It is safe to say that the “Lokasenna” is not, and never was, in any sense, a popular lay. It is the product of a witty and clever skald who conceived the idea of showing the solemn and glorious gods from their seamy side. As interlocutor he uses Mephistophelian Loki, who engages the various gods and goddesses in a senna (a flyting, or running dialogue of vituperation) of at times very spicy quality in which each and every one gets his or her share of defamation, until the disturber of the peace is finally put to flight by Thór’s threat of violence. It is a veritable Lucianesque chronique scandaleuse of the Northern Olympus. Indeed, there is the remote possibility that the author—through Varangian intermediaries perhaps—had an acquaintance with Lucian’s amusing Assembly of the Gods.1
It follows from what has been said that we need not implicitly believe that all—or any—of the “sly god’s” accusations are true or that they agree with the generally accepted lore. They are, for the most part, imputations which the gods cannot, or care not to, controvert, for they are more easily made than disproved.
Technically, the poem is skilful both in composition and in the handling of the Song Metre (ljóðaháttr). The connection between the stanzas is effected by the simple device of having one godhead defend another, to be reviled in his turn by Loki.
The present position of the poem beside the “Hymiskviða” is in all likelihood due to the Collector, who also wrote the very inept Concluding Prose about the capture and punishment of Loki, which in the Snorra Edda2 more properly follows Baldr’s death.
For the text of the lay we are altogether dependent on the Codex Regius. However, this text was not used as a source by Snorri, though he quotes one stanza (29) in a slightly different form. The weight of evidence points to Norway as place of origin, and suggests the latter half of the tenth century as the period of composition.
Ægir, who was also hight Gymir,3 had made ale for the gods when he had obtained the kettle, as now has been told. To this feast came Óthin and his wife Frigg. But Thór was not there, because he was in the East.4 His wife Sif5 came, as also Bragi6 and his wife, Ithun.7 Týr was there; he was one-handed, for the Fenris-Wolf had bitten off his hand, the time he was bound.8 There were also Njorth9 and Skathi his wife, Frey10 and Freya,11 and Víthar,12 the son of Óthin. Loki was there, and Frey’s servitors, Byggvir13 and Beyla.14 Besides, there was many another Ás and alf.
Ægir had two servitors, Fimafeng and Eldir.15 Shining gold served there for light, and the cups filled themselves with ale. It was a place of great peace.16 Now those who were there praised greatly the servantmen of Ægir. Loki hated to hear that and slew Fimafeng. Then the gods shook their shields and raised an outcry against Loki and drove him away to the woods. Then they returned to the feast. Loki came back again and found Eldir without.
Loki greeted him and said:
1. “Say thou, Eldir, nor before set thou
one foot forward:
what the Æsir speak of, at their ale sitting,
here the hall within.”
Eldir said:
2. “Of their weapons speak, and of warlike deeds,
the glorious gods;
of the Æsir and alfs who within do sit
not one speaks well of thee.”
Loki said:
3. “In I shall, though, into Ægir’s hall—
fain would I see that feast;
brawls and bickering I bring the gods,
their ale I shall mix with evil.”
Eldir said:
4. “If in thou goest into Ægir’s hall,
and fain would’st see that feast:
if hate and mocking thou heap’st on the gods,
they will throw it back on thee.”
Loki said:
5. “If with words we war, we two alone,
then full well thou wotst,
Eldir, that I will uppermost be,
if foul of me thou fallest.”
Then went Loki within the hall; but when they who were there saw who had come in, they all became hushed.
Loki said:
6. “Thirsty cometh to these high halls
Lopt,17 from long wayfaring,
to ask the Æsir if that anyone
would pour him the mellow mead.
7. “Why are ye hushed, ye haughty gods,
nor think me worth a word?
A seat on bench at your banquet give me,
or else bid me hie from hence.”
Bragi said:
8. “A seat on bench, our banquet to share,
will the Æsir not ever give thee;
for well they wot what wights at the feast
it behooves them to have.”
Loki said:
9. “Art mindful, Óthin, how in olden days we
blended our blood together?18
Thou said’st that not ever thou ale would’st drink
but to us both it were borne.”
10. “Arise, then, Víthar, let the Wolf’s father19
be benched at our banquet;
lest that Loki fling lewd words at us
in Ægir’s ale hall:”
Then arose Víthar and poured ale for Loki.
But before he drank he hailed the gods:
11. “Hail to you, gods, hail, goddesses,
hail to all hallowed hosts,
but to one god only who with you sits,
Bragi, on his bench!”
Bragi said:
12. “My sword and saddle horse, I beseech thee, Loki,
take, and eke mine arm ring,
lest to holy hosts thy hatred thou showest:
beware of the Æsir’s anger!”
Loki said:
13. “Of steeds and rings small store, ween I,
hast, Bragi, thou to boast!
Of all Æsir and alfs within this hall
thou art most afraid in a fray,
and shyest where shields are hewed.”
