Editing Grottasöngr (section)

==''Poetic Edda''==
Though not originally included in the ''[[Codex Regius]]'', ''Gróttasǫngr'' is included in many later editions of the ''[[Poetic Edda]]''.<ref>1907 edition of the ''Nordisk familjebok''. Viewable online via [[Project Runeberg]] at https://runeberg.org/nfbf/0715.html</ref> ''Gróttasǫngr'' is the work song of two young slave girls bought in Sweden by the Danish King Frodi (cf. ''Fróði'' in the ''Prose Edda''). The girls are brought to a magic grindstone to grind out wealth for the king and sing for his household.

The girls ask for rest from the grinding but are commanded to continue. Undaunted in their benevolence, the girls proceed to grind and sing, wishing wealth and happiness for the King. The King, however, is still not pleased and continues to order the girls to grind without interruption.

King Frodi is ignorant of their lineage and the girls reveal that they are descended from [[Jötunn|mountain-risar]]. The girls recount their past deeds, including moving a flat-topped mountain and revealing that they had actually created the grinding stone they are now chained to. They tell him that they had advanced against an army in Sweden and fought "bearlike warriors",<ref name=LARRINGTONPOETIC>Larrington, Carolyne. ''The Poetic Edda: A new translation by Carolyne Larrington'' (1996) {{ISBN|0-19-283946-2}}</ref> had "broken shields",<ref name=LARRINGTONPOETIC/> supported troops, and overthrown one prince while supporting another. They recount that they had become well known warriors.
[[Image:Menia and Fenia.jpg|thumb|''Menia and Fenia'' by [[W. J. Wiegand]]]]
The girls then reflect that they have now become cold and dirty slaves, relentlessly worked, and living a life of dull grinding. The girls sing that they are tired, and call to King Frodi to wake up so that he may hear them. They announce that an army is approaching, that Frodi will lose the wealth they've ground for him, that he will also lose the magic grindstone, and that the army will burn the settlement and overthrow Frodi's throne in [[Lejre]]. They are grinding this army into existence via the magic stone. They then comment that they are "not yet warmed by the blood of slaughtered men".<ref name=LARRINGTONPOETIC/>

The girls continue to grind even harder and the shafts of the mill-frame snap. They then sing a prophecy of vengeance mentioning [[Hrólfr Kraki]], [[Yrsa]], [[Fróði]] and [[Halfdan]]:
{{Verse translation|
{{lang|non|Mölum enn framar.
Mun Yrsu sonr,
niðr Halfdanar,
hefna Fróða;
sá mun hennar
heitinn verða
burr ok bróðir,
vitum báðar þat.}}
|
Let us grind on!
Yrsa's son,
Hálfdan's kinsman,
will avenge Fródi:
he will of her
be called
son and brother:
we both know that.<ref name=THORPE>{{cite web |url= http://www.northvegr.org/lore/poetic2/042.php | website= Northvegr Foundation |title= Gróttasǫngr: The Lay of Grótti, or The Mill_Song |access-date= 2007-10-31 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20071121221718/http://www.northvegr.org/lore/poetic2/042.php |archive-date=2007-11-21 }}</ref>}}

Now filled with a great rage, the girls grind even harder until finally the grinding mechanism collapses and the magical stone splits in two. With the impending army soon to arrive, one of the girls finishes the song with:
<poem style="margin-left:2em">
Frodi, we have ground to the point where we must stop,
now the ladies have had a full stint of milling!<ref name=LARRINGTONPOETIC/>
</poem>