Chapters 114-123 - Germanic Mythology

the marrow. If Þórsdrápa had added that the champion thus designated also was the best
archer of mythology, there could be no doubt that Egil was meant. This addition comes
further on in the poem, 21 and confirms in and of itself the fact that Egil took part in the
expedition.
Strophe 5, compared with strophes 6 and 7, informs us that Thor, with his troop of
champions, in the course of his march came into [707] one of Jötunheim's wild mountain
tracts. The weather is appalling and hail-showers rush down. And here Thor realizes that
Loki has deceived him in the most brazen manner. By his directions Thor has led his
troops to the place where they now find themselves, and here rushes forth from between
the mountains a river into which great streams, swelling with hail-showers, roll down
from the mountains with hissing ice-water. To find in such a river a ford which his
companions could use was a difficult matter for Thor.
Strophe 6. Meanwhile the men from Idi's chalet had confidently descended into
the river. A comparison with strophes 7 and 8 shows that they cautiously kept near Thor,
and waded somewhat higher up the river than him. They used their spears as staffs, which
they drove down into the stony bottom of the river. The clang of the spears, when their
metal-tipped ends knocked against the stones of the bottom, blended with the din of the
eddies whirling around the rocks of the river (Knátti hreggi höggvin hlymþél við möl
glymja, en fjalla fellihryn þaut með Feðju steðja). 22
Strophe 7. In the meantime, the river constantly rises and increases in violence,
and its ocean-like torrents are already breaking against Thor's powerful shoulders. If this
continues, Thor will have to resort to the power inherent in him of rising equally with the
increase of the waves. 23
Remark: But the warriors from Idi's chalet, who do not possess this power, how shall it go for
them? The plan laid between Loki and the giantesses of Jötunheim apparently is to drown them. And the
succeeding strophes show that they hang in the greatest danger.
Strophes 8 and 9. With firm steps, these bold warriors waded, but the pace of the
billowing masses of water increased constantly. While Thor's staff of safety was managed
by his powerful hands, the current became altogether too strong for the spears, with
which Gandvik's champions had to brace themselves. Upon the mountains stood
giantesses who made it ever faster. Then it happened that "the god of the bow, winddriven
by the flood-plain's drifts' (the billows') storm, was thrown upon Thor's shoulder
(kykva nauðar áss, blásinn hraunjardar skafls hretviðri, þurði hauðurs runn of herði), 24
21 See strophe 8.
22 "The banging files [spears] jangled against the pebbles, while the mountains' falling-roar [cascade]
rushed, beaten by an ice-storm, along Feðja's anvil,"
23 "The promoter of the whetstone-land [warrior] let the mightily-swollen ones [waves] fall over him. The
man, who benefited from the girdle of might [Þjálfi], knew no better course of action. The diminisher of
Mörn's children [Þórr] threatened that his power would grow unto the hall's roof [heaven], unless the
gushing-blood of Þorn's neck [ocean] would diminish," [Björnsson tr.]
24 Rydberg, along with other 19 th century commentators such as Jónsson, based his reading "god of the
bow," (presumably áss kykva nauðar) in st. 8/5-8 on nauð kykva as "effort of the muscle" i.e. "bow." This
cannot be, as kykvi, "muscle" is unattested. In Fádernas Gudasaga, (Our Fathers' Godsaga), ch. 17,
Rydberg interpreted the remainder of the verse as "Egil, 'driven by the wind of the storm of the drifts of the
flood-land' (i.e. the white-capped waves), was thrown against the Asa-god's shoulders and flung his arms
around Thor's neck.‖ A modern reading is "the wave of the earth's snow-dune [ocean], blown by the