25. Then spoke Thrym, lord of the Giants: "Who ever saw a bride eat
so eagerly? I never saw 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_.
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