The Prose Edda (16 page)
Authors: Snorri Sturluson
Ãgir's Feast
âWhy is gold called the fire of Ãgir?'
âThe story is that Ãgir, as mentioned previously, came as a guest to Asgard, and when he was ready to return home he invited Odin and all the gods to visit him in three months. Odin, Njord, Frey, Tyr, Bragi, Vidar and Loki went on this journey, and with them were the goddesses Frigg, Freyja, Gefjun, Skadi, Idunn and Sif. Thor was not among them. He had gone to the east to kill trolls. When the gods had taken their seats, Ãgir commanded that gleaming gold be brought in and placed on the floor of the hall. It lit up the hall, shining like fire, and was used for light at his feast in the manner that swords replaced fires for light in Valhalla. Then Loki exchanged insults with all the gods, and he killed Fimafeng, Ãgir's slave. Another of Ãgir's slaves was called Eldir. Ran was the name of Ãgir's wife and they had nine daughters. At this feast everything, the food, the ale and all the necessary tableware, served itself. Then the Ãsir became aware that Ran had a net and with it she caught all men who came into the sea. This story explains why gold is called the fire or the light or the brightness of Ãgir, Ran or Ãgir's daughters.'
Otter's Ransom: The Rhinegold and Sigurd the Dragon Slayer
âWhy is gold called Otter's ransom?'
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âIt is said that once when the Ãsir, Odin, Loki and Hoenir, were travelling to find out about the wide world, they came to a river and walked along its bank until they arrived at a waterfall. Beside it was an otter who had caught a salmon in the falls and was dozing as he ate it. Loki picked up a stone and, throwing it at the otter, struck its head. Loki was pleased with his catch, having with one blow caught both an otter and a salmon.
âThe gods, taking both the salmon and the otter with them, continued on until they came to a house and went in. The farmer living there was named Hreidmar; he was a powerful man and very skilled in magic. The Ãsir asked to stay there for the night. They said that they had with them enough food and showed the master of the house their catch. But when Hreidmar saw the otter he called his sons, Fafnir and Regin, to tell them that their brother Otter had been killed, and who was responsible.
âThe father and sons now attacked the Ãsir, seizing and binding them. They told the Ãsir about Otter, saying that he was Hreidmar's son. The Ãsir offered to ransom their lives with as much wealth as Hreidmar himself would demand, and these terms, bound by oaths, became the basis of their agreement. Then the otter was flayed. Hreidmar took the otter skin, shaped like a bag, and commanded them to fill the skin with red gold and also to cover the outside completely. This would be the terms of the reconciliation between them.
âOdin then sent Loki into Svartalfaheim, and there he found the dwarf called Andvari. He was a fish in water, and Loki caught him, demanding as ransom all the gold that the dwarf had in his home of stone. Then they entered into the rock, and the dwarf brought forward all his gold. It was a huge treasure. But the dwarf hid in his hand a little gold ring. Loki saw him do this and told him to hand over the ring. The dwarf begged Loki not to take the ring. He confided that if the ring remained in his possession, he would be able to make more wealth for
himself. Loki said that not one coin
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was to remain with Andvari and, taking the ring from the dwarf, he left. The dwarf called after him, saying that the ring would be the death of whoever possessed it. Loki replied that was fine with him. He said that this foretelling would hold, because he would bring these words of warning to the ears of those who would get the ring.
âLoki then returned to Hreidmar's and showed Odin the gold. When Odin saw the ring, he found it beautiful and removed it from the treasure, paying Hreidmar the rest of the gold. Then Hreidmar stuffed the otter skin with as much of the treasure as he could and set it upright when it was full. Odin then came forward and started to cover the skin with the gold, as he was required to do. He then told Hreidmar to come and see whether the skin was completely covered. Hreidmar looked carefully. When he saw that one whisker stuck out, he asked that it be covered; otherwise, their agreement would be broken. Odin then brought out the ring and with it he covered the whisker, saying that they were now free from the otter's ransom.
âWhen Odin had taken his spear and Loki his shoes, so that they no longer had anything to fear, Loki recounted Andvari's words, saying that the ring and the gold would be the death of anyone who owned it. And so it happened ever afterwards.
âNow it has been told why gold is called Otter's ransom, the forced payment of the Ãsir or the metal of strife.'
âWhat more is there to tell about the gold?'
