King Hraudung had two sons, Agnar and Geirrod. Agnar was ten winters old and Geirrod eight when they went rowing in a boat to catch little fish. But the wind drove them out to sea. During the night they were wrecked on the shore; but they found a peasant with whom they spent the winter. The housewife cared for Agnar and the bondsman cared for Geirrod, teaching him wisdom. In the spring the peasant gave him a boat.
When the couple took the boys to the shore, the peasant spoke to Geirrod in secret.
They had afair wind and came to their father's dock. Geirrod was in the front of the boat. He leapt on to the land and pushed the boat from the shore, saying 'Go now where evil may take you!'
The boat drifted out to sea. Geirrod went up to the house where he was welcomed, but his father was dead. Then Geirrod was made king and became famous. Odin and Frigg sat in Hlidskiálf and looked over all the worlds. Odin said, 'Do you see Agnar, your foster-child, begetting children with a giantess in a cave? But Geirrod, my foster-child, is a king ruling over his land.'
Frigg said, 'He is so parsimonious that he tortures his guests if he thinks there are too many of them.'
Odin replied that this was a great lie; and they wagered about the truth. Frigg sent her maid, Fulla, to Geirrod. She told the king to beware otherwise a magician who had come to the land would bewitch him, and said that he could be recognized because no dog was fierce enough to leap at him.
It was a great slander that Geirrod was not hospitable; but he had his men capture the man the dogs would not attack. He wore a dark-blue cloak, called himself Grimnir, and would say no more of himself even when questioned. The king had him tortured to make him speak, setting him between two fires for eight nights.
King Geirrod had a son eight winters old, called Agnar afier his father's brother. Agnar went to Grimnir, and gave him a full horn from which to drink, and said that the king was not right in torturing him without cause. Grimnir drank from the horn; the fire was so near that the cloak on Grimnir's back was smoking.
He said:
You are fierce, fire,
too fierce for comfort,
Recede from me, savage flame:
My cloak
is beginning to catch fire,
Its fur is singed and smolders.
For eight nights
I have not moved,
None offered me
meat or mead
Except Agnar:
the Son of Geirrod
Shall be lord
of the land of the Goths.
Hail, Agnar!
The Highest One
Bids you a grateful greeting:
For one drink
your reward shall be
Greater than any man got.
The land is hallowed
that lies near
The homes of gods and elves:
But Thor shall live
in Land-of-Strength
Till the High Ones are all destroyed.
Ull yonder in Yew-Dale
Has made himself a mansion:
Elf-Home for Frey
in the old days
The gods gave
as a tooth-fee.
The third is a bower,
thatched with silver
And built by blithe powers:
Hall of the Dead
was the home chosen
Long ago by the god.
The fourth Sunk-Bench:
refreshing waves
Sparkle and splash about it:
There Odin drinks
all day with Saga,
Glad from golden cups.
The fifth Glad-Home
where, golden-bright
The Hall of Valhalla stands:
There Hropt, the Doomer,
daily chooses
Warriors slain by weapons.
Easy to recognize
for all who come there
Is Odin's lofty hall:
With spear-shafts
and shields it is roofed,
Its benches are strewn with byrnies.
Easy to recognize
for all who come there
Is Odin's lofty hall:
The wolf lurks
before the west door,
The eagle hovers above.
The sixth Din-Home,
the dwelling once
Of Thjazi, the mighty-thewed:
Now Skadi sits
in the seat of her father,
The bright bride of gods.
The seventh Broad-Shining,
where Baldur has
Made himself a mansion,
A blessed place,
the best of lands,
Where evil runes are rare.
The eighth Heaven-Mount:
Heimdal there
Is lord of land and temple:
The gods' watchman
drinks good mead,
Glad in that peaceful place.
The ninth Battle-Plain,
where bright Freya
Decides where
the warriors shall sit:
Half of the fallen follow the goddess,
And half belong to Odin.
The tenth Glittering;
it has gold pillars
And a rich roof of silver:
There Foreseti
sits as a rule
And settles every suit.
The eleventh Harbor,
where lordly Njörd
Has made himself a mansion:
The high-timbered altar
he rules,
Peerless prince of men.
Vidar lives
in the land called Wood,
Where grass and brushwood grow:
The bold one shall leap
from the back of the mare
To avenge his father's death.
Sooty-Face
in Sooty-with-Fire,
Boils Soot-of-the-Sea:
To the Battle-slain
boar's flesh
Was ever the finest fare.
War-accustomed
Warrior-Father
Feeds it to Greedy and Grim,
For on wine alone
weapon-good
Odin always lives.
Thought and Memory
each morning fly
Over the vast earth:
Thought, I fear,
may fail to return,
But I fear more for Memory.
Thund roars fiercely,
the fish of the wolf
Frolics in the raging flood:
The river seems
too rough and deep
For the swarm of the slain to wade.
Gate-of-Dead
before doors that are holy
Stands upon hallowed acres:
Old is that gate,
and how to bolt it
Few now know.
Five hundred and forty doors
Are built into Bilskirnir,
Eight hundred warriors through one door
Shall go out to fight with Fenris.
Five hundred and forty doors
Are built into bright Valhalla:
Furnished with rings:
of roofed halls
The largest
belongs to my son.
Heath-Run is the goat
in the hall of All-Father
Who bites at Laerad's boughs:
She shall fill the decanter
with clear mead,
That drink shall never run dry:
Oak-Thorn the hart
in the hall of All-Father
Who bites at Laerad's boughs:
His horns
drip into Hvergelmir,
Whence all waters rise.
