The Lay of Hárbard

Summary

A

Hárbarðsljóð is a flyting, a ritualized verbal duel, between Thor and Odin. Thor arrives at a sound and calls for the ferryman, who names himself Hárbarðr ('Grey-beard'). The ferryman refuses to carry him, and they begin exchanging boastful tales and insults.

The conflict reveals a social and theological divide: Thor boasts of killing giants and protecting Ásgarðr and Miðgarðr. Hárbarðr boasts of seducing women, inciting kings against each other, and gathering the slain in Valhöll. In stanza 24 the contrast is sharply formulated: Odin gets the jarls who fall in battle, Thor gets the thralls.

The poem contains mythological allusions found in no other source: Thor's battle against berserker-women on Hlésey, Hárbarðr's five winters with Fjölvarr, and the insinuation of Sif's infidelity. The metre shifts unusually between ljóðaháttr, málaháttr, and fornyrðislag, sometimes with prose interludes.

The flyting ends unresolved. Hárbarðr ultimately refuses to ferry Thor and gives him directions the long way around the sound. Thor departs humiliated, without having identified his opponent as Odin.

The story

Key concepts

• flyting , ritualized verbal duel; Hárbarðsljóð and Lokasenna are the foremost examples in Eddic poetry
• Hárbarðr , Odin's disguise-name, 'Grey-beard'; one of many heiti concealing his identity
• Hrungnir , the stone-giant Thor killed in single combat; referenced in Thor's boasts (stanzas 14-15)
• einherjar , the fallen warriors Odin gathers; the flyting's core concerns who receives the slain
• ljóðaháttr , one of the three metres alternating in the poem; associated with wisdom and magic
• málaháttr , the 'speech-metre'; occurs in Hárbarðsljóð mixed with ljóðaháttr and fornyrðislag
• Sif , Thor's wife; Hárbarðr insinuates her infidelity, a unique mythological detail
• Þjazi , the giant who abducted Iðunn; Thor references battles with his offspring

Interpretive traditions

A What we know

Hárbarðsljóð is preserved solely in Codex Regius (GKS 2365 4to). The poem is absent from AM 748 I 4to.

The poem's mixed metre (ljóðaháttr, málaháttr, fornyrðislag) is textually well established and unusual in Eddic poetry. Most Eddic poems maintain a single metre throughout.

The flyting genre has parallels in Irish, Anglo-Saxon, and other Germanic tradition. The poem's basic structure (verbal duel at a boundary, with mythological boasts) is genre-typical.

The contrast between Odin's and Thor's social domains (jarls/warrior-death vs thralls/physical strength) mirrors a functional division with parallels in the Dumézilian tripartite scheme, regardless of how one evaluates that scheme as an analytical tool.

B What we think we know

The dating of the poem is debated. The mixed metre has been interpreted as either archaic (an older compositional technique) or as a sign of late, experimental poetry. De Vries (1957) proposed early composition; other scholars see it as among the younger Eddic poems.

Whether the poem reflects an actual cultic conflict between Odin-worship and Thor-worship (for instance regional differences in Scandinavia) or is a purely literary play with mythological contrasts has been the subject of long-standing debate.

The insinuation of Sif's infidelity (stanza 48) lacks support in other extant sources. Its significance, whether it reflects a lost myth-tradition or is a poetic provocation without mythological basis, is unclear.

The relationship of the prose interludes to the verses has been discussed. Some scholars view them as secondary editorial additions; others argue that the flyting genre naturally mixes verse and prose.

C What we do not know

Several of Hárbarðr's mythological allusions (five winters with Fjölvarr, the battles on Algrœn) have no parallels in other extant literature. Whether they reference lost myths or are the poet's own inventions cannot be determined with the current source material.

The social context for the poem's performance is unknown. Proposals include court entertainment, cult drama, and carnivalesque parody, yet none can be substantiated.

Whether Thor at the poem's end actually sees through Hárbarðr's identity or remains unaware is textually ambiguous. The poem provides no definitive answer.

Sources and further reading

Primary sources

• Neckel, Gustav, och Hans Kuhn. 1983. Edda: Die Lieder des Codex Regius nebst verwandten Denkmälern. 5. uppl. Heidelberg: Winter.

Translations

• Bellows, Henry Adams (trans.). 1923. The Poetic Edda. New York: The American-Scandinavian Foundation. (PD)
• Larrington, Carolyne (trans.). 2014. The Poetic Edda. Rev. ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Scholarly works

• Lindow, John. 2001. Norse Mythology: A Guide to Gods, Heroes, Rituals, and Beliefs. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
• Simek, Rudolf. 1993. Dictionary of Northern Mythology. Translated by Angela Hall. Cambridge: D. S. Brewer.
• de Vries, Jan. 1956–1957. Altgermanische Religionsgeschichte. 2 vols. Berlin: de Gruyter.
• Turville-Petre, E. O. G. 1964. Myth and Religion of the North: The Religion of Ancient Scandinavia. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
• Clunies Ross, Margaret. 1994–1998. Prolonged Echoes: Old Norse Myths in Medieval Northern Society, vols. I–II. Odense: Odense University Press.
• McKinnell, John. 2014. Essays on Eddic Poetry. Ed. Donata Kick and John D. Shafer. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.