âHreidmar took the gold as compensation for his son, but Fafnir and Regin asked for part of it as payment for their brother. Hreidmar, however, would not grant them a single gold coin, and the tragic response of these brothers was that they killed their father for that gold. Then Regin asked Fafnir to divide the gold equally between them. Fafnir replied that there was little hope of his sharing the gold with his brother after he had killed his own father for it. He told Regin to leave, otherwise he would follow the same path as Hreidmar. Fafnir had by then taken Hreidmar's helmet and placed it on his head.
It was called the Ãgis-Helm [the Helm of Dread], and it brought fear to all living things when they saw it. Also he took the sword called Hrotti, whereas Regin had the sword called Refil. Regin now fled, and Fafnir went up on to Gnita-Heath. There he made for himself a lair, and, changing himself into the likeness of a serpent, he lay down on the gold.
âRegin then went to King Hjalprek in Thjod and became his smith. He took Sigurd, the son of Sigmund, who was the son of Volsung, as his foster son. Sigurd's mother was Hjordis, the daughter of Eylimi. Sigurd was the finest of all warrior kings because of his family, his strength and his courage. Regin told him where Fafnir lay on the gold and urged him to seek the treasure.
âRegin then forged the sword called Gram. It was so sharp that when Sigurd lowered it into running water it sliced through a tuft of wool carried by the current against the sword's edge. Next Sigurd used the sword to cut Regin's anvil in two, starting from its top down to the log on which it rested.
âSigurd and Regin next travelled together to Gnita-Heath. Sigurd dug a pit in the path used by Fafnir and lowered himself into it. As Fafnir crawled to the water he passed over the pit, and at that instant Sigurd thrust his sword through him. That was his death. Regin then came forward and said that Sigurd had killed his brother. As settlement between him and Sigurd, he asked Sigurd to take Fafnir's heart and roast it on the fire. Regin then lay down, drank Fafnir's blood and went to sleep.
âSigurd roasted the heart, and when he thought it was cooked, he touched it with his finger to find out if it was still raw. The boiling juice from the heart ran on to his finger, scalding it, and he stuck his finger into his mouth. When the heart's blood ran on to his tongue, he suddenly understood the speech of birds. He heard nuthatches speaking as they sat in the trees. One of them said:
“There sits Sigurd
spattered with blood, as
Fafnir's heart
he roasts, on the fire.
Wise would seem
the breaker of rings,
if he would eat
the gleaming heart.”
âAnother said:
“There lies Regin,
making his plans,
intending to betray the boy
who trusts him.
Moved by anger,
he gathers evil thoughts;
the forger of trouble wants
vengeance for his brother.”
âThen Sigurd went up to Regin and killed him. Afterwards, he mounted his horse Grani and rode until he came to Fafnir's lair. There Sigurd gathered up the gold and put it into sacks. These he placed on Grani's back, and then climbed up himself and rode on his way.
âNow the story has been told why gold is called the lair or the home of Fafnir, the metal of Gnita-Heath, or Grani's burden.
âSigurd rode until he came to a house up on a mountain. Inside a woman was sleeping; she wore a helmet and a mail coat. He drew his sword and cut the mail coat from her. She then awakened and said that her name was Hild but that she was called Brynhild and was a valkyrie.
âSigurd rode away until he came to a king named Gjuki and his wife named Grimhild. Their children were Gunnar, Hogni, Gudrun and Gudny. Gothorm was Gjuki's stepson. After staying there for a long time, Sigurd married Gjuki's daughter,
Gudrun. With Gunnar and Hogni, Sigurd swore oaths of brotherhood.
âNext Sigurd and the sons of Gjuki travelled together to ask Atli [Attila the Hun], the son of Budli, to give his sister Brynhild as a wife to Gunnar. She was living on the mountain called Hindafell, and around her hall burned a wavering flame. She had taken an oath to marry only that man who dared ride through the wavering flame. Sigurd and the Gjukungs, also called the Niflungs,
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rode up the mountain with Gunnar intending to ride through the wavering flame. Gunnar's horse, named Goti, would not jump into the fire. Then Sigurd and Gunnar exchanged their shapes and their names because Grani refused to be ridden by any man other than Sigurd. Springing on to Grani's back, Sigurd rode through the wavering flame.