Sid and Vid,
Sökin and Eikin,
Svöl and Fimbulthul,
Fjorm and Gunnthro,
Rinn and Rennandi,
Gipul and Gopul,
Gomul and Geirvimul,
Encircle the hall of the High Ones,
Thyn and Vin,
Tholl and Holl,
Grad and Gunnthorin.
Vina is one stream,
Vegsvin another,
A third Thjodnuma,
Nyt and Not,
Nonn and Hronn,
Slid and Hrid,
Sylg and Ylg,
Vid and Van,
Vond and Strond,
Gjoll and Leift,
they gush down to men
And afterwards down to Hel.
Thor shall wade through the waters
of Ormt, Kormt
and the two Kerlaugs,
When he goes each day
to deal out fates
From Yggdrasil the ash tree.
The bridge of the gods
shall burst into flame,
The sacred waters seethe.
Glad and Gilt,
Glazed and Running River,
Silvertop and Sensations,
Hostage and Hollowhoof,
Goldtop and and Lightfoot
Are the steeds astride which the gods
Ride each day
to deal out fates
From Yggrdasil the ash tree.
Three roots
spread three ways
Under the ash Yggdrasil:
Hel is under the first,
Frost Giants under the second,
Mankind below the last.
Rat-Tusk is the squirrel
who shall run up
Yggdrasil the ash tree,
Bearing with him
the words of the eagle
Down to Nidhögg beneath.
Four the harts
who the high boughs
Gnaw with necks thrown back:
Dam and Dvalin,
Duneyr and Durathror.
Under Yggdrasil
hide more serpents
Than dull apes dream of:
Goin and Moin,
Grafvitnir's sons,
Sleepbringer, Unraveler,
shall bite off
Twigs of that tree for ever.
The hardships endured
by Yggdrasil
Are more than men can dream of:
Harts bite the twigs,
the trunk rots,
Nidhögg gnaws at the roots.
My ale-horn is brought me
by Hrist and Mist:
Skegghold and Skogul,
Hildi and Hlokk,
Herfjotur, Thrudi,
Goll and Geirolul,
Rangrid, Radgrid
and Reginleif
Serve ale to the slain,
Up shall rise
All-Swift and Early-Awake,
Hungry, to haul the Sun:
Under their shoulders
shall the gods
Carry cold iron.
The Cooler he is called
who covers the Sun
Like a shield,
shining for gods:
Fire would consume fell and ocean
Should his shield fall.
Skoll the wolf
who shall scare the Moon
Till he flies to the Wood-of-Woe:
Hati the wolf,
Hridvitnir's kin,
Who shall pursue the Sun.
From Ymir's flesh
was the earth shaped,
From his blood the salt sea,
The fells from his bones,
the forests from his hair,
The arching sky from his skull.
From his eyelashes
the High Ones made
Middle-Earth for men,
And Out of his brains
the ugly-tempered
Clouds were all carved.
Ull will grace him,
the gods also,
Who first reaches the flame:
Open to the gods
will all worlds be:
When the cauldrons are carried off.
The Sons of Ivaldi
ventured of old
To build Skidbladnir,
The best of ships,
for bright Frey,
The nimble son of Njörd.
Of all trees is Yggdrasil best,
Skidbladnir best of ships,
Of Gods Odin,
of horses Sleipnir,
Bifröst of bridges,
Bragi of poets,
Habrok of hawks,
and of hounds Garm.
I lift my eyes
and look now
For aid from all the gods,
All the gods
who shall enter to sit
At the benches in Aegir's Hall.
And drink in Aegir's Hall.
I am called Grim,
I am called Traveler,
Warrior and Helmet-Wearer,
Agreable, Third,
Thud and Ud,
High-One and Hel-Blinder.
Truth, Change,
and Truth-Getter,
Battle-Glad,
Abaser, Death-Worker,
Hider, One-Eye,
Fire-Eye, Lore-Master,
Masked, Deceitful.
Broad-Hat, Broad-Beard,
Boat-Lord, Rider,
All-Father, Death-Father,
Father of Victory,
But by one name
I have never been called
Since I came among men.
Masked I am called
in the courts of Geirrod,
But Jalk in Asmund's Hall,
Keeler they say
of the sledge-drawer,
Stirrer-of-Strife at Things,
Vidur on the field of battle,
Equal-High, Shaker,
Shout and Wish,
Wand-Bearer, Grey-Beard among gods.
Wise and Sage
at Sokkmimir's
When I hid the old giant:
When I came to Midvitnir's the
Killer of the Famed One's Son
sat there alone.
You are drunk,
dead drunk, Geirrod,
Deprived of reason,
deprived of my help,
Of the favor of the fallen,
of the favor of Odin.
I have told you much,
you remember too little,
Friends betray your trust:
Already I see
the sword of my friend,
A blade dripping with blood.
Soon shall Ygg
have your sword-struck corpse,
Your life race is run:
Hostile are the dises,
Odin can see,
Draw on me if you dare.
I am now Odin,
I was Ygg before,
Thud my name before that,
Wakeful and Heavens-Roar,
Hanged and Skilfing,
Goth and Jalk among gods,
Unraveler, Sleep-Bringer:
they are really one,
Many names for me.
Geirrod sat with his sword on his knee, half drawn from its sheath. When he heard that it was Odin, he rose to take him from the fire. The sword slipped and fell hilt down. The king stumbled and fell and the sword pierced him and slew him. Then Odin vanished, but Agnar ruled there as king for a long time.