Thor

by Graeme Davis

  Thrym’s Wedding

  This semi-comic tale from the Thrymskvida puts Thor in an undignified position when his famous hammer is stolen and he must adopt a disguise to get it back. Like his adventures in Utgard, the story makes Thor as much a figure of fun as a hero. The story of how Thrym was able to steal Thor’s hammer is either missing or not told.

  Thrym tries to kiss Thor. W. G. Collingwood, 1908. (PD-US)

  Thor drops his bridal disguise and prepares to slaughter Thrym and his kin in this Swedish illustration from 1865. (PD-US)

  After finding his hammer missing, Thor went to Loki and demanded that he help find it. Loki borrowed Freyja’s feathered garment, which allowed him to take the shape of a falcon, and eventually discovered that the culprit was Thrym (“Uproar”), the king of the giants of Jotunheim.

  Thrym admitted that he had Mjolnir, but he told Loki that it was hidden eight rasts (about 56 miles) beneath the earth. He said that the Aesir would never get it back until they gave him the goddess Freyja as his wife.

  When Loki took this news back to Asgard, Freyja was horrified. Her rage made the halls of Asgard shake and shattered her famous necklace Brisingamen. She wanted nothing to do with Thrym, and the Aesir were forced to come up with another plan.

  Heimdall was the guardian of the rainbow bridge Bifrost that connected Asgard to the mortal realm of Midgard (“middle-earth”). He was among the wisest of the Aesir and had the gift of foresight. He suggested a plan that would win Mjolnir back and give Thor his revenge against the thief.

  Heimdall suggested that the Aesir should disguise Thor as Freyja, dressing him in bridal garments and fastening the repaired Brisingamen around his neck. Accompanied by Loki dressed as a bridesmaid, the two would go to Jotunheim and reclaim Mjolnir when Thrym brought it out for the wedding ceremony.

  Humiliated by the thought of dressing as a bride, Thor was as reluctant to take part in Thrym’s wedding as Freyja had been. Loki was finally able to overcome Thor’s reluctance by pointing out that unless the Aesir recovered his hammer quickly, the giants would be able to walk into Asgard and take over. Hearing this, Thor grudgingly agreed to the plan.

  Dressed as a bride and bridesmaid, Thor and Loki set out for Jotunheim in Thor’s magical chariot. Thrym was taken in by the deception, although he was surprised when his “bride” devoured a whole ox and eight salmon at the wedding feast, as well as drinking three salds (about 66 gallons) of mead. Loki quickly explained that Freyja had been so excited about her impending marriage that she had not eaten for eight days and nights before setting out for Jotunheim.

  Later in the feast, Thrym leaned across and tried to kiss his “bride,” but the sight of Thor’s burning eyes glaring out from beneath the bridal veil made him change his mind. Once again, Loki saved the situation, explaining that as well as being unable to eat, Freyja had not slept for eight nights as she longed for her wedding day.

  At last Thrym ordered his servants to bring Mjolnir into the hall so it could consecrate his wedding. As soon as the hammer was laid in the lap of the “bride” Thor leaped up and smashed Thrym’s skull with it, and then slaughtered all the wedding-guests. With Mjolnir recovered and the threat from Jotunheim averted, Thor and Loki returned to Asgard.

  Thor and Geirrod

  The earliest source for this story is the Thorsdrapa of Eilifr Godrunarson. Another version is told by Snorri Sturluson in the Skaldskaparmal, but there are significant differences between the two. Thor’s servant Thjalfi plays a major role in the Thorsdrapa but Snorri omits him from his version entirely, except where he quotes the Thorsdrapa extensively at the end of his telling of the tale.

  Loki’s Promise

  It happened that Loki was flying about in Freyja’s falcon form and came to Geirrodsgard, the home of the giant Geirrod. Loki flew down to Geirrod’s hall and peered in through a window, but Geirrod spotted the bird and ordered one of his servants to bring it to him. Loki amused himself for some time evading the servant’s attempts to capture him, but at last the servant caught hold of his feet and he was unable to get away.

