42 grjotunagard
and especially Valhalla, with details about the hall itself and the cook, boar, and sooty cauldron in which the boar was cooked to feed the slain heroes of Valhalla. It also told of Odin’ s animal companions, the wolf and the raven, and of Valgrind, Valhalla’ s outer gate, through which 800 warriors could march side by side.
The song continues about Valhalla and then names all the rivers of the Hvergelmir. The song explains how the gods gallop over bilrost, the Rainbow Bridge, to meet the council at the well Urdarbrunn. It also tells of the World Tree, Yggdrasil, and of those who prey upon it. It mentions the names of the Valkyries who wait upon the dead heroes of Valhalla.
Other features of the song include the names of the horses that draw the chariots of the Sun and Moon, the terrible wolves that chased the chariots, the giant Ymir and how his flesh and bones and hair created Earth( see creation), and Treasures of the Dwarfs. And finally the captive Grimnir tells of the many names of Odin. It is then that Geirrod realizes that his prisoner is the great god Odin himself. Geirrod rises up to release his prisoner but falls upon his own sword and kills himself.
Grimnismal was a mnemonic poem( a sort of memory bank) for storytellers, poets, and minstrels who passed on information about myths, legends, and folktales to people from one generation to another and in different communities all over Scandinavia. Grimnismal is part of the Codex Regius of the Poetic
Edda, a 13th-century manuscript, and the Arnamahnaean codex. It was an important source for Snorri Sturluson in his Prose Edda.
Grjotunagard( Griotunagard; Place of Stones, Stone Fence) The location in Jotunheim where the duel between the god Thor and the giant Hrungnir took place.
Fearing the might of Thor, before the duel Hrungnir had his servants build a decoy of himself, a clay monster they named Mokkurkalfi. But Thor’ s servant Thjalfi easily defeated the decoy. Thor then killed Hrungnir but received a great injury when a piece of the whetstone the giant had hurled at the god lodged in Thor’ s head.
Snorri Sturluson tells the full story of Hrungnir in Skaldsaparmal, wherein he quotes at length the work of skaldic poet Thjodolfr( þjoðolfr) of Hvin, creator of the poem Haustlong.
Groa The wife of Aurvandil the Brave and mother of Svipdag, who visited her for advice in Niflheim after her death in the poem Svipdagsmal, part of the Poetic Edda. In another story, Groa uses her magic spells to cure Thor’ s headache but fails to remove the whetstone fragments from his skull.
Grottasong( The Lay of Grotti) An Icelandic poem that blends mythology and heroic legend to tell a parable about greed. Grottasong survives as a poem in Snorri Sturluson’ s Skaldsaparmal.
The poem tells of Fenja and Menja, two very strong women bought as slaves by Frodi, the king of Denmark. Frodi made the mistake of judging the women only by their strength and appearance when he bought them, failing to learn of their family history. They are actually the daughters of Hrungnir, strongest of the giants, and granddaughters of Thjazzi, a powerful storm giant. The two giantesses also have the gift of being able to see into the future.
Grotti is a very large flour mill, too large for any normal human to operate, so Frodi forces the giantesses to perform the task. He commands them to grind out gold, peace, and prosperity. When greed for more of these items finally causes Frodi to force the giantesses to grind without rest, they sing a charm on the mill, causing it to generate an army that attacks and conquers the Danish king.
Gullfaxi( Golden Mane) The giant Hrungnir’ s powerful stallion that was defeated in a race by the god Odin on his steed, eight-legged Sleipnir. Gullfaxi was then given to Magni, a son of the god Thor. The story is told in Snorri Sturluson’ s
Skaldskadarmal.
Gullinbursti( Golden Bristles) The golden boar made by the dwarfs Brokk and Eiti from a pigskin and thousands of pieces of gold wire and given to the god Frey. Frey could ride on the boar or hitch his wagon to it, and Gullinbursti would speed across the Earth, sky, or sea faster than any horse. Its golden rays shone like the Sun and made plants grow everywhere. With its tusks, Gullinbursti raked the earth and showed men how to plow the land.
Warriors wore the image of Frey’ s golden boar on helmets and shields as protection and good luck. Archaeologists found a seventh-century helmet topped by a boar in Benty Grange, in Derbyshire, England.