Poetry
The Lay of Skirnir
Skírnismál
Anonymous · 900
Opening lines
Skaði
"Rístu nú, Skírnir,
ok gakk skjótt at beiða
okkarn mála mög
ok þess at fregna,
“Rise now, Skírnir,
and go quickly to ask
our son to speak
and to ask him this,
Translation by Erostrate
Text quoted from heimskringla.no
Synopsis
Seated on Hliðskjálf, Odin's throne, from which all worlds can be seen, the god Freyr catches sight of the beautiful Gerðr in the land of the giants and falls into deep sadness. His servant Skírnir agrees to go and ask for her on his behalf and receives his horse and his sword. Past the flames and the dogs that guard the hall of the giant Gymir, he offers the young woman eleven golden apples, then the ring Draupnir; she refuses. He then threatens her with his sword, then, a wand in his hand, carves runes and pronounces a long curse against her.
Context
The Codex Regius titles the poem the journey of Skírnir; another manuscript, which calls it Skírnismál, preserves the opening prose and most of the first twenty-seven stanzas. It consists of a brief prose prologue and forty-two stanzas, mostly in ljóðaháttr, the curse passing into galdralag; its almost entirely dialogued form has led to the supposition of a dramatic performance. Snorri tells the same story, without the curse. The twentieth century often read in it a sacred marriage linked to fertility, Stephen A. Mitchell a social charter between opposing groups, and recent criticism insists on coercion.
Who it is for
Forty-two stanzas in dialogue, to be read in one go; the curse is one of the harshest passages of the Edda.
Prizes and reception
The subject of a long dispute over interpretation, between a ritual reading of fertility and a reading of coercion.