Lokasenna - Excerpts

Excerpts

Thorpe's Translation.

• Loki:

"Hail, Æsir!

Hail, Asyniur!

And ye, all-holy gods!

all, save that one man,

who sits within there,

Bragi, on yonder bench."

• Bragi:

"I know that were I without,

as I am now within,

the hall of Ægir,

I thy head would

bear in my hand,

and so for lying punish thee."

• Loki:

"Valiant on thy seat art thou, Bragi!

but so thou shouldst not be,

Bragi, the bench's pride!

Go and fight,

if thou art angry;

a brave man sits not considering."

Idunn stepped in to protect her husband.

• Idunn:

"I pray thee, Bragi!

let avail the bond of children,

and of all adopted sons,

and to Loki speak not

in reproachful words,

in Ægir's hall."

• Loki:

"Be silent, Idunn!

of all women I declare thee

most fond of men,

since thou thy arms,

carefully washed, didst twine

round thy brother's murderer."

• Idunn:

"Loki I address not

with opprobrious words,

in Ægir's hall.

Bragi I soothe,

by beer excited.

I desire not that angry ye fight."

• Gefjun:

"Why will ye, Æsir twain,

here within,

strive with reproachful words?

Lopt perceives not

that he is deluded,

and is urged on by fate."

• Loki:

"Be silent, Gefjun!

I will now just mention,

how that fair youth

thy mind corrupted,

who thee a necklace gave,

and around whom thou thy limbs didst twine?"

Odin interfered, but Loki called him "unmanly" as well.

• Odin:

"Knowest thou that I gave

to those I ought not -

victory to cowards?

Thou was eight winters

on the earth below,

milked cow as a woman,

and didst there bear children.

Now that, methinks, betokens a base nature."

• Loki:

"But, it is said, thou wentest

with tottering steps in Samsö,

and knocked at houses as a Vala.

In likeness of a fortune teller,

thou wentest among people;

Now that, methinks, betokens a base nature."

Frigg tried to defend her husband.

• Frigg:

"Your doings

ye should never

publish among men,

what ye, Æsir twain,

did in days of yore.

Ever forgotten be men's former deeds!"

• Loki:

"Be thou silent, Frigg!

Thou art Fjorgyn's daughter,

and ever hast been lustful,

since Ve and Vili, it is said,

thou, Vidrir's wife, didst

both to thy bosom take."

• Freyja:

"Mad art thou, Loki!

in recounting

thy foul misdeeds.

Frigg, I believe,

knows all that happens,

although she says it not."

• Loki:

"Be thou silent, Freyja!

I know thee full well;

thou art not free from vices:

of the Æsir and the Alfar,

that are herein,

each has been thy paramour."

• Freyja:

"False is thy tongue.

Henceforth it will, I think,

prate no good to thee.

Wroth with thee are the Æsir,

and the Asyniur.

Sad shalt thou home depart."

• Loki:

"Be silent, Freyja!

Thou art a sorceress,

and with much evil blended;

since against thy brother thou

the gentle powers excited.

And then, Freyja! what didst thou do?"

• Njörðr:

"It is no great wonder,

if silk-clad dames

get themselves husbands, lovers;

but 'tis a wonder that a wretched man,

that has borne children,

should herein enter."

• Loki:

"Cease now, Njörðr!

in bounds contain thyself;

I will no longer keep it secret:

it was with thy sister

thou hadst such a son

hardly worse than thyself."

• Týr:

"Freyr is best

of all the exalted gods

in the Æsir's courts:

no maid he makes to weep,

no wife of man,

and from bonds looses all."

Not only mocking Týr's wound (his arm was bitten by Fenrir), Loki also called him a cuckold.

• Loki:

"Be silent, Týr;

to thy wife it happened

to have a son by me.

Nor rag nor penny ever

hadst thou, poor wretch!

for this injury."

• Freyr:

"I the wolf see lying

at the river's mouth,

until the powers are swept away.

So shalt thou be bound,

if thou art not silent,

thou framer of evil."

• Loki:

"With gold thou boughtest

Gýmir's daughter,

and so gavest away thy sword:

but when Muspell's sons

through the dark forest ride,

thou, unhappy, wilt not

have wherewith to fight."

• Heimdallr:

"Loki, thou art drunk,

and hast lost thy wits.

Why dost thou not leave off, Loki?

But drunkenness

so rules every man,

that he knows not of his garrulity."

• Loki:

"Be silent, Heimdallr!

For thee in early days

was that hateful life decreed:

with a wet back

thou must ever be,

and keep watch as guardian of the gods."

• Skaði:

"Thou art merry, Loki!

Not long wilt thou

frisk with an unbound tail;

for thee, on a rock's point,

with the entrails of thy ice-cold son,

the gods will bind."

• Loki:

"Milder was thou of speech

to Laufey's son,

when to thy bed thou didst invite me.

Such matters must be mentioned,

if we accurately must

recount our vices."

Sif went to pour for Loki.

• Sif:

"Hail to thee, Loki!

and this cool cup receive,

full of old mead:

at least me alone,

among the blameless Æsir race,

leave stainless."

• Loki:

"So alone shouldst thou be,

hadst thou strict and prudent been

towards thy mate;

but one I know,

and, I think, know him well,

a favoured rival of Hlorridi,

and that is the wily Loki."

After this, Thor came in and drove Loki away.

• Thor:

"Silence, thou impure being!

My mighty hammer, Mjöllnir,

shall stop thy prating.

I will thy head

from thy neck strike;

then will thy life be ended."