Þrymskviða (Þrym's Poem;^[1][2] 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.

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 court^[4] 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".^[5] 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,^[a] flies off of her.^[b] Freyja flatly refuses, saying that if she did (allow herself to mate a jötunn) that would make her the most man-crazed wench around.^[c]

As a result, the gods and goddesses meet and hold a Thing (Assembly)^[d] 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 necklace^[10] (or neck-ring^[13]) Brísingamen (and, arguably, another lower necklace covering the breast, though this is contested^[17]). Thor comments he would be ridiculed as a sissy^[20]) if he submits to the idea, but Loki (here described as "son of Laufey"^[e]) 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.^[f] 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 necklaces^[g], stating that Freyja was all that he was missing in his wealth.^[21]

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",^[h] 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.^{[22][23][24][25]}

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.^[26][27][28] but this view is now in the minority.^[29]

A number of scholars, on the other hand, dates the poem to the first half of the 13th century,^[30] and collectively they have advanced four main reasons for the younger dating.^[31] Jan de Vries characterized the work to be a Christian-era parody of the heathen gods.^[32][33]

One basis of the older dating is the archaic language, in particular, the heavy use of the of/af particle,^[34] which is not addressed by some supporters of later dating, such as the Swedish scholar Peter Hallberg [sv].^[35] 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 chest^[i] were no longer in style by the Christian era.^[15]

The storyline is a prime example of the folktale motif ATU 1148b "The Theft of the Thunder-Instrument" (or "Thunder's Instrument"),^[36] and also incorporates ATU 403c "The Substituted Bride".^[37]

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.^[38]

There are versions of the story in ballad-form, composed during the medieval (or post-medieval) periods, in Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, and Icelandic.^[39][40][42] These are catalogued as TSB type E 126:^[43] i.e., the Danish Tord af Havsgaard (DgF 1), Swedish Tors hammarhämmtning (SMB 212^[44]), Norwegian Torekall (NMB 188),^[43] and the Icelandic rímur cycle Þrymlur (c. 1350–1450).^[j][37]

The various known redactions of the Danish ballad Tord af Havsgård (DgF 1) are subdivided into variant types 1A B Ca–c.^[46]

Version A has been translated as "Thor of Asgard" by Prior (1860), and as "Thord of Hafsgaard" by E. M. Smith-Dampier (1914).^[43] In Ballad 1A, "Tord af Havsgård" (tr. "Thord of Hafsgaard")^[k] 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"^[48]) later having to dress up as a bride.^[50][53]

Tord tells his brother Lokke Leymand (or "Jester"^[l]) to go to Nørrefjeld (tr. "Norrefield", "Northland") to seek the hammer, and Lokke wears the fjederham ("feather-skin") to fly there to the "tossegreven"(=Troldkongen,^[48] tr. "Giant-King").^[m] 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",^[n] and she suggests they brush up the hair of "our old father" and pass him off as a maiden to send to Nørrefjeld.^[o] 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,^[p] hence, Tord is really meant here as the person being dressed up as bride.^[57][47] There is a banquet, and as in the Eddic version, the cross-dressed bride shows enormous appetite devouring a whole ox and other foods.^[59][q] 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 "tossegreven" (Giant-King).^{[60][61][47][62]}

The Swedish ballad was recorded in the 17th century.^[65] In the Swedish ballad (version Ab, normalized spelling), Thor is called Torkar,^[r] Loki is called Locke Lewe,^[s] Freyja is called Frojenborg and Þrymr is called Trolletram.^[69][t]

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 "legodrängen min" (st. 2),^[71] meaning my "hired servant".^[72][u][v] And the "maiden Frojenborg" ("Swedish: jungfru Frojenborg", st. 6)^[75] is demanded (see below), instead of "your sister" (Danish: jer søster, C ver., st. 7).^[71]

Trolletram has buried Torkar's hammer "fifteen fathoms and forty"^[w] 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",^[49] i.e., the "maiden Frojenborg".

The Norwegian version Torekall^[x] has been translated into English under the title "Thorekarl of Asgarth".^[77]

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.^[78]

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.^[79]

Citions

Bibliography

Wikisource has original text related to this article:

Þrymskviða

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Þrymskviða.

• Þrymskviða in Old Norse from heimskringla.no
• The Scandinavian Thor songs and Þrymlur from heimskringla.no
• An English translation of Þrymskviða
• Text of Þrymskviða with an English marginal glossary
• MyNDIR (My Norse Digital Image Repository) Illustrations from manuscripts and early print books.