, and asks what could be amiss among the Æsir and the Elves; why is Loki alone in the Jötunheimr? Loki responds that he has bad news for both the elves and the Æsir: that Thor's hammer, Mjöllnir, was gone. Þrymr says that he has hidden Mjöllnir eight leagues beneath the earth, from which it will be retrieved if Freyja is brought to marry him. Loki flies off, the feather cloak whistling, away from Jötunheimr and back to the court of the gods.
Thor asks Loki if his efforts were successful, and that Loki should tell him while he is still in the air as "tales often escape a sitting man, and the man lying down often barks out lies".<ref>Template:Harvp, st. 10</ref> Loki states that it was indeed an effort, and also a success, for he has discovered that Þrymr has the hammer, but that it cannot be retrieved unless Freyja is brought to marry Þrymr. The two return to Freyja, and tell her to dress herself in a bridal head dress, as they will drive her to Jötunheimr. Freyja, indignant and angry, goes into a rage, causing all of the halls of the Æsir to tremble in her anger, and her necklace, the famed Brísingamen,Template:Efn flies off of her.Template:Efn Freyja flatly refuses, saying that if she did (allow herself to mate a jötunn) that would make her the most man-crazed wench around.Template:Refn
As a result, the gods and goddesses meet and hold a Thing (Assembly)Template:Efn to discuss and debate the matter. At the Thing, the god Heimdallr puts forth the suggestion that, in place of Freyja, Thor should be dressed as the bride, complete with jewels, women's clothing down to his knees, a bridal head-dress, and the necklaceTemplate:Refn (or neck-ringTemplate:Refn) Brísingamen (and, arguably, another lower necklace covering the breast, though this is contestedTemplate:Refn). Thor comments he would be ridiculed as a sissyTemplate:Refn) if he submits to the idea, but Loki (here described as "son of Laufey"Template:Efn) dissuades him saying that this will be the only way to get back Mjöllnir, and without Mjöllnir, the jötnar will overtake Asgard. The gods dress Thor as a bride, and Loki states that he will go with Thor as his handmaiden (or bridesmaid), and that the two shall drive to Jötunheimr together.
After riding together in Thor's goat-driven chariot, the two, disguised, arrive in Jötunheimr.Template:Efn Þrymr commands the jötnar in his hall to spread straw on the benches, for Freyja has arrived to marry him. Þrymr recounts his treasured animals and treasures including many necklacesTemplate:Efn, stating that Freyja was all that he was missing in his wealth.Template:Refn
Early in the evening, the disguised Loki and Thor meet with Þrymr and the assembled jötnar. Thor eats and drinks ferociously, consuming entire animals and three casks of mead. Þrymr finds the behaviour at odds with his impression of Freyja, and Loki sitting there like a "very shrewd maid",Template:Efn invents the excuse that "Freyja's" behaviour is due to her having not consumed anything for eight entire days before arriving due to her eagerness to arrive. Þrymr then lifts "Freyja's" veil and wants to kiss "her" until catching the terrifying eyes staring back at him, seemingly burning with fire. Loki states that this is because "Freyja" had not slept for eight nights in her eagerness.
