Germanic and Norse religionThe Prose Edda 1.1HOLYMAP · SACRED TEXTS
The Prose EddaThe Prose Edda 1.1

The Prose Edda

The Prose Edda 1.1

Gylfaginning (The Beguiling of Gylfi)

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English · Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur

Gylfaginning (The Beguiling of Gylfi) Here Begins the Beguiling of Gylfi

King Gylfi ruled the land that men now call Sweden. It is told of him that he gave to a wandering woman, in return for her merry-making, a plow-land in his realm, as much as four oxen might turn up in a day and a night. But this woman was of the kin of the Æsir; she was named Gefjun. She took from the north, out of Jötunheim, four oxen which were the soils of a certain giant and, herself, and set them before the plow. And the plow cut so wide and so deep that it loosened up the land; and the oxen drew the land out into the sea and to the westward, and stopped in a certain sound. There Gefjun set the land, and gave it a name, calling it Selund. And from that time on, the spot whence the land had been torn up is water: it is now called the Lögr in Sweden; and bays lie in that lake even as the headlands in Selund. Thus says Bragi, the ancient skald:

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English · Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur

Gefjun drew from Gylfi gladly the wave-trove's freehold, Till from the running beasts sweat reeked, to Denmark's increase; The oxen bore, moreover, eight eyes, gleaming browlights, O'er the field's wide booty, and four heads in their plowing.

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The Prose Edda

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The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur (New York: American-Scandinavian Foundation, 1916). Public domain in the United States (published before 1931); the translator died in 1971, so it may still be protected in countries with longer terms. Transcribed and proofread by English Wikisource volunteers. · Source ↗

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