Gripla - 01.01.2003, Page 58

56
GRIPLA
kvaðat mann ramman,
þótt róa kynni
krgpturligan,
nema kálk bryti.
declared no man strong
— however strapping he might be
as an oarsman —
if unable to break a goblet. (29/5-8)
So Þórr nonchalantly, as he sits at the table, throws the giant’s glass goblet
at the stone pillars around the giant’s hall, crashing through them, but never
breaking the glass,
Unz þat in fríða
frilla kendi
ástráð mikit
— eitt er vissi:
‘Drep við haus Hymis,
hann er harðari,
kostmóðs iptuns,
kálki hverio[m]!’
Until the lovely
lady-friend imparted,
out of affection, momentous advice
— a fact she knew:
‘Strike at the skull of Hymir,
the supper-weary giant —
it’s of greater hardness
than any goblet!’ 31/1-8)
Þórr rises from the table and takes a thrower’s stance and breathes in
divine strength —
Harðr reis á kné
hafra dróttinn,
fœrðiz allra
í ásmegin.
Heill var karli
hiálmstofn ofan,
en vínferill
valr rifnaði.
He rose on braced knees,
resolute lord of he-goats,
took on himself entirely
the strength of a god.
Unharmed was the old churl’s
helmet-prop on top,
but the wine’s round
roadway split apart. (32/1-8)
But how can a giant’s skull be harder than a glass goblet which shatters
stone pillars without being hurt? The answer to the riddle is easy: because
heaven was created from a giant’s skull, as Vafþrúðnir said14, and nothing can
be harder, more indestructible, than heaven —
Ór Ymis holdi From Ymir’s flesh
var igrð um skppuð, earth was fashioned,
14 Vafþrúðnismá! 21/4-5; cf. Grímnismál 40/6 (the version cited by Snorri, SnE 16).