  Geirrod suspected that this was no ordinary bird. He questioned Loki, but he did not answer. Geirrod locked Loki in a chest and starved him for three months before he was ready to speak. To save his own life, Loki promised Geirrod that he would bring Thor to his hall without his hammer or his belt of strength. Without these magical gifts, Thor would be at a great disadvantage. Geirrod agreed and let Loki go.

  THE STONE IN THOR’S HEAD

  In Lapponia, a 17th-century account of the Lapps of northern Scandinavia, German scholar Johann Scheffer observed that the Lapps kept a rough wooden image of the Thunder God:

  Into his head they drive a nail of iron or steel, and a small piece of flint to strike fire with, if he hath a mind to it.

  Through his association with lightning Thor was also regarded as a fire god in some ways, and the legend of how a piece of flint became lodged in Thor’s head may reflect a Viking age practice of using an idol of Thor to make a ritual fire.

  Loki flying in Freyja’s featherform. W. G. Collingwood, 1908. (PD-US)

  Thor’s Journey

  Returning to Asgard, Loki talked Thor into mounting another expedition against the giants. Giant-slaying was one of Thor’s favorite pastimes, so this was not a difficult task. However, the available sources do not tell how Loki persuaded the Thunder God to leave his hammer and magical belt behind. This must have been a great feat even for silver-tongued Loki, but it goes unrecorded.

  Accompanied by his servant Thjalfi, Thor set out for Jotunheim. Along the way, he visited a giantess whose name was Gridr (“Greed”). She was the mother of Vidar, the Aesir god of vengeance, whose father was Odin.

  Gridr warned Thor that Geirrod was a cunning and dangerous giant. Seeing that he was not carrying his magical gear, she lent him her own belt of strength, a pair of iron gloves, and a magical staff named Gridarvolr.

  Leaving Gridr’s house, Thor traveled to the banks of the River Vimer, which was the largest of all rivers. Buckling on his borrowed belt of strength, he braced himself with the staff Gridarvolr and waded into the rushing water. The waters rose and rose until they almost covered his shoulders, and Thor spoke a verse (possibly a magic spell):

  Wax not, Vimer,

  Since I intend to wade

  To the gards (lands) of giants.

  Know, if you wax,

  Then waxes my asa (Aesir, divine) might

  As high as the heavens.

  Translation by Rasmus B. Anderson, 1901

  Looking up, Thor saw Geirrod’s daughter Gjalp standing astride the stream and, as Snorri delicately puts it, “causing its growth.” He drove her off by throwing a huge stone at her, and was able to reach out and grab a shrub to pull himself out of the river.

  Thor pulls himself from the River Vimer. Lorenze Frolich, 1906. (PD-US)

  Geirrod’s Hall

  When Thor and Thjalfi arrived at Geirrod’s hall, the giant showed them to a guest room that was furnished with a single chair. Thor sat down, but quickly became aware that the chair was rising toward the ceiling. Bracing the staff Gridarvolr against the rafters, he pushed himself down against the seat.

  He heard a great crash, accompanied by agonized screaming. Geirrod’s two daughters, Gjalp and her sister Greip, had hidden under the chair and were lifting it up to crush their visitor against the ceiling; when Thor pushed himself down, he broke their backs.

  Thor went into Geirrod’s hall, where fires were burning all along the walls. Geirrod reached into one of the fires with a pair of tongs and pulled out a red-hot iron wedge, which he hurled at the Thunder God. When Thor caught the missile in his borrowed iron gloves, Geirrod ducked behind an iron pillar, but Thor threw the red-hot wedge so hard that it passed right through the pillar, through Geirrod’s body, through the wall, and into the ground outside.

  With Geirrod dead, Thor and Thjalfi fought their way out of his hall, slaughtering countless giants as they escaped.

&nb
sp; Harbard and Thor’s flyting contest. Thor asks the ferryman Harbard (who may be Odin in disguise) for a ride, but receives only insults.

  THOR AND HARBARD

  This tale is told in the Harbardsljod (“Lay of Harbard”) in the Poetic Edda. The dialogue form of the original telling is preserved here.

