Lokasenna

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Plot

Excerpts

• Loki:

"Hail, Æsir!

Hail, Asyniur!

And ye, all-holy gods!

all, save that one man,

who sits within there,

Bragi, on yonder bench."

• Bragi:

"I know that were I without,

as I am now within,

the hall of Ægir,

I thy head would

bear in my hand,

and so for lying punish thee."

• Loki:

"Valiant on thy seat art thou, Bragi!

but so thou shouldst not be,

Bragi, the bench's pride!

Go and fight,

if thou art angry;

a brave man sits not considering."

• Idunn:

"I pray thee, Bragi!

let avail the bond of children,

and of all adopted sons,

and to Loki speak not

in reproachful words,

in Ægir's hall."

• Loki:

"Be silent, Idunn!

of all women I declare thee

most fond of men,

since thou thy arms,

carefully washed, didst twine

round thy brother's murderer."

• Idunn:

"Loki I address not

with opprobrious words,

in Ægir's hall.

Bragi I soothe,

by beer excited.

I desire not that angry ye fight."

• Gefjun:

"Why will ye, Æsir twain,

here within,

strive with reproachful words?

Lopt perceives not

that he is deluded,

and is urged on by fate."

• Loki:

"Be silent, Gefjun!

I will now just mention,

how that fair youth

thy mind corrupted,

who thee a necklace gave,

and around whom thou thy limbs didst twine?"

• Odin:

"Knowest thou that I gave

to those I ought not -

victory to cowards?

Thou was eight winters

on the earth below,

milked cow as a woman,

and didst there bear children.

Now that, methinks, betokens a base nature."

• Loki:

"But, it is said, thou wentest

with tottering steps in Samsö,

and knocked at houses as a Vala. (Vala

Vala

Vala can refer to* V?lva, a priestess in Norse mythology or a Scandinavian earth spirit* Numonius Vala, an Ancient Roman family name, or any of the men of that name...
: seeress)

In likeness of a fortune teller,

thou wentest among people;

Now that, methinks, betokens a base nature."

• Frigg:

"Your doings

ye should never

publish among men,

what ye, Æsir twain,

did in days of yore.

Ever forgotten be men's former deeds!"

• Loki:

"Be thou silent, Frigg!

Thou art Fjorgyn's daughter, (Fjorgyn: the earth.)

and ever hast been lustful,

since Ve and Vili, it is said,

thou, Vidrir's wife, didst (Vidrir: another name of Odin, Ve

VE

VE, Ve or ve may refer to* V?, a god in Norse mythology* V? , a shrine in Germanic paganism and modern place name element* Ve , a character from the Cyrillic alphabet...
 and Vili: Odin's brothers)

both to thy bosom take."

• Freyja:

"Mad art thou, Loki!

in recounting

thy foul misdeeds.

Frigg, I believe,

knows all that happens,

although she says it not."

• Loki:

"Be thou silent, Freyja!

I know thee full well;

thou art not free from vices:

of the Æsir and the Alfar,

that are herein,

each has been thy paramour."

• Freyja:

"False is thy tongue.

Henceforth it will, I think,

prate no good to thee.

Wroth with thee are the Æsir,

and the Asyniur.

Sad shalt thou home depart."

• Loki:

"Be silent, Freyja!

Thou art a sorceress,

and with much evil blended;

since against thy brother thou

the gentle powers excited.

And then, Freyja! what didst thou do?"

• Njörðr:

"It is no great wonder,

if silk-clad dames

get themselves husbands, lovers;

but 'tis a wonder that a wretched man,

that has borne children, (i.e. the horse Sleipnir

Sleipnir

In Norse mythology, Sleipnir is an eight-legged horse. Sleipnir is attested in the Poetic Edda, compiled in the 13th century from earlier traditional sources, and the Prose Edda, written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson....
)

should herein enter."

• Loki:

"Cease now, Njörðr!

in bounds contain thyself;

I will no longer keep it secret:

it was with thy sister

thou hadst such a son (i.e. Freyr)

hardly worse than thyself."

• Týr:

"Freyr is best

of all the exalted gods

in the Æsir's courts:

no maid he makes to weep,

no wife of man,

and from bonds looses all."

• Loki:

"Be silent, Týr;

to thy wife it happened

to have a son by me.

Nor rag nor penny ever

hadst thou, poor wretch!

for this injury."

• Freyr:

"I the wolf see lying (The wolf: Loki is father of Fenrir)

at the river's mouth,

until the powers are swept away.

So shalt thou be bound,

if thou art not silent,

thou framer of evil."

• Loki:

"With gold thou boughtest

Gýmir's daughter, (i.e. Freyr's wife, Gerd

Gerd

Ger?r is a j?tunn in Norse Mythology most well known as the wife of the Norse Mythology god Freyr. Her brilliant, naked arms illuminate air and sea....
)

and so gavest away thy sword:

but when Muspell's sons (i.e. Fire Giants, whose leader would slay the unarmed Freyr at Ragnarök)

through the dark forest ride,

thou, unhappy, wilt not

have wherewith to fight."

• Heimdallr:

"Loki, thou art drunk,

and hast lost thy wits.

Why dost thou not leave off, Loki?

But drunkenness

so rules every man,

that he knows not of his garrulity."

• Loki:

"Be silent, Heimdallr!

For thee in early days

was that hateful life decreed:

with a wet back

thou must ever be,

and keep watch as guardian of the gods."

• Skaði:

"Thou art merry, Loki!

Not long wilt thou

frisk with an unbound tail;

for thee, on a rock's point,

with the entrails of thy ice-cold son,

the gods will bind."

• Loki:

"Milder was thou of speech

to Laufey's son, (Laufey

Laufey

In Norse mythology, Laufey or N?l is, with F?rbauti, the mother of Loki, Helblindi and B?leistr. She is otherwise unknown.Her name means "leaf island" and is a kenning for a tree....
´s son: the giant Loki)

when to thy bed thou didst invite me.

Such matters must be mentioned,

if we accurately must

recount our vices."

• Sif:

"Hail to thee, Loki!

and this cool cup receive,

full of old mead:

at least me alone,

among the blameless Æsir race,

leave stainless."

• Loki:

"So alone shouldst thou be,

hadst thou strict and prudent been

towards thy mate;

but one I know,

and, I think, know him well,

a favoured rival of Hlorridi,

and that is the wily Loki."

• Thor:

"Silence, thou impure being!

My mighty hammer, Mjöllnir,

shall stop thy prating.

I will thy head

from thy neck strike;

then will thy life be ended."

External links

English translations

• Translation and commentary by Henry A. Bellows
• Translation by Benjamin Thorpe
  Benjamin Thorpe
  
  Benjamin Thorpe was an England Old English language scholar.After studying for four years at Copenhagen University, under the Danish philologist Rasmus Christian Rask, he returned to England in 1830, and in 1832 published an English version of Caedmon's metrical paraphrase of portions of the Holy Scriptures, which at once established his r...
  
• Translation by W. H. Auden
  W. H. Auden
  
  Wystan Hugh Auden who signed his works W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet, regarded by many as one of the greatest writers of the 20th century....
   and P. B. Taylor
• Translation by A. S. Cottle

Old Norse editions

• Sophus Bugge
  Sophus Bugge
  
  Sophus Bugge was a Norway philologist, known for his theories, and work on the runic alphabet, and the Poetic Edda and Prose Edda. In his 1880 work Studies about the origin of Nordic mythological and heroic tales, Bugge theorized that nearly all myths in Old Norse literature derive from Christianity and late classical antiquity c...
  's edition of the manuscript text
• Guðni Jónsson's edition of the text with normalized spelling