Forgotten Ground Regained

The Opening of the Gylfaginning

Paraphrased in fornyrðislag
1. Gylfi deceived.
1.1.Gylfi was glad The king of Sweden to give to the woman,(she'd made him laugh), as much of his landas she with four oxen to furrows could plough,in a single turn of the sun and the moon.
1.2‘Come to me, sons!’ Crafty Gefjon Means ‘Giving one’brings her children, (born in the north,their sire a giant,) sinks her ploughsharedeep into Sweden, draws out an island. i.e. Sjaelland, Denmark
1.3Her ox-lads leave a lake for Gylfi, Logrinn, ‘lake’, aka Mälarbays matching headlands, as Bragi says: Means ‘poetry’ or ‘foremost’
1.4 Gefjon wins from Gylfi A gift, of land lifted, Drafted, gone to Denmark, Drawn by oxen; four heads, With eight moons all alight, Effort steaming for it, Leave behind a lake; waves Let the new isle settle.
2. Gylfi deceived again.
2.1Fool him the once, maybe fool him again?Gylfi came Means ‘sea, waves’ this king of Sweden,hidden by age, to the halls of the Aesir, The tribe of gods?made use of his magic to mask his face.
2.2He wanted to question, was it their nature,or the gods they worshipped, worked things soin accordance to their will? But the cunning Aesirblew his disguise; they built their deceits,
2.3put murk in his eyes; in the midst of their city,a hall so high he can hardly see over,with shields as shingles, shining on the roof.Just as is told in the tale by Thiodolf: A human poet
2.4 The ready warriors Had roof-tiles of Odi i.e. shields Shining on their backs Against showers of stone.
2.5On duty at the door, a juggler of knives,with seven in the air, served as a warden,asked him his name. ‘Only Gangleri, Means ‘tired of going’.traveller of trackless ways. Treat me as guest
2.7‘and answer me this...’ ‘You may ask of the king!I'll take you there myself!’ Tracking then througha range of wonders - warriors in battle,drinkers and players - as the door shut behind,
2.8saying to himself, from the saws of wisdom: Before you go through, be thorough at a door. Always be watchful Always be wary; To know if an enemy, knives at the ready, Might sit at the benches unseen. *** *** ***
3. Three thrones.
3.1Thrones, there are three, and three men in them.He whispers to his guide, ‘What are their names,who is the ruler..?’ ‘High is the king, HárrAs-High above him, Jafnhárr over all is Third.’ Þriði
3.2High speaks first: ‘Hale to the wanderer.Have you food, have you drink?Sit at our table.’ ‘Since I am here,I would like to be told what learning is present?’
3.3High made allowance: ‘Unless you becomemore wise than this, you'll walk out in bits!Ask, as you stand - Those who answer will sit!’
4. The highest god…
4.1Gangleri began, a gauging question:‘Who is the oldest, the highest of gods?’
4.2‘His name is All-Father, Alfǫðr, i.e. Oðin but others he’s hadin the tongue of the Old-yard, i.e. “Old-Asgard” twelve in number:All-Father, I say, but also the Harrier, HerjannThruster, the third, Hnikarr O'er-thrower, the fourth, Hnikuðr
4.3‘The Fullest-in-Knowledge, Fjǫlnir Fulfiller-of-Wishes, ÓskiShaker-of-Shields, Biflindi and the Shout-resounding, ÓmiClasher-of-Spears, i.e. Sviðurr and Calmer-of-all, i.e. SviðrirGod-of-the-Storm, Viðrir and the Gelding-stroke.’ Jalkr
5. …is where?
5.1Gangleri asked, ‘This god is where?Tell me of his might and the tally of his works!’
5.2High, from his throne, threw this reply:‘He lives in all ages, all of the worlds; has at his command the whole of his kingdom,governs all matters, greater and small.’
