[9]. In danger: Thor is “sekr,” i.e., without the protection of any law, so long as he is in the territory of his enemies, the [[125]]giants. Meili: a practically unknown son of Othin, mentioned here only in the Edda. Magni: son of Thor and the giantess Jarnsaxa; after Thor’s fight with Hrungnir (cf. stanza 14, note) Magni, though but three days old, was the only one of the gods strong enough to lift the dead giant’s foot from Thor’s neck. After rescuing his father, Magni said to him: “There would have been little trouble, father, had I but come sooner; I think I should have sent this giant to hell with my fist if I had met him first.” Magni and his brother, Mothi, inherit Thor’s hammer.
[12]. This stanza is hopelessly confused as to form, but none of the editorial rearrangements have materially altered the meaning. Doomed to die: the word “feigr” occurs constantly in the Old Norse poems and sagas; the idea of an inevitable but unknown fate seems to have been practically universal throughout the pre-Christian period. On the concealment of names from enemies, cf. Fafnismol, prose after stanza 1. [[126]]
[13]. This stanza, like the preceding one, is peculiarly chaotic in the manuscript, and has been variously emended.
[14]. Hrungnir: this giant rashly wagered his head that his horse, Gullfaxi, was swifter than Othin’s Sleipnir. In the race, which Hrungnir lost, he managed to dash uninvited into the home of the gods, where he became very drunk. Thor ejected him, and accepted his challenge to a duel. Hrungnir, terrified, had a helper made for him in the form of a dummy giant nine miles high and three miles broad. Hrungnir himself had a three-horned heart of stone and a head of stone; his shield was of stone and his weapon was a grindstone. But Thjalfi, Thor’s servant, told him the god would attack him out of the ground, wherefore Hrungnir laid down his shield and stood on it. The hammer Mjollnir shattered both the grindstone and Hrungnir’s [[127]]head, but part of the grindstone knocked Thor down, and the giant fell with his foot on Thor’s neck (cf. note on stanza 9). Meanwhile Thjalfi dispatched the dummy giant without trouble.
[16]. Fjolvar: not elsewhere mentioned in the poems; perhaps the father of the “seven sisters” referred to in stanza 18. Algrön “The All-Green”: not mentioned elsewhere in the Edda.
[17]. Thor is always eager for stories of this sort; cf. stanzas 31 and 33.
[18]. Lines 1–2 are obscure, but apparently Harbarth means that the women were wise to give in to him cheerfully, resistance to his power being as impossible as (lines 3–4) making ropes of sand or digging the bottoms out of the valleys. Nothing further is known of these unlucky “seven sisters.” [[128]]
[19]. Thjazi: this giant, by a trick, secured possession of the goddess Ithun and her apples (cf. Skirnismol, 19, note), and carried her off into Jotunheim. Loki, through whose fault she had been betrayed, was sent after her by the gods. He went in Freyja’s “hawk’s-dress” (cf. Thrymskvitha, 3), turned Ithun into a nut, and flew back with her. Thjazi, in the shape of an eagle, gave chase. But the gods kindled a fire which burnt the eagle’s wings, and then they killed him. Snorri’s prose version does not attribute this feat particularly to Thor. Thjazi’s daughter was Skathi, whom the gods permitted to marry Njorth as a recompense for her father’s death. Alvaldi: of him we know only that he was the father of Thjazi, Ithi and Gang, who divided his wealth, each taking a mouthful of gold. The name is variously spelled. It is not known which stars were called “Thjazi’s Eyes.” In the middle of line 4 begins the fragmentary version of the poem found in the Arnamagnæan Codex.
[20]. Riders by night: witches, who were supposed to ride on wolves in the dark. Nothing further is known of this adventure. [[129]]
[22]. The oak, etc.: this proverb is found elsewhere (e.g., Grettissaga) in approximately the same words. Its force is much like our “to the victor belong the spoils.”