  Harbard (“Hoary-beard”) is one of many names by which Odin is referred to in Old Norse poetry. It may be that he is playing a trick on Thor by disguising himself as an argumentative old ferryman, or it may be that this Harbard is nothing more than he appears to be. In either case, the flyting contest gives Thor ample scope to brag of his many achievements.

  This poem makes reference to many other myths, some of which can be found in this book. Explanatory notes, when needed, are given in italics between the lines of dialogue.

  Harbard’s Ferry

  Returning to Asgard after one of his expeditions into Jotunheim, Thor arrived at the shores of a sound and saw an old ferryman with his boat standing on the other side. Demanding passage across the water, he was refused in the most insulting terms.

  Thor: Who is that knave standing by the sound?

  Harbard: Who is that churl shouting across the water?

  Thor: Ferry me across the sound and tomorrow I’ll tell you. I have a basket on my back with the best of food inside. Before I set out I filled up on herring and oats.

  Harbard: You’re so full of how great your breakfast was, so you mustn’t know. You’ll have a sorry homecoming. I hear your mother is dead.

  Thor: You’re giving me the worst news anyone can hear when you say my mother is dead.

  Thor’s mother is reported by various sources to have been the goddess Frigga or a giantess named Fjorgyn or Erda. There is nothing in this myth or any other to suggest that Harbard is telling the truth here; this seems to be some kind of insult, perhaps comparable to the “yo’ mama” snaps of more recent times.

  Harbard: You don’t look like someone who owns three country dwellings, standing there bare-legged and in rags like a beggar. You don’t even have any breeches.

  According to myth, Thor owned three homes. Bilskirnir (“Lightning-crack”) in Asgard boasted 540 floors and was the largest building ever constructed. It was there that Thor lived with Sif and their children. Thrudheim (“World of Strength”) and Thrudvang (“Field of Power”) seem to have been country estates outside Asgard. Since Thor has not yet revealed his name, either Harbard has already recognized him (strengthening the possibility that he is Odin in disguise) or this line is out of order.

  Thor and Harbard face off in this pair of book illustrations. W. G. Collingwood, 1908. (PD-US)

  Thor: Bring your boat over here and I’ll tell you where to land. And tell me, who owns the boat?

  Harbard: Hildolf is his name. I’m looking after it for him. He lives in Radso Sound, and he’s no fool. He told me not to carry robbers or horse thieves – only good men, and only men I know. So tell me your name if you want a ride across.

  Hildolf (“War Wolf”) was another son of Odin, but little else is known about him. This may be another clue that Harbard is Odin in disguise.

  Thor: I’ll tell you my name, and the names of my kin too. I am Odin’s son, Meili’s brother, and Magni’s father. You’re talking to Thor himself. And who are you?

  Harbard: I am called Harbard. I don’t usually hide my name.

  Thor: And why should you, unless you’re a criminal?

  Harbard: I might have committed a crime or two, but I can defend myself against your sort unless I’m fated to die here.

  Thor: It seems too much bother to wade across the strait to you and get my clothes wet – but I’ll pay you back for your insults if you make me come over there, little man!

  Harbard: I’ll stand right here and wait for you. You haven’t faced a stouter foe since Hrungnir’s death.

  Thor: I remember Hrungnir. He was a brave giant with a head of solid rock. Still I dropped him, and saw him fall. What have you done, Harbard?

  Harbard: I spent five winters with Fiolvari on the isle of Algron. We fought and made slaughter, won through many perils, and enjoyed our pleasures.

  This seems to be the only reference to Fiolvari and the island of Algron. It might be supposed that this line refers to a now-lost reference to one of Odin’s exploits.

  Thor: How did the women like you, then?

  Harbard: They were spirited, and not meek; clever, and not kind. They twisted a rope out of sand and dug the earth out of a deep valley. I was the only one more cunning than they were. I lay with the seven sisters and shared their love and pleasures. What did you do, Thor?

  FLYTING

  Popular from the 5th century to the 16th, flyting was a bloodless duel that took the form of an exchange of insults, often in verse. The name comes from the Old Norse flyta, meaning provocation. Sometimes flyting contests ended in a clear victory, and at other times they formed a prelude to physical combat between two heroes. When Loki insulted the Aesir at Aegir’s feast, his abuse took the form of flyting against all of them in turn.

