The Younger Edda Part 19

"Would that each one of you had an hundred stomachs, but have a care that you do not drown in the gruel flood," cried the husband. He ran by them as though the devil had been after him, and hastened down to his brother. He begged him in the name of everything sacred to come and take the mill away immediately.

"If it grinds another hour the whole settlement will perish in fish and gruel," said he.

But the brother would not take it unless he got three hundred dollars, and this money had to be paid to him.

Now the poor brother had both money and the mill, and so it did not take long before he got himself a farm, and a much nicer one than his brother's. With his mill he ground out so much gold that he covered his house all over with sheets of gold. The house stood down by the sea-sh.o.r.e, and it glistened far out upon the sea. All who sailed past had to go ash.o.r.e and visit the rich man in the golden house, and all wanted to see the wonderful mill, for its fame spread far and wide, and there was none who had not heard speak of it.

After a long time there came a sea-captain who wished to see the mill.

He asked whether it could grind salt.

"Yes, it can grind salt," said he who owned the mill; and when the captain heard this, he was bound to have it, let it cost what it will.

For if he had that, thought he, he would not have to sail far off over dangerous waters after cargoes of salt. At first the man did not wish to sell it, but the captain teased and begged and finally the man sold it, and got many thousand dollars for it. When the captain had gotten the mill on his back, he did not stay there long, for he was afraid the man might reconsider the bargain and back out again. He had no time to ask how to regulate it; he went to his s.h.i.+p as fast as he could, and when he had gotten some distance out upon the sea, he got his mill out.

"Grind salt both fast and well," said the captain. The mill began to grind salt, and that with all its might. When the captain had gotten the s.h.i.+p full he wanted to stop the mill; but no matter how he worked, and no matter how he handled it, the mill kept grinding as fast as ever, and the heap of salt kept growing larger and larger, and at last the s.h.i.+p sank. The mill stands on the bottom of the sea grinding this very day, and so it comes that the sea is salt.

VOCABULARY.

ADILS. A king who reigned in Upsala.

AE. A dwarf.

aeGER. The G.o.d presiding over the stormy sea.

ALF. A dwarf.

ALFATHER. A name of Odin.

ALFHEIM. The home of the elves.

ALFRIG. A dwarf.

ALSVID. One of the horses of the sun.

ALTHJOF. A dwarf.

ALVIS. A dwarf.

AMSVARTNER. The name of the lake in which the island was situated where the wolf Fenrer was chained.

ANDHRIMNER. The cook in Valhal.

ANDLANG. The second heaven.

ANDVARE. A dwarf.

ANDVARE-NAUT. The ring in the Niblung story.

ANGERBODA. A giantess; mother of the Fenris-wolf.

ANNAR. Husband of Night and father of Jord.

ARVAK. The name of one of the horses of the sun.

ASAHEIM. The home of the asas.

ASALAND. The land of the asas.

ASAS. The Teutonic G.o.ds.

ASA-THOR. A common name for Thor.

ASGARD. The residence of the G.o.ds.

ASK. The name of the first man created by Odin, Honer and Loder.

ASLAUG. Daughter of Sigurd and Brynhild.

ASMUND. A man visited by Odin.

ASYNJES. The Teutonic G.o.ddesses.

ATLE. Gudrun's husband after the death of Sigurd.

ATRID. A name of Odin.

AUD. The son of Night and Naglfare.

AUDHUMBLA. The cow that nourished the giant Ymer.

AUDUN. A name derived from Odin.

AURGELMER. A giant; grandfather of Bergelmer; the same as Ymer.

AURVANG. A dwarf.

AUSTRE. A dwarf.

BAFUR. A dwarf.

BALDER. Son of Odin and Frigg, slain by Hoder.

BALEYG. A name of Odin.

BAR-ISLE. A cool grove in which Gerd agreed with Skirner to meet Frey.

BAUGE. A brother of Suttung. Odin worked for him one summer, in order to get his help in obtaining Suttung's mead of poetry.

BEIGUD. One of Rolf Krake's berserks.

BELE. A giant, brother of Gerd, slain by Frey.

BERGELMER. A giant; son of Thrudgelmer and grandson of Aurgelmer.

BERLING. A dwarf.

BESTLA. Wife of Bure and mother of Odin.

BIFLIDE. A name of Odin.

BIFLINDE. A name of Odin.

BIFROST. The rainbow.

BIFUR. A dwarf.

BIKKE. A minister of Jormunrek; causes Randver to be hanged, and Svanhild trodden to death by horses.

BIL. One of the children that accompany Moon.

BILEYG. A name of Odin.

BILSKIRNER. Thor's abode.

BLAIN. A dwarf.

BLODUGHOFDE. Frey's horse.

BODN. One of the three jars in which the poetic mead is kept.

BODVAR BJARKE. One of Rolf Krake's berserks.

BOL. One of the rivers flowing out of Hvergelmer.

BOLTHORN. A giant; father of Bestla, mother of Odin.

BOLVERK. A name of Odin.

BOMBUR. A dwarf.

BOR. Son of Bure; father of Odin.

BRAGE. A son of Odin; the best of skalds.

BREIDABLIK. The abode of Balder.

BRIMER. One of the heavenly halls after Ragnarok.

BRISING. Freyja's necklace.

BROK. A dwarf.

BRYNHILD. One of the chief heroines in the Niblung story.

BUDLE. Father of Atle and Brynhild.

BUE. A son of Vesete, who settled in Borgundarholm.

BURE. Grandfather of Odin.

BYLEIST. A brother of Loke.

BYRGER. A well from which Bil and Hjuke were going when they were taken by Moon.

DAIN. A dwarf.

DAIN. One of the stags that bite the leaves of Ygdrasil.

DAINSLEIF. Hogne's sword.