Svipdagsmál: Grógaldr Fjölsvinnsmá
The Spell of Gróa
From Norse Poems

Translated by W. H. Auden and P. B. Taylor

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1.

Svipdag 1 said:
"Awake, Gróa, 2 good woman, awake!
From the door of the dead 3 I wake you:
see now how badly your son
your grave-hill has wanted to visit?"

2.

Gróa said:
"What aliment have you my only son,
what makes heavy your heart,
that your mother you call, who under the grave mould does lie,
and has left the world of the living?

3.

Svipdag said:
" The crafty woman 4 she who in her arms embraced my father
has set for me a cursed task.
To journey where one cannot,
to go she bade me to meet fair Mengloth 5."

4.

Gróa said:
"Long is the way and wearisome,
but longer a man's love will last,
if you win that which you wish.
It is well for you only what the Norns work nonetheless." 6

5.

Svipdag said:
"Speak for me such spells as will speed my way!
Shield and shelter your me your son!

6.

Gróa said:
"First heed then,
that which I know to be most helpful,
that (spell) which Rind spoke for Ran: 7
it will help stop your shoulders from shaking
when things seem most shocking;

7.

"This other heed you:
if ever you are wearily walking on your way: 8
on all sides may you be guarded,
when with mocking words you are met.

8.

"This third heed you:
if in threatening waters you come close to your death:
to Hel should go Hronn and Uth, 9
may they dry up the depths for you!

9.

"This fourth heed you:
if an enemy comes upon you, set to kill you:
let their hearers withhold their hands from you,
and be made to meet yours halfway.

10.

"This fifth heed you:
if chained up you are, fastened hand and foot:
a loosening spell I will speak over your limbs,
so that the locks will burst off your legs,
the fetters fly from your feet. 10

11.

"This sixth heed you:
if while on the sea the weather rises up
more wild than men can handle:
wind and water my witchcraft shall lull;
then fearlessly you may fare forth! 11

12.

"This seventh heed you:
if searing frost beset you on fell high faring:
may the deadly cold not over come you ever,
nor rob your limbs of their liveliness.

13.

"This eighth heed you,
if you find yourself on a misty night on the moors,
and ill overtake you,
or badness from the wraith of a Christian wretch! 12

14.

"This ninth heed you:
if with haughty thurs you find yourself jousting with words: 13
wit nor words will you ever be lacking, on order of your heart!

15.

"May your errand no longer seem evil to you,
nor let you turn from your love:
on earth-fast stone 14 I stood within doors,
these spells while I spoke for you!

16.

"Of your mother's words mindful you should be
in your heart, darling, dwell on them:
luck-everlasting in life shall you have,
the while my words you heed!"

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From Norse Poems,
Translated by W. H. Auden and P. B. Taylor
Faber and Faber Ltd.,
ISBN 0-571-13028-3

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1. "He Whose Countenance Shines Like the Day" (?)

2. [From Cymric groach, "witch."] Like Heith in "Voluspa," St. 22 and "Voluspa en skamma," St. 5) this is a typical name for a witch or seeress.

3. That is, her grave

4. His stepmother.

5. "Glad in Her Necklace."

6. The interpretation in not certain. The meaning seems to be that, betide what may, or whatever help I may give, you will succeed only if you are fated to succeed: which is, indeed, the gist of the fairy story.

7. In explanation of the names, Gering suggests that the Rind here referred to is Vali's mother (See Balders Dream, St. 11), and that, hence, Ran stands for Vali, the avenger of Baldr.

8. Doubtful.

9. Following Bugge's emendation of these names: Hronn----possibly also Uth, "Wave"---is one of the rivers flowing to Hel. See 'Lay of Grimnir ' St. 28).

10. For this spell, see 'Words of the High One', St. 149, and the first Merseburg Charm.

11. The same charm occurs in the 'Words of the High one' St. 154.

12. In the original, "Christian Woman." The line certainly points to the conception that the ghosts of Christian women are especially dangerous to a heathen hero.

13. See the situation in "Lay of Vafthrudnir."

14. Instanced also elsewhere as a practice of sympathetic magic: the spells are as trustworthy as bedrock.

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