Fjölsvinnsmál ( Old Norse : 'The Lay of Fjölsvinn') is the second of two Old Norse poems commonly published under the title Svipdagsmál "The Lay of Svipdagr". These poems are found together in several 17th-century paper manuscripts with Fjölsvinnsmál . In at least three of these manuscripts, the poems appear in reverse order and are separated by a third eddic poem titled Hyndluljóð . For a long time, the connection between the two poems was not realized, until in 1854 Svend Grundtvig pointed out a connection between the story told in Gróagaldr and the first part of the medieval Scandinavian ballad of Ungen Sveidal / Herr Svedendal / Hertig Silfverdal ( TSB A 45, DgF 70, SMB 18, NMB 22). Then in 1856, Sophus Bugge noticed that the last part of the ballad corresponded to Fjölsvinnsmál . Bugge wrote about this connection in Forhandlinger i Videnskabs-Selskabet i Christiania 1860 , calling the two poems together Svipdagsmál . Subsequent scholars have accepted this title.
6-549: In the first poem, Svipdagr enlists the aid of his dead mother, Gróa , a witch, to assist him in the completion of a task set by his cruel stepmother. At the commencement of Fjölsvinnsmál , Svipdagr has arrived at a castle on a mountain top. There he encounters a watchman, Fjölsviðr , who tells him to be gone before asking him his name. Svipdagr conceals it, only revealing it later in the poem. A game of question and answers ensues, wherein Svipdagr learns that Menglöð lives in
12-533: Is also a Swæbdæg in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle among the forefathers of Aella , King of Deira . Since the 19th century, following Jacob Grimm , Menglöð has been identified with the goddess Freyja in most scholarship. In his children's book Our Fathers' Godsaga , the Swedish scholar Viktor Rydberg identifies Svipdagr with Freyja's husband Óðr/Óttar. His reasons for doing so are outlined in
18-517: Is interrogated in a game of riddles by the watchman, from whom he conceals his true name (identifying himself as Vindkald(r) "Wind-Cold" apparently hoping to pass himself off as a frost giant ). The watchman is named Fjölsviðr, a name of Odin in Grímnismál 47. He is accompanied by his wolf-hounds Geri and Gifr. After a series of eighteen questions and answers concerning the castle, its inhabitants, and its environment, Svipdagr ultimately learns that
24-482: Is set a task by his stepmother , to meet the goddess Menglöð , who is his "fated bride." In order to accomplish this seemingly impossible task, he summons by necromancy the shade of his dead mother, Gróa , a völva who also appears in the Prose Edda , to cast nine spells for him. This she does and the first poem abruptly ends. At the beginning of the second poem, Svipdagr arrives at Menglöð's castle, where he
30-425: The castle guarded by Fjölsviðr, and that the castle may not be entered by any save one: Svipdagr. He gives his true name and the gates are opened and Menglöð greets Svipdagr. Svipdagr Svipdagr ( Old Norse : [ˈswipˌdɑɣz̠] "sudden day" ) is the hero of the two Old Norse Eddaic poems Grógaldr and Fjölsvinnsmál , which are contained within the body of one work; Svipdagsmál . Svipdagr
36-593: The gates will only open to one person: Svipdagr. On his revealing his identity, the gates of the castle open and Menglöð rises to greet her expected lover, welcoming him "back" to her. A champion by the same name, perhaps the same character, appears in the Prologue to the Prose Edda , in Heimskringla and in Gesta Danorum . A hero named Svipdag is one of the companions of King Hrolfr Kraki . There
#529470