  Thor: I killed Thjazi, the terrible giant, and threw his eyes up into the heavens where they shine like stars. They are proof of the greatest of my deeds. What have you done, Harbard?

  The giant Thjazi son of Allvaldi once kidnapped the goddess Idun, the holder of the magical apples that kept the Aesir from aging. After he was killed, his eyes were cast up into the heavens to become stars. According to one source, it was Odin who did this; another source credits Loki with the deed. This is the only source where Thor claims credit.

  Harbard: I used great seductive arts against the riders of the night when I enticed them from their husbands. Hlebard gave me a magic wand, but I charmed his wits from him.

  Hlebard is a dwarf who made a magic wand for Odin. He also fashioned the arrow with which a jealous Loki tricked the blind god Hod into killing Balder, the fairest of the Aesir. The words “the riders of the night” are thought by some scholars to refer to giantesses and witches in general.

  Thor: Then you repaid good gifts with bad ones.

  Harbard: One tree gets the scrapings from another: each one looks out for itself. What have you done, Thor?

  Thor: I was in the east, and slew the cunning and evil Jotun brides as they went to the mountain. The Jotun race would have been great if they had all lived, but now there’s not one of them left in Midgard. What have you done, Harbard?

  Thor is bragging of his numerous giant-slaying exploits.

  Harbard: I was in Valland, devoted to warfare. I stirred up the princes, and never reconciled them. Odin has all the nobles that fall in battle; Thor only has the thralls.

  Valland (“Land of the Foreigners”) is an Old Norse term for southern and western Europe, which was occupied by Celtic and Roman-descended peoples. Thralls were the lowest class of Norse society, comparable to the serfs of the Middle Ages. Harbard is bragging of stirring up war in Valland (another hint that he may in fact be Odin), and insults Thor by saying that only the lowest come to his halls after falling in battle.

  Thor: You would divide folk unequally among the Aesir, if you only had the power.

  This 17th-century manuscript illustrates the legend that the River Van (unknown today) flows from the jaws of the bound Fenrir. (PD-US)

  Harbard: Thor has too much strength and not enough courage. Fear drove you to hide in a glove and hardly remembered you were Thor. You didn’t even dare sneeze or cough in case Fialar might hear you.

  This is a reference to Thor’s humiliating misadventures with Utgardaloki. Fialar is the name of a cockerel that was prophesied to crow at the onset of Ragnarok; Harbard seems to be saying that Thor was so frightened that he thought the world would end if he was heard.

  Thor: Harbard, you wretch! I would strike you dead, if I could stretch my arm across the sound.

  Harbard: Why would you stretch your arm across the sound when I have given you no offence? But what have you done, Thor?

  Harbard was telling no more
than the truth in his previous line, and so, although he has clearly insulted Thor, he has technically not slandered him.

  Thor: I was in the east, and I defended a river against the sons of Svarang. They pelted me with stones, but enjoyed little success. They finally begged me for peace. What have you done, Harbard?

  There is no other mention of the “sons of Svarang” in any surviving source. Thor says he was in the east, which generally refers to Jotunheim, so this may be a reference to a lost giant-slaying adventure. It is worth noting that Thor fought his way from a river during his journey to the home of the giant Geirrod, although it cannot be proved that this line refers to that adventure.

  Harbard: I was in the east, and held converse with a certain lass. I dallied with that fair one, and we spent a long time together. I delighted that gold-bright one, and our games amused her.

  Odin had liaisons with several giantesses, including Grid with whom he fathered Vidar. This may be a reference to her. Odin also boasts of his sexual conquests among the giantesses in the Havamal.

  Thor: Then you had kind damsels there?

  Harbard: I could have used your help in keeping that maid happy, Thor!

  Thor: I would have given it to you, if I had had the chance.

  Harbard: I would have trusted you if you hadn’t betrayed my confidence.

  The meaning of this line is obscure. It may be a reference to the prophecy of Ragnarok, which tells that the wolf Fenrir will slay Odin after Thor refuses to fight it. Loki also throws this in Thor’s face during Aegir’s feast.

  Thor: I am not such a heel-chafer as an old leather shoe in spring.