The Poetic Edda 6

Harbarthsljoth (The Poem of Harbarth) Thor was on his way back from a journey in the East, and came to a sound; on the other side of the sound was a ferryman with a boat. Thor called out:

"Who is the fellow yonder, on the farther shore of the sound?"

The ferryman spake:

"What kind of a peasant is yon, that calls o'er the bay?"

Thor spake:

"Ferry me over the sound; I will feed thee therefor in the morning; A basket I have on my back, and food therein, none better; At leisure I ate, ere the house I left, Of herrings and porridge, so plenty I had."

The ferryman spake:

"Of thy morning feats art thou proud, but the future thou knowest not wholly; Doleful thine home-coming is: thy mother, methinks, is dead."

Thor spake:

"Now hast thou said what to each must seem The mightiest grief, that my mother is dead."

The ferryman spake:

"Three good dwellings, methinks, thou hast not; Barefoot thou standest, and wearest a beggar's dress; Not even hose dost thou have."

Thor spake:

"Steer thou hither the boat; the landing here shall I show thee; But whose the craft that thou keepest on the shore?"

The ferryman spake:

"Hildolf is he who bade me have it, A hero wise; his home is at Rathsey's sound. He bade me no robbers to steer, nor stealers of steeds, But worthy men, and those whom well do I know. Say now thy name, if over the sound thou wilt fare."

Thor spake:

"My name indeed shall I tell, though in danger I am, And all my race; I am Othin's son, Meili's brother, and Magni's father, The strong one of the gods; with Thor now speech canst thou get. And now would I know what name thou hast."

The ferryman spake:

"Harbarth am I, and seldom I hide my name."

Thor spake:

"Why shouldst thou hide thy name, if quarrel thou hast not?"

Harbarth spake:

"And though I had a quarrel, from such as thou art Yet none the less my life would I guard, Unless I be doomed to die."

Thor spake:

"Great trouble, methinks, would it be to come to thee, To wade the waters across, and wet my middle; Weakling, well shall I pay thy mocking words, if across the sound I come."

Harbarth spake:

"Here shall I stand and await thee here; Thou hast found since Hrungnir died no fiercer man."

Thor spake:

"Fain art thou to tell how with Hrungnir I fought, The haughty giant, whose head of stone was made; And yet I felled him, and stretched him before me. What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?"

Harbarth spake:

Five full winters with Fjolvar was I, And dwelt in the isle that is Algrön called; There could we fight, and fell the slain, Much could we seek, and maids could master."

Thor spake:

"How won ye success with your women?"

Harbarth spake:

"Lively women we had, if they wise for us were; Wise were the women we had, if they kind for us were; For ropes of sand they would seek to wind, And the bottom to dig from the deepest dale. Wiser than all in counsel I was, And there I slept by the sisters seven, And joy full great did I get from each. What, Thor, didst thou the while?"

Thor spake:

"Thjazi I felled, the giant fierce, And I hurled the eyes of Alvaldi's son To the heavens hot above; Of my deeds the mightiest marks are these, That all men since can see. What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?"

Harbarth spake:

"Much love-craft I wrought with them who ride by night, When I stole them by stealth from their husbands; A giant hard was Hlebarth, methinks: His wand he gave me as gift, And I stole his wits away."

Thor spake:

"Thou didst repay good gifts with evil mind."

Harbarth spake:

"The oak must have what it shaves from another; In such things each for himself. What, Thor, didst thou the while?"

Thor spake:

"Eastward I fared, of the giants I felled Their ill-working women who went to the mountain; And large were the giants' throng if all were alive; No men would there be in Mithgarth more. What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?"

Harbarth spake:

"In Valland I was, and wars I raised, Princes I angered, and peace brought never; The noble who fall in the fight hath Othin, And Thor hath the race of the thralls."

Thor spake:

"Unequal gifts of men wouldst thou give to the gods, If might too much thou shouldst have."

Harbarth spake:

"Thor has might enough, but never a heart; For cowardly fear in a glove wast thou fain to crawl, And there forgot thou wast Thor; Afraid there thou wast, thy fear was such, To fart or sneeze lest Fjalar should hear."

Thor spake:

"Thou womanish Harbarth, to hell would I smite thee straight, Could mine arm reach over the sound."

Harbarth spake:

"Wherefore reach over the sound, since strife we have none? What, Thor, didst thou do then?"

Thor spake:

"Eastward I was, and the river I guarded well, Where the sons of Svarang sought me there; Stones did they hurl; small joy did they have of winning; Before me there to ask for peace did they fare. What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?"

Harbarth spake:

"Eastward I was, and spake with a certain one, I played with the linen-white maid, and met her by stealth; I gladdened the gold-decked one, and she granted me joy."

Thor spake:

"Full fair was thy woman-finding."

Harbarth spake:

"Thy help did I need then, Thor, to hold the white maid fast."

Thor spake:

"Gladly, had I been there, my help to thee had been given."

Harbarth spake:

"I might have trusted thee then, didst thou not betray thy troth."

Thor spake:

"No heel-biter am I, in truth, like an old leather shoe in spring."

Harbarth spake:

"What, Thor, didst thou the while?"

Thor spake:

"In Hlesey the brides of the Berserkers slew I; Most evil they were, and all they betrayed."

Harbarth spake:

"Shame didst thou win, that women thou slewest, Thor."

Thor spake:

"She-wolves they were like, and women but little; My ship, which well I had trimmed, did they shake; With clubs of iron they threatened, and Thjalfi they drove off. What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?"

Harbarth spake:

"In the host I was that hither fared, The banners to raise, and the spear to redden."

Thor spake:

"Wilt thou now say that hatred thou soughtest to bring us?"

Harbarth spake:

"A ring for thy hand shall make all right for thee, As the judge decides who sets us two at peace."

Thor spake:

"Where foundest thou so foul and scornful a speech? More foul a speech I never before have heard."

Harbarth spake:

"I learned it from men, the men so old, Who dwell in the hills of home."

Thor spake:

"A name full good to heaps of stones thou givest When thou callest them hills of home."

Harbarth spake:

"Of such things speak I so."

Thor spake:

"Ill for thee comes thy keenness of tongue, If the water I choose to wade; Louder, I ween, than a wolf thou cryest, If a blow of my hammer thou hast."

Harbarth spake:

"Sif has a lover at home, and him shouldst thou meet; More fitting it were on him to put forth thy strength."

Thor spake:

"Thy tongue still makes thee say what seems most ill to me, Thou witless man! Thou liest, I ween."

Harbarth spake:

"Truth do I speak, but slow on thy way thou art; Far hadst thou gone if now in the boat thou hadst fared."

Thor spake:

"Thou womanish Harbarth! here hast thou held me too long."

Harbarth spake:

"I thought not ever that Asathor would be hindered By a ferryman thus from faring."

Thor spake:

"One counsel I bring thee now: row hither thy boat; No more of scoffing; set Magni's father across."

Harbarth spake:

"From the sound go hence; the passage thou hast not."

Thor spake:

"The way now show me, since thou takest me not o'er the water."

Harbarth spake:

"To refuse it is little, to fare it is long; A while to the stock, and a while to the stone; Then the road to thy left, till Verland thou reachest; And there shall Fjorgyn her son Thor find, And the road of her children she shows him to Othin's realm."

Thor spake:

"May I come so far in a day?"

Harbarth spake:

"With toil and trouble perchance, While the sun still shines, or so I think."

Thor spake:

"Short now shall be our speech, for thou speakest in mockery only; The passage thou gavest me not I shall pay thee if ever we meet."

Harbarth spake:

"Get hence where every evil thing shall have thee!"