a bride make such a hearty meal, nor a maid
drink so deep of mead."

26. The prudent handmaid sat near, and she found answer to the Giant's
words: "Eight nights has Freyja eaten nothing, so eager was she to
be in Joetunheim."

27. He looked under the veil, he longed to kiss the bride, but
he started back the length of the hall: "Why are Freyja's eyes so
terrible? Fire seems to burn from her eyes."

28. The prudent handmaid sat near, and she found answer to the Giant's
speech: "Eight nights has Freyja had no sleep, so eager was she to
be in Joetunheim."

29. In came the Giants' wretched sister, she dared to ask for a bridal
gift: "Take from thine arms the red rings, if thou wouldst gain my
love, my love and all my favour."

30. Then spoke Thrym, lord of the Giants: "Bring the hammer to hallow
the bride. Lay Mjoellni on the maiden's knee, hallow us two in wedlock."

31. The Thunderer's heart laughed in his breast, when the bold of
soul felt the hammer. Thrym killed he first, the lord of the Giants,
and all the race of the Giants he struck.

32. He slew the Giants' aged sister, who had asked him for a bridal
gift. She got a blow instead of shillings, and a stroke of the hammer
for abundance of rings. So Odin's son got back his hammer.

Bibliography

I. Study in the Original.

(1) _Poetic Edda_.--The classic edition, and on the whole the best,
is Professor Bugge's (Christiania, 1867); the smaller editions of
Hildebrand (_Die Lieder der Aelteren Edda_, Paderborn, 1876), and
Finnur Jonsson (_Eddalieder_, Halle, 1888-90) are also good; the
latter is in two parts, _Goettersage_ and _Heldensage_. The poems may
also be found in the first volume of Vigfusson and Powell's _Corpus
Poeticum Boreale_ (Oxford, 1883), accompanied by translations; but in
many cases they are cut up and rearranged, and they suffer metrically
from the system adopted of printing two short lines as one long one,
with no dividing point. There is an excellent palaeographic edition
of the _Codex Regius of the Elder Edda_, by Wimmer and Finnur Jonsson
(Copenhagen, 1891), with photographic reproductions interleaved with
a literal transcription.

(2) _Snorra Edda_.--The most recent edition of the whole is Dr. Finnur
Jonsson's (Copenhagen, 1875). There is a useful edition of the
mythological portions _(i.e., Gylfaginning, Bragaraedur_, and the
narrative parts of _Skaldskaparmal_) by Ernst Wilken (_Die Prosaeische
Edda_, Paderborn, 1878).

(3)