Not all Norse poetry is either elegiac, or doom-laden and portentous. The marvellous sense of black humour which can be found in places in the Icelandic sagas is also evident in a wonderful poem called "Thrymskvida". This poem may well have been written by Snorri Sturluson, who wrote the Prose Edda, and may well have written Egills Saga Skallagrimssonar. It certainly displays the same irreverent attitude to the old Norse pantheon that is so evident in the Prose Edda.

The poem tells the story of Thor waking up and discovering that his hammer has been stolen. Enraged , he makes Loki borrow Freyja’s coat of feathers and fly to Jotunheim – giantland – to find out if they have the hammer. Thrymr, the king of the Giants tells Loki that they have, and that the hammer is hidden. He says that he will not return the hammer unless the Aesir bring him Freyja as his bride.

Freyja is understandably miffed about this. She replies,
"Mik veizt vertha vergnarjasta
ef ek meth ther I Jotunheima"

free translation – "I’d deserve to be called man-crazy if I went with you to Jotunheim. " The joke being that she had something of this reputation anyway .

Heimdal, the guardian of the Rainbow Bridge Bifrost , and the whitest of the Aesir, suggests,
" Bindu ver Thor tha bruthar lini
hafi hinn it mikla men Brisinga "
“"Lets dress Thor in a wedding gown, and give him the great necklace of the Brisings ( Freyja’s necklace )"

Thor’s reaction to this is ,
" Mik munu Aesir argan kalla
ef ek bindask laet bruthar lini"
" All the Aesir would call me womanly if I put on a wedding dress !"

The rest of the Aesir , knowing how important Mjolnir, the hammer is to their security, persuade Thor in the end that he has to do this to get the hammer back. Loki, sensing an excellent chance for mischief, announces that he will accompany Thor to Jotunheim.

Amazingly, giants being , as it were, intellectually challenged, they don’t quite realise that the hulking creature in the wedding dress is in fact a bearded psychopath from the wrong end of Asgard. The discussion that Thrymr has with Loki about his bride to be is very funny, and actually has echoes of Little Red Riding Hood’s discussion with the wolf ! Thrymr says,

" Hvar sattu bruthir bita hvassara
Sakak bruthir bita breidara
Ne inn meira mjoth mey of drekka "

" Who has seen a bride chew more vigorously? I have not seen a bride with a broader bite, nor a maiden drink more mead !"

Loki replies,
"At vaetr Freyja atta nottum
Sva vas hon odfus I Jotunheima "

" Freyja has fasted for eight nights, because she was so eager to come to Jotunheim "

Thrymr then says,

" Hvi eru ondott augu Freyju ?
Thykki mer or augum eldr of brenna "

" Why are Freyja’s eyes so fiery ? They seem to me to burn with fire ."

Loki replies,
" Svaf vaetr Freyja atta nottum
Sva vas hon odfus i Jotunheima"

" Freyja has not slept for eight nights, so eager was she to come to Jotunheim."

Finally Thrymr calls for the hammer to be brought and laid on Thor’s knee.

"Thrym drap hann fyrstan, thursa drottin
ok aett jotuns alla lamdi

Drap hann ina oldnu jotna systur
Hins brudfjar of bedit hafdi;
Hon skell of hlaut fyr skillinga
En hogg hamars fyr hringa fjold.
Sva kom Odins sonr endr at hamri. "

"First he killed Thrymr, the lord of the giants, then all of the giant’s family. He killed the giant’s old sister, she had asked for a gift from the bride; she had a hammer blow instead of money,and the strike of the hammer instead of rings. So Odin’s son again has the hammer. "

The humour is in the stupidity of the giants, and the humbling of Thor, although typically this is brought to an end at the end of the poem. This is so illustrative of the attitude that the Christian Icelanders had towards their former pagan Gods. Although they were not to be worshipped, their stories were told with relish. They could be mocked , and ridiculed, but at the bottom of it there was a lingering respect. We may laugh at Thor when he is dressed as a bride, and laugh at the way that he carries off his impersonation of Freyja so badly, but we respect him for the way that his brute force and ignorance is so much greater than the giants’.