The "wretched sister" of the jötnar appears, asks for gold [arm-]rings as bridal gifts from "Freyja", and the jötnar bring out Mjöllnir to "sanctify the bride", to lay it on her lap, and marry the two by "the hand" of the goddess Vár. Thor laughs internally when he sees the hammer, takes hold of it, strikes Þrymr, beats all of the jötnar, and kills the "older sister" of the jötnar.<ref>Template:Harvp In 34 st.</ref><ref name=Larrington>Template:Cite book In 32 st.</ref><ref name=Thorpe>Template:Cite book In 39 st.</ref>Template:Sfnp
DatingEdit
There is no agreement among scholars on the age of Þrymskviða. Some have seen it as thoroughly heathen and among the oldest of the Eddaic poems, dating it to 900 AD.<ref>Gordon, E. V. (1957) An Introduction to Old Norse, p. 135 apud Template:Harvp</ref><ref>Template:Harvp dated it to after 875</ref><ref>More recently, Einar Ólafur Sveinsson; Jónas Kristjánsson cited by Template:Harvp</ref> but this view is now in the minority.<ref>Template:Harvp: ""Few scholars would now accept E.V. Gordon's view.. [it was] 'composed about 900'"</ref>
A number of scholars, on the other hand, dates the poem to the first half of the 13th century,<ref>de Vries, Hallberg (1954), Template:Illm (1958), Reinert Kvillerud (1965) and Template:Illm (1984), cited by Template:Harvp</ref> and collectively they have advanced four main reasons for the younger dating.Template:Sfnp Jan de Vries characterized the work to be a Christian-era parody of the heathen gods.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Cf. Template:Harvp on the assessment of whether this line of reasoning (a comic burlesque or parody treatment must necessarily have occurred in the Christianized era, as late as 13th century).</ref>
One basis of the older dating is the archaic language, in particular, the heavy use of the of/af particle,Template:Sfnp which is not addressed by some supporters of later dating, such as the Swedish scholar Template:Illm.<ref>Hallberg, Peter (1954). "Om Þrymskviða" Arkiv för nordisk filologi 69. pp. 51–77, apud Template:Harvp</ref> Finnur Jónsson also argued there were some died-out pagan customs preserved in the poem, for example, the necklaces of the type hanging to the chestTemplate:Efn were no longer in style by the Christian era.Template:Sfnp
AnalysisEdit
The storyline is a prime example of the folktale motif ATU 1148b "The Theft of the Thunder-Instrument" (or "Thunder's Instrument"),Template:Sfnp and also incorporates ATU 403c "The Substituted Bride".<ref name="mcgillivray2023"/>
In other tales, Loki's explanations for Thor's behavior has its clearest analogies in the tale Little Red Riding Hood, where the wolf provides equally odd explanations for its differences from the grandmother than Little Red Riding Hood was expecting.<ref>Iona and Peter Opie, The Classic Fairy Tales, p. 93-4 Template:ISBN.</ref>
BalladryEdit
There are versions of the story in ballad-form, composed during the medieval (or post-medieval) periods, in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic.<ref>Template:Harvp notes "number of.. Danish and Swedish ballads".</ref><ref>Template:Harvp tabulates the texts of the Norwegian, Swedish, Danish A and Danish C versions of the ballad.</ref>Template:Refn These are catalogued as TSB type E 126:<ref name="syndergaard1995"/> i.e., the Danish Tord af Havsgaard (DgF 1), Swedish Tors hammarhämmtning (SMB 212Template:Sfnp), Norwegian Torekall (NMB 188),<ref name="syndergaard1995"/> and the Icelandic rímur cycle Þrymlur (c. 1350–1450).Template:Refn<ref name="mcgillivray2023"/>
DanishEdit
The various known redactions of the Danish ballad Tord af Havsgård (DgF 1) are subdivided into variant types 1A B Ca–c.<ref>Grundtvig, Svend (1976) Danmarks gamle folkeviser {{#invoke:URL|url}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:URL with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y | 1 | 2 }}. Volume 1 of the compilation included only 1A B(Template:Harvp, 23 st. and 27 st., respectively), Volume 4 supplemented the C version (Template:Harvp, 25 st.).</ref>
Version A has been translated as "Thor of Asgard" by Prior (1860), and as "Thord of Hafsgaard" by E. M. Smith-Dampier (1914).<ref name="syndergaard1995"/> In Ballad 1A, "Tord af Havsgård" (tr. "Thord of Hafsgaard")Template:Efn the title hero is riding over the green meadow, having lost his gold hammer for a long while, and the ballad proclaims (in the emended reading) "so a man shall win a shrew (wildwoman)", explained by commentators as a jocular hint of Tord himself (or his "old father"Template:Sfnp) later having to dress up as a bride.Template:RefnTemplate:Refn
