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Poetic Edda

5.[1] Thrym sat on a mound,  the giants' master,
Leashes of gold  he laid for his dogs,
And stroked and smoothed  the manes of his steeds.

  Thrym spake:
6.[2] "How fare the gods,  how fare the elves?
Why comst thou alone  to the giants' land?"

  Loki spake:
"Ill fare the gods,  ill fare the elves!
Hast thou hidden  Hlorrithi's hammer?"

  Thrym spake:
7.[3] "I have hidden  Hlorrithi's hammer,
Eight miles down  deep in the earth;
And back again  shall no man bring it
If Freyja I win not  to be my wife."

8. Then Loki flew,  and the feather-dress whirred,
Till he left behind him  the home of the giants,
And reached at last  the realm of the gods.
There in the courtyard  Thor he met:
Hear now the speech  that first he spake:

    wholly trustworthy guides—indicate the stanza divisions as in this translation.

  1. ↑ Thrym: a frost-giant. Gering declares that this story of the theft of Thor's hammer symbolizes the fact that thunderstorms rarely occur in winter.
  2. ↑ Line 1: cf. Voluspo, 48, 1. The manuscript does not indicate Loki as the speaker of lines 3-4. Hlorrithi: Thor.
  3. ↑ No superscription in the manuscript. Vigfusson made up

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