Bragi said:
14. “If without I were— as within I am—
Ægir’s hallowed hall:
in my hands would I have thy head full soon:
for thy lies it would be thy lot.”
Loki said:
15. “Thou art swift in thy seat, but slow to fight,
Bragi, thou pride of the bench;
come to battle, if bold thou art;
not a whit would a stout heart stay”.
lthun said:
16. “I beg thee, Bragi, to bear in mind
that of Óthin’s kin he is:20
tease not Loki with taunting words
in Ægir’s ale hall.”
Loki said:
17. “Hush thee, lthun: of all women
thou art most mad after men,
for thy shining arms on the shoulders lay
of thy brother’s banesman.”
lthun said:
18. “I tease not Loki with taunting words
in Ægir’s ale hall;
I but soothe Bragi with beer who is crazed,
lest the bold ones do battle.”
Gefjon21 said:
19. “Ye Æsir twain, within this hall why do ye war with words?
for Loki knoweth what nag he bears:
he loathes all living things.”22
Loki said:
20. “Hush thee, Gefjon, I have in mind
who lured thee to lust:
the fair-haired swain23 sold thee the necklace,
ere thou threwest about him thy thighs.”
21. “Bereft of reason and raving thou art,
to earn thee Gefjon’s grudge;
for the world’s weird she, I ween, doth know
even as well as I.”
Loki said:
22. “Hush thee, Óthin; not ever fairly
didst allot men luck in battle;24
oft thou gavest, as give thou should’st not,
mastery to worser men.”
Óthin said:
23. “Granted I gave, as give I should not,
mastery to worser men:
thou winters eight wast the earth beneath,
milking the cows as a maid,
and there gavest birth to a brood:25
were these womanish ways, I ween.”
Loki said:
24. “But thou, say they, on Sáms Isle26 once
wovest spells like a witch:
in warlock’s shape through the world didst fare:
were these womanish ways, I ween.”
Frigg said:
25. “Your doings ye should deeply hide,
nor tell these tidings abroad;
what in olden times ye twain have wrought,
keep it from ken of men.”
26. “Hush thee, Frigg, who art Fjorgyn’s 27 daughter:
thou hast ever been mad after men.
Vili and Vé28 thou, Vithrir’s29 spouse,
didst fold to thy bosom both.”
Frigg said:
27. “Forsooth, had I in Ægir’s hall
a son as Baldr so brave:
thou’dst not get thee gone from the gods foregathered,
before thou had’st fought for thy life.”
Loki said:
28. “Be mindful, Frigg, what further I tell
of wicked works of mine:
my rede wrought it that rides nevermore
hitherward Baldr to hall.”30
Freya said:
29. “Thou art raving, Loki, to reckon up
all the ill thou hast done:
I ween that Frigg the fates knoweth,31
though she say it not herself.”
Loki said:
30. “Hush thee, Freya, I full well know thee:
thou art not free from fault:
all Æsir and alfs within this hall
thou hast lured to love with thee.”
31. “Thy slanderous tongue, ’twill thy sorrow be,
and still will work thee woe;
wroth are the gods and goddesses,
thou’it fare sadly home from hence.”
Loki said:
32. “Hush thee, Freya, a whore thou art,
and ay wast bent on ill;
in thy brother’s bed the blessed gods caught thee,
when, Freya, thou didst fart.”
Njorth said:
33. “Little sin me seemeth, though beside her mate
a wedded wife have a lover:
that the unclean Ás with us should dwell,
I wonder, who was a woman.”32
Loki said:
34. “Hush thee, Njorth, thou hence wast sent
as hostage for holy gods,33
and Hymir’s handmaids had thee as pot,
and used thy mouth as midden.”
Njorth said:
35. “My meed had I that hence I was sent
as hostage for holy gods:
a son I gat on whom smile all wights,
who is highest held among gods.”34
Loki said:
36. “Have done now, Njorth, thy darling to praise;
I’ll no longer let it be hidden:
with thy own sister that son didst get—
a wonder he is not worse.”
37. “Frey is the best among blessed hosts
here in the garth of the gods:
aggrieves not maids nor men’s spouses,
and frees all bondsmen from fetters.”
Loki said:
38. “Hush thee Týr, ne’er no heed gavest thou
that man meet man halfway;35
thy sword hand from thee was snatched, I ween,
by Fenrir’s greedy fangs.”
Týr said:
39. “I lost my hand, Hróthvitnir36 thou,
a baleful loss to us both:
in bondage now must bide his time
the Wolf, till the world is doomed.”
Loki said:
40. “Hush thee, Týr, with thy housewife37I
slept, so a son she bore;
nor a penny didst get to pay thee back
for this wrong, thou wretch.”
Frey said:
41. “By the River38 fettered Fenrir will lie
till draws night the doom of the gods;
and nigh to him, but thou hush thee now,
wilt be bound, thou breeder of ill.”