Tord tells his brother Lokke Leymand (or "Jester"Template:Refn) to go to Nørrefjeld (tr. "Norrefield", "Northland") to seek the hammer, and Lokke wears the {{#invoke:Lang|lang}} ("feather-skin") to fly there to the "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}"(={{#invoke:Lang|lang}},Template:Sfnp tr. "Giant-King").Template:Refn The Giant-King reveals he has hidden the hammer 55 fathoms (15 and 40 fathoms) deep in the earth and will not return it, unless Tord and Lokke relinquish their sister (Fredens-borgh [sic.], normalized as Freiensborg, tr. "Fredensborg") to become the giant's wife. When Lokke brings home this proposition, his proud sister springs up from the bench and replies, "Give me away to a Christian man, not some loathely troll",Template:Efn and she suggests they brush up the hair of "our old father" and pass him off as a maiden to send to Nørrefjeld.Template:Refn Although one should expect her to say "our brother", it is clarified by commentators that "Old Father" is a commonplace nickname for a thunder deity,Template:Efn hence, Tord is really meant here as the person being dressed up as bride.Template:Sfnp<ref name="schweitzer1888"/> There is a banquet, and as in the Eddic version, the cross-dressed bride shows enormous appetite devouring a whole ox and other foods.Template:RefnTemplate:Efn The appetite raises the giant's suspicion and Lokke delivers an excuse (quite similar to the one in the Eddic poem). Now 8 champions bring the hammer borne on a tree, and places it on the bride's knee; Tord wields the hammer as if it were a wand, and slays the "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" (Giant-King).<ref>Danish text of DgF 1A given in Template:Harvp; 1A and 1C are printed side-by-side in reprinted in normalized spelling by Template:Harvp. Cf. also reprint in Template:Harvp.</ref><ref name="dgf1a-tr-smith-dampier1914"/><ref name="schweitzer1888"/>Template:Refn
SwedishEdit
The Swedish ballad was recorded in the 17th century.Template:Refn In the Swedish ballad (version Ab, normalized spelling), Thor is called Torkar,Template:Refn Loki is called Locke Lewe,Template:Refn Freyja is called Frojenborg and Þrymr is called Trolletram.Template:RefnTemplate:Refn
While in the Danish Ballad the three god figures are presented as siblings, in the Swedish version, this relationship is removed or obfuscated. Torkar addresses Locke as "{{#invoke:Lang|lang}}" (st. 2),Template:Sfnp meaning my "hired servant".<ref>Template:Harvp: "Template:Langx"</ref>Template:RefnTemplate:Refn And the "maiden Frojenborg" ("Template:Langx", st. 6)Template:Sfnp is demanded (see below), instead of "your sister" (Template:Langx, C ver., st. 7).Template:Sfnp
Trolletram has buried Torkar's hammer "fifteen fathoms and forty"Template:Efn in the ground, and tells Locke to take the answer back to Torkar that "His hammer he ne'er will see, / Until he sends may Fröyenborg.. to me",<ref name="keightley1829"/> i.e., the "maiden Frojenborg".
NorwegianEdit
The Norwegian version TorekallTemplate:Refn has been translated into English under the title "Thorekarl of Asgarth".<ref>Colbert, D. (tr.) in Sven H. Rossel (1982) Scandinavian Ballads, apud Template:Harvp</ref>
According to a legend recorded in 18th and 19th centuries by Magnus Brostrup Landstad, Engelbret Michaelsen, J. M. Lund, E. M. Resen Mandt, W. M. Carpelan and A. Faye, events similar to Trymskvida happened in Urdbø on the western end of Lake Totak in Telemark, where Thor slew a troll with his hammer, and in the same area the ballad about Torekall was attested too.Template:Sfn
OperaEdit
The first full-length Icelandic opera, Jón Ásgeirsson's Þrymskviða, was premiered at Iceland's National Theater in 1974. The libretto is based on the text of the poem Þrymskviða, but also incorporates material from several other Eddic poems.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Icelandic statueEdit
A seated bronze statue of Thor (about 6.4 cm) known as the Eyrarland statue from about AD 1000 was recovered at a farm near Akureyri, Iceland and is a featured display at the National Museum of Iceland. Thor is holding Mjöllnir, sculpted in the typically Icelandic cross-like shape. It has been suggested that the statue is related to a scene from Þrymskviða where Thor recovers his hammer while seated by grasping it with both hands during the wedding ceremony.Template:Sfnp
Explanatory notesEdit
ReferencesEdit
- Citions
- Bibliography
- (Primary sources)
- (Secondary sources)
External linksEdit
Template:Refbegin Template:Sister project Template:Sister project