Gold lack not I, in Gymer’s bower;
Enough for me my father’s dower.”
Skirner’s Lay (Herbert’s tr.).
Indignant at her scorn, Skirnir now threatened to decapitate her with his magic sword, but as this did not in the least frighten the maiden, and she calmly defied him, he had recourse to magic arts. Cutting runes in his stick, he told her that unless she yielded ere the spell was ended, she would be condemned either to eternal celibacy, or to marry some aged frost giant whom she could never love.
Terrified into submission by the frightful description of her cheerless future in case she persisted in her refusal, Gerda finally consented to become Frey’s wife, and dismissed Skirnir, promising to meet her future spouse on the ninth night, in the land of Buri, the green grove, where she would dispel his sadness and make him happy.
“Burri is hight the seat of love;
Nine nights elapsed, in that known grove
Shall brave Niorder’s gallant boy
From Gerda take the kiss of joy.”
Skirner’s Lay (Herbert’s tr.).