Skáldskaparmál

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     To the Bride of Odin
     With hard stones were battered.

     The swirling weapons' Urger
     Bade. Gjúki's race be smitten
     Sore, who from life were eager
     To ravish Svanhildr's lover;
     And all pay Jónakr's offspring
     With the fair-piercing weapon,
     The render of blue birnies,-
     With bitter thrusts and edges.

     I see the heroes' slaughter
     On the fair shield-rim's surface;
     Ragnarr gave me the Ship-Moon
     With many tales marked on it.]

XLII. "Why is gold called Fródi's Meal? This is the tale thereof: One of Odin's
sons, named Skjöldr,- from whom the Skjőldungs are come,-had his abode and
ruled in the realm which now is called Denmark, but then was known as Gotland.
Skjöldr's son,who ruled the land after him, was named Fridleifr. Fridleifr's
son was Fródi: he succeeded to the kingdom after his father, in the time when
Augustus Caesar imposed peace on all the world; at that time Christ was born.
But because Fródi was mightiest of all kings in the Northern lands, the peace
was called by his name wherever the Danish tongue was spoken; and men call it
the Peace of Fródi. No man injured any other, even though he met face to face
his father's slayer or his brother's, loose or bound. Neither was there any
thief nor robber then, so that a gold ring lay long on Jalangr's Heath. King
Fródi


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went to a feast in Sweden at the court of the king who was called Fjölnir, and
there he bought two maid-servants, Fenja and Menja: they were huge and strong.
In that time two mill-stones were found in Denmark, so great that no one was so
strong that be could turn them: the nature of the mill was such that whatsoever
he who turned asked for, was ground out by the mill-stones. This mill was
called Grótti. He who gave King Fródi the mill was named Hengikjöptr. King
Fródi had the maid-servants led to the mill, and bade them grind gold; and they
did so. First they ground gold and peace and happiness for Fródi; then he would
grant them rest or sleep no longer than the cuckoo held its peace or a song
might be sung. It is said that they sang the song which is called the Lay of
Grótti, and this is its beginning:

     Now are we come
     To the king's house,
     The two fore-knowing,
     Fenja and Menja:
     These are with Fródi
     Son of Fridleifr,
     The Mighty Maidens,
     As maid-thralls held.

And before they ceased their singing, they ground out a host against Fródi, so
that the sea-king called Mýsingr came there that same night and slew Fródi,
taking much plunder. Then the Peace of Fródi was ended. Mýsingr took Grótti
with him, and Fenja and Menja also, and bade them grind salt. And at midnight
they asked whether Mýsingr were not weary of salt. He bade them grind longer.
They had ground but a little while, when down sank the ship; and from that


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time there has been a whirlpool in the sea where the water falls through the
hole in the mill-stone. It was then that the sea became salt.

The lay of Grótti:

     They to the flour-mill
     Were led, those maidens,
     And bidden tirelessly
     To turn the gray mill-stone:
     He promised to neither
     Peace nor surcease
     Till he had heard
     The handmaids' singing.

     They chanted the song
     Of the ceaseless mill-stone:
     'Lay we the bins right,
     Lift we the stones!'
     He urged the maidens
     To grind on ever.

     They sung and slung
     The whirling stone
     Till the men of Fródi
     For the most part slept;
     Then spake Menja,
     To the mill coming:

     'Wealth grind we for Fróđi,
     We grind it in plenty,


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     Fullness of fee
     At the mill of fortune:
     Let him sit on riches
     And sleep on down;
     Let him wake in weal:
     Then well 't is ground.

     'Here may no one
     Harm another,
     Contrive evil,
     Nor cast wiles for slaying,
     Nor slaughter any
     With sword well sharpened,
     Though his brother's slayer
     In bonds he find.'

     But he spake no word
     Save only this:
     'Sleep ye no longer
     Than the hall-cuckoo's silence,
     Nor longer than so,
     While one song is sung.'

     'Thou wast not, Fródi,
     Full in wisdom,
     Thou friend of men,
     When thou boughtest the maidens:
     Didst choose for strength
     And outward seeming;
     But of their kindred
     Didst not inquire.




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