5.3As-High added, ‘Even the heavens,even the earth, and everything in 'em.These he made!’ Third nodded sagely,‘The making of people is his mightiest work:
5.4‘unto each bestowing an undying soul, though the body be burnt, or buried in dust:
5.5‘The righteous residing in the resting place, Unburnable, Gimléwith him in the Wine-hall; Vingólf the wicked though,down in the Hid Hel and into Dark-hid, Niflhelin the ninth world--’ …
5.6‘But before all's made, before earth and heaven,what was he doing? Where was he then?’
5.7‘Before there was anything, When first there was nothing?He was with the Frost-Giants! Fair enough?’
6. The heaving well.
6.1Gang-weary starts, gasping for answers,‘Before that before, what first was there?’
6.2‘As the wand-bearer has it,’ i.e. the prophetess High replies:
6.3 ‘Time had not yet toppled, Had turned no thing. There was no sand, No sea bringing waves. The earth had no founding, Nor elevated heaven. Only the Great-gap, i.e. Ginnungagap Growing nothing.’
6.4‘Ages upon ages,’ As-high said,‘Nothing was lit. But the lightless-home Niflheimhad a well in its keeping, a kettle overflowing, Hvergelmira rage of rivers, running into nowhere:
6.5‘Call their river-names! The Cool-one, then Svolthe Battle-furrow, Gunnþró the Fast-to-travel, Fiǫrmthe Great-speaker, Fimbulþul Greedy, Sliver, Sylgr, SlíðrWolf-bitch, Wide, Ylgr, Víð And Wild-storm, Hríð
6.6Light-Leaping, Leiptr Loud-Yelling - GiollLoud-yelling flows by the fences of the Hidden.” Helgrind
7. Spoiler’s home.
7.1‘But there was,’ butted in Third,‘fierce in the south, the fire-home burning. i.e. MuspellzheimrOnly those born there can bear its flames.Sooty lies there, Surtr lurking in heat.
7.2‘Breaking its borders, bursting with fire,flame-sword in his fist, flaring, Sootyis to wage such war at the world's end,will spoil every home, sparing nothing!
7.3‘The Seeress sees it, ie. the vǫlva in Vǫluspá the song of her vision:
7.4 ‘Soot, from the south, With his sword of fire, Is spitting the sun And the spoiled gods. Troll-wives tumble. Trodden’s the road Of heroes into Hid. Hel Heaven is split!’
8. The unlit world.
8.1‘What of the beginning? What were things likebefore people were plentiful, putting out children?’
8.2‘These eleven rivers i.e. Élivágar A long way flowingso far from their source, they slowed in pace,clinker-like, clagging to ice,creaking and cursing come to a halt,
8.3‘and all the mist, the murky vapour,that sailed in their wake, settled in waves,layer on layer lacking in motion;rime, where rivers had run gap-greedy.’
8.4‘The beguiling Gap Ginnungagap groaning to the north,with the weight of ice and the wailing cold;singed to the south by searing fire,particles and sparks from Spoilers’ home.’ Muspellzheimr
9. The first being.
9.1High and Just-as-High, hurling words together,Third came through: ‘Thick and unlit,the grim side of grappling ice;burning and heat blinding on the other,
9.2‘between them both, the breadth of nothingwas calm as waves on a windless day;and the ice cooled fire, as fire quickened ice,in a dripping and thaw, and the thermal debate
9.3‘between motion and form flounders into shape:a body on the ice, broader than sky,naked as the day that had not yet been born, and given a name to grow into: Twin. Ymir
9.4‘Though the Frost-giants call them, first of their line:Birthed-of-the-shingle, Aurgelmir or Bellowing-sand,
9.5‘As is shown by this in the Shorter Prophecy: ‘Sorcerers come from Swarthy, Svarthǫfði Seethers come from Will-tree, Vilmeiðr From Magician-wolf, come the seers. Vittólfr The giants, out of Twin.
9.6‘As Mighty-entangler said Vafþrúðnir in making his answer:
9.7 ‘How was he birthed, Bellowing-sand, Canny kinsman of giants?’ ‘Spat from the rivers, Spawned from their poison, Out of these, the eater Our ancestries gather In that great and terrible. Madness makes the furor.’