âThat evening Sigurd wed Brynhild. But when they got into the bed, he drew the sword Gram from its sheath and placed it between them. In the morning, after he got up and had dressed, he gave to Brynhild, as the linen fee,
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the gold ring that Loki had taken from Andvari. In return, he took from her another ring as a remembrance. Sigurd then jumped on to his horse and rode to his companions. He and Gunnar then returned to their own shapes. Together with Brynhild, they returned to Gjuki. Sigurd had two children with Gudrun, Sigmund and Svanhild.
âIt happened once that Brynhild and Gudrun went down to the water to wash their hair. When they reached the river, Brynhild waded out from the shore. She said that she did not want water on her head which had already rinsed through Gudrun's hair, because hers was the more courageous husband. Then Gudrun followed her out into the river, saying that it was her privilege to wash her hair higher up in the river, because she was married to a man braver than Gunnar or anyone else in the world, and it was he who had killed Fafnir and Regin and taken both their inheritances.
âBrynhild replied: “Greater was the feat when Gunnar rode through the wavering flame while Sigurd would not dare.”
âThen Gudrun laughed and said, “Do you think it was
Gunnar who rode through the wavering flame? This I know: the one who came into your bed was the one who gave me this gold ring. Further, the gold ring you have on your hand, which you received as the morning gift, is called Andvaranaut [Andvari's Gift], and I do not believe that Gunnar was the one who won it at Gnita-Heath.”
âBrynhild then grew silent and returned home.
âFrom then on she urged Gunnar and Hogni to kill Sigurd. But because they had sworn oaths to Sigurd, they urged their brother Gothorm to kill Sigurd, which he did by thrusting a sword through Sigurd while he slept. When Sigurd felt the wound, he threw his sword Gram at Gothorm, slicing the man in half at the middle. Sigurd died there together with his three-year-old son Sigmund, whom they also killed. Brynhild then thrust a sword into herself, and she was burned with Sigurd. As for Gunnar and Hogni, they took Fafnir's wealth and the ring Andvari's Gift and ruled over the lands.
âBrynhild's brother King Atli, the son of Budli, then married Gudrun, Sigurd's former wife, and together they had children. King Atli invited Gunnar and Hogni to come for a visit, and they accepted the invitation. Before setting out from home they hid the gold, Fafnir's inheritance, in the Rhine. That gold has never been found.
âKing Atli was waiting for them with his men, and he fought with Gunnar and Hogni, seizing them in the end. King Atli had Hogni's heart cut out while he was alive, and that was his death. Atli had Gunnar thrown into the snake pit, but Gunnar secretly was given a harp. Because his hands were bound he played it with his toes; all the snakes fell asleep, except for one adder. This one glided towards him and struck just below his breastbone so that she buried her head into his flesh, grabbing hold of his liver until he died.
âGunnar and Hogni are called Niflungs and Gjukungs, and for this reason the gold is called the treasure or the inheritance of the Niflungs.
âShortly after that Gudrun killed her two sons, and she had goblets made from their skulls, using gold and silver. Then a funeral feast was held for the Niflungs at which Gudrun had King Atli served mead in these cups, mixed with the blood of the boys. She also had their hearts roasted and given to the king to eat. She then confronted Atli and, with foul words, told him what she had done. There was no lack of strong mead at the feast and most people fell asleep where they were sitting. Later in the night, Gudrun, accompanied by Hogni's son, approached the king as he slept and struck him his death blow. Then they spread fire in the hall, and the people inside burned to death.
âAfter that Gudrun went down to the shore and jumped into the sea, wanting to drown herself. But she was carried across the fjord and came to the land ruled by King Jonak. When he saw her, he took her as his own and married her. They had three sons:
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Sorli, Hamdir and Erp. Their hair was black as a raven's, as was the hair of Gunnar and Hogni and of the other Niflungs.
âSvanhild, the daughter of Sigurd in his youth, was raised there and became the most beautiful of women. King Jormunrek the Powerful,
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learning of her beauty, sent his son Randver to ask for her hand on his behalf. After Randver's arrival at Jonak's, Svanhild was entrusted to his keeping, as he was the one who was to take her to Jormunrek. Then Bikki
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[the king's adviser] spoke. He suggested that it would be better if Randver took Svanhild for himself, because the two were young, whereas Jormunrek was an old man. The idea appealed to the young people, but the next thing Bikki did was to tell the king what had happened.