Northern mythology

18 NORTHERN MYTHOLOGY.
GeiiTodj who was foremost in the boat^ sprang on shore,
and pushed the boat out to sea, saying, Go ' hence in the
power of the evil spirits ^ (sniyl) . He then went home to
his paternal habitation, where he was received with welcome,
and his father being dead, was made king, and
attained to considerable reputation.
" Odin and Frigg were sitting in Hlidskialf, and looking
over the whole world, when Odin said, ^ Seest thou thy
foster-son Agnar, how he passes his time in dalliance with
a giantess in a cave, while Geirrod, my foster-son, is a king
ruling over the land V Frigg answered, ^ He is so inhospitable,
that he tortures his guests, when he thinks they
are too numerous.' Odin said that this was the gi-eatest
of falsehoods. They then laid a wager, and Odin resolved
on a visit to Geirrod. Frigg now sent her confidential
attendant, Fulla, to Geirrod, to advise him to be on his
guard, lest the wizard that had arrived in his country
should cause his destruction, adding, as a token whereby
to know him, that no dog, however fierce, would attack
him. That King Geirrod was not hospitable, was mere
idle talk, he nevertheless caused the man to be seized that
the dogs would not assail. He was clad in a grey fur, and
called himself Grimnir, but would give no further account
of himself, although questioned. To extort a confession,
the king had him tortured,
by placing him between two
fii'cs, where he sat during eight days. Geirrod had a son
of ten years, named Agnar after his uncle. This youth
went to Grimnir and gave him a hornful of drink, saying
that his father had acted unjustly in
causing an innocent
person to be tortured. The fire had by this time approached
so near that Grimnir's fur was singed." He then
sang the mytho-cosmogonic song called Grimnismal, in
which he enumerates and describes the habitations of the
twelve chief ^sir, of which further notice will be found
hereafter. The remainder of the poem consists of mytho-