10. The first births.
10.1‘Are they a god?’ Gangleri shouts.‘Is that your belief, in littering so manygenerations of giants? Don’t jest with me!And how came it others were caused to be born?’
10.2‘We own them no god, that ill-bringing thing,and all their degenerates, giants we call them.
10.3‘‘Tis said, as Twin slept, they sweated, and grew,from the pit of their arm, a pair of eaters,weapon-man, weave-man, one of them each,wailing and bloody, wet from their birth.
10.4‘Twin’s leg on the left lay with the right,begat then a boy. Born this way,the descendants come after. sired by this one.We call them Frost-giants, but first was Twin.’
11. The cow.
11.1‘Where,’ said Gang-weary, ‘where did Twin live?And what was the food that fed the giant?’
11.2‘The frost dripped and the frozen melted:there came into being a cow, Rich-hornless, Auðumlafull in each teat, four rivers blurting,of milk to feed, to mother, Twin.’
12. The gods.
12.1‘And what fed the cow?’ ‘The frozen waste.Rich-hornless licked the layers of rime.
12.2‘Fresh and salty, the first day she lickedthe stones all frozen, strands of hairbegan to be seen. A second day,she licked out of hoar-frost the head of a man.
12.3‘A third day she licked,slurping and slurping,until from the ice, an entire body,complete and bare, and he was called Bearer! BúriFair as the ice, a father, a maker.
12.4‘He had a son named Son, a boy. BurrSon married Bark, Bestla Bale-thorn’s daughter, Bǫlþornoffspring of giants. Out of that pairing,brothers: Wild, Oðin and Wilful, and Shrine. Vili and Vé
12.5‘And this is our rede: these brothers,Odin, Vili, and Vé, the other,must be the rulers reigning over heavenand earth. And of them Odin, foremost,
12.6‘of frenzy! Of-fury! Oðin are fitting names,this god, the greatest, most glorious we know,and it would, we deem, go well for youto agree, when you call, you call him so too.
Part of Forgotten Ground Regained: A Journal of Alliterative Verse, Issue 8, Fall, 2025: Norse and Icelandic Forms
The author writes:
This project, recasting Snorri's prose into alliterative verse, was essentially started for fun and practice – ready-made material, and fitting too. With a very basic fornyrðislag form. This is the first part of nine, twice revised, to make this 'Third's draft'.
The plan has been to follow closely the text as presented in English translations. Primarily, I've used those of Antony Faulkes (Everyman) & Jesse Byock (Penguin), with additional study of J.I. Young & Edward Petitt (his Poetic Edda); also the original texts as best I could.
I've replaced, (beyond the opening section) the Old Norse names with modern English alternatives, just to see what effect that might have. Some have been obvious - Thunder for Thor - others much harder. I've relied on Rudolf Simek's Dictionary for translations to work from, with poetic licence and conjecture for the less obvious, or not known.
For the poems that Snorri quotes I've attempted to cast them in a form like to the original - ljoðahátr, dróttkvætt, etc.
I suspect that this may be best heard, rather than read - though you can be the judge. Earlier drafts were recorded to help in editing & reworking, and it felt like the drama, the energy, the humour, the tension, and themes of deception, emerged clearer for it. I shall be recording completed sections soon.The project has kept expanding. Gylfaginning has been completed in early drafts. I could not help carrying on into Skaldskaparmal... until hitting the lists and lists of lists; I may just stick to the stories. And Hattatal gets a look in too, as much to figure out for myself what Snorri & Faulkes meant in the words they used - and as well write it as verse myself, than to struggle through prose.Perhaps it's a crazy idea - it's a version, not a translation. It's not academic or scholarly. It's not even great poetry. But it might help some get into the prose (and the poetics), or to rethink it, and feel the stories, and the contradictions, as alive still.
Copyright © Math Jones, 2025
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