Sunday 24 November 2013

Havamal Snippets 104: Seeking Suttungr

Suttungr was/is/will be a Frost Giant.  A Frost Giant is a being that does not change, relative to a Fire Giant, which is a chaotic and unpredictable being.  Think of Frost Giants and Fire Giants in abstract terms that are present in every day situations.  For instance a Frost Giant would be a pile of block of ice, unchanging and stable; whereas a tumultuous torrent of a sea would a Fire Giant, because it is chaotic and upredictable.  These elements can be applied to everything, be it inorganic (eg chaotic tempestuous seas versus unchanging granite rocks), living beings,  or ideas (eg anarchism vs conservatism).


104
Inn aldna jötum ek sótta
nú em ek aptr um kominn
fátt gat ek þegjandi þar
mörgum orðum
mælta ek í minn frama
í Suttungs sölum           

I sought the old giant,
now I have come back again.
I got little from being silent there.
With many words
I spoke to my own advantage
in Suttungr's hall.

[End.]

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