Loki said:
42. “With gold thou boughtest Gymir’s daughter,39
and sold the thurs thy sword;
but when Múspell’s sons40 through Myrkvith ride41
what weapon, wretch, wilt then wield?”
Byggvir said:
43. “If an Ás I were like Ingunar-Frey,42
and such blessed abode were mine,
I would crush to marrow this crow of ill,
and break his every bone.”
Loki said:
44. “Who is that wee wight, pray, that makes water there,
and sniffling snoops about?
About Frey’s ears art ever hovering,
or cluckst around the quern.”
Byggvir said:
45. “I am Byggvir hight, and brisk in work
as both Æsir and einherjar43 know;
I glory now that all the gods
quaff Gymir’s44 ale together.”
Loki said:
46. “Hush thee, Byggvir, at board thou dealest
but ill their meat to men;
in the straw of the floor men strove to find thee,
when forth to fight they went.”
Heimdall said:
47. “Ale-crazed art and out of thy mind:
why let not, Loki, be?
O’ermuch of mead ay maketh one
know not what twaddle he talks.”
Loki said:
48. “Hush thee, Heimdall, to a hateful life
wast doomed in days of yore:
with a stiff back thou must stand alway,
and wake as the watch of the gods.”45
Skathi said:
49. “Thou art lusty, Loki, but long thou wilt not
a loose tail wag as thou list;
for on a rock with thy ice-cold son’s
guts will bind thee the gods.”46
Loki said:
50. “If on a rock with my ice-cold son’s
guts will bind me the gods:
know that first and foremost in the fray was I,
when Thjatsi, thy father, we felled.”47
Skathi said:
51. “If first and foremost in the fray thou wast,
when ye felled my father Thjatsi:
from my holy groves and hallowed shrines
will cold counsel ever come for thee.”
Loki said:
52. “More of love didst lisp to Laufey’s son,48
when thou bad’st me share thy bed:
if our faults and blots to bare we are,
this truth shall also be told.”
Then came Sif forward and poured mead for Loki in a crystal cup.
53. “Hail to thee, Loki! To thy lips now raise
this beaker full of good beer,
so that me alone among the gods
without a blot thou let’st be.”
He took the goblet and drank of it (and said):
54. “That one thou wert, if thou wert indeed
shy and didst shrink from men;
but one I wot, whom well I know,
made a whore of Hlórrithi’s49 wife:
sly Loki, Laufey’s son.”
Beyla said:
55. “All mountains shake: fares Mjolnir’s wielder,
Hlórrithi, hitherward;
he will quickly quell the quarrelsome knave
who mocks both Æsir and men.”
Loki said:
56. “Hush thee, Beyla, who art Byggvir’s wife,
and ever bent on ill:
a worser wench never was with the gods:
all dirty art thou, drab!”
Then came up Thór, and said:
57. “Hush thee, ill wight, or my hammer of might,
Mjolnir, shall shut thy mouth;
I shall shatter thy shoulder-cliff50—
no longer then wilt thou live.”
Loki said:
58. “The son of Jorth51 now in hath come:
why threaten and bluster, Thór?
Not so forward wilt be to fight the Wolf:
he will swallow Sigfather52 himself.”
Thór said:
59. “Hush thee, ill wight, or my hammer of might,
Mjolnir, shall shut thy mouth;
up I’ll hurl thee to etin-world
where men will see thee no more.”
Loki said:
60. “Of thy eastern jaunts53 not ever should’st thou
boast to any wight born:
in a mitten’s thumb since, thewless, didst crouch,
nor seemed then Thór himself.”54
Thór said:
61. “Hush thee, ill wight, or my hammer of might,
Mjolnir, shall shut thy mouth:
my right hand will hew thee with Hrungnir’s bane,55
and break every bone in thy body.”
Loki said:
62. “To live I mean a long time yet,
though with the hammer thou threaten:
great Skrymir’s strings seemed stout to thee,
nor mightest thou get at thy meat and,
unharmed, thou wast hungry.”56
Thór said:
63. “Hush thee, ill wight, or my hammer of might,
Mjolnir, shall shut thy mouth:
will Hrungnir’s bane to Hel send thee,
even to Nágrind57 beneath.”
64. “To the Æsir said I, and to Æsir’s sons,
what my heart did whet me to say;
for thee alone I leave the hall,
for I well know thy hammer’s weight.
65. “Ale madest thou, Ægir, but not ever shalt
henceforth brew for a banquet:
all that thou hast this hall within
may flames set on fire
and burn on thy back!”58
Thereupon Loki hid himself in the Fránangr waterfall in the shape of a salmon, and there the gods caught him. They bound him with the guts of his son Nari; but his son Narfi became a wolf. Skathi took a venomous serpent and hung it above Loki’s face so that its poison dripped on him. Loki’s wife Sigyn,59 sate by him and held a bowl under the poison, and she carried it out whenever it was full; but meanwhile the poison dripped on Loki. Then he writhed so fearfully that all the earth shook: men call this “earthquakes” nowadays.60