Grottasongr (literally “Song of Grotti”) is the last of the poems in this collection that are not included in the Codex Regius manuscript. Here, we read of two giant women who were purchased as slaves by the legendary Danish king Frothi to work his magical mill named Grotti, which would grind out whatever was asked of it (this magical item is similar to the Sampo of Finnish legend). Initially, the giant women are told to grind out peace and wealth for Frothi, but toward the end they use it to create an army to avenge themselves on Frothi.
“Spellcaster” (who sells Frothi the slaves) and “Hangjaw” (who gives Frothi the millstone) are unusual names, but these men are no doubt Odin himself in disguise, as these are among the names of Odin that Odin himself lists in Grimnismal. The prose introduction is from the Prose Edda, one of the sources in which this poem is quoted.
Skjold was a son of Odin; the Skjoldungs are descended from him. He had his throne and ruled in lands that are now called part of Denmark, but then were called Gotland. Skjold had a son named Frithleif who ruled these lands after him. The son of Frithleif was named Frothi. He inherited the land from his father during the time when Augustus Caesar made the whole world peaceful, the time when Christ was born. And since Frothi was the most powerful of all kings in Scandinavia, the peace was credited to him wherever Norse was spoken, and Scandinavians called it the Peace of Frothi. No man did any injury to another, even if he met his father’s or his brother’s killer, whether free or in chains. There was no theft or robbery either, such that a gold ring was able to be left out in the open at Jalangerheith for a long time.
King Frothi went to Sweden for a visit with the king named Spellcaster, and on this visit he bought two slavewomen, named Fenja and Menja, who were both big and strong.
At this time in Denmark there was a millstone so big that no one was strong enough to grind with it. And the millstone had an unusual power, that it would produce whatever the grinder told it to produce. The millstone was named Grotti. Hangjaw was the name of the man who had given the millstone to Frothi. Frothi brought his two new slavewomen to the millstone and ordered them to make gold and peace and joy with it for him. But for rest or sleep he allowed them only as much time as a cuckoo might stay silent in, or that one might be able to sing a song in.
Then it is said that Fenja and Menja sang a song called The Song of Grotti. And before the song was done, they had ground out an army against Frothi. And that very night, the sea-king named Mysing came and killed Frothi and took a great deal of loot. Thus ended the Peace of Frothi.
Mysing took the millstone Grotti with him on the ship, and also Fenja and Menja, and there he told them to grind out salt, and to keep grinding. They ground for only a little while before the ships sank, and now there is a whirlpool in the sea, where the sea spins around in a circle like a millstone. This is how the sea became salty.
NOW THERE WERE two forward-seeing women, Fenja and Menja, in the king’s house. But these two women were taken as slaves by Frothi, Frithleif’s son.
The women were led to the millstone, they were told to push the gray millstone around. He promised them they’d have neither joy nor peace if he couldn’t hear the grinding of that millstone.
The two women sang a working song: “Let’s put our backs in it, let’s push the stone.” Frothi told the girls to grind endlessly.
They sang, and they pushed the millstone, while most of the workers of Frothi were sleeping. Then Menja spoke as she was grinding:
“We are grinding wealth and joy, and too much property, on this wish-stone, all for Frothi; Frothi sits on gold and sleeps on down pillows, he wakes up when he likes, and we grind on.
“Here no one hurts anyone else, there are no bad deeds, no violent deaths. The sword sleeps tranquil in its sheath, even if a man meets his brother’s killer.”
The king said nothing to them, except: “Don’t sleep any longer than a cuckoo sleeps! Don’t sleep any longer than it takes me to sing a song!”
Fenja said, “Frothi, you’re a wise king, but you were not wise when you bought us. You chose us for our looks and strength, but you asked nothing about our ancestry.
“Hrungnir was tough, so was his father, and yet Thjassi accomplished still more. The mountain-giants Ithi and Aurnir are our relatives, we were born into their family.
“Grotti, the hard millstone, would never have come out of the rock, never come out of the earth, and we giant women would not grind so endlessly, if we had known anything about our fate.
“We grew up nine winters and played as young girls deep beneath the earth. Then we started to show our strength; we are the ones who shoved the stone from its place.
“We rolled the stone up out of the ground, so that the whole earth started shaking. Then we threw down this ring of stone, this heavy rock, so humans could take it.
“Then we two wise giant women went down to Sweden among the armies. We killed berserkers, we broke shields, we went straight through the troops in their chainmail.
“We helped one king, and harmed another. We gave help to Gotthorm the Good. We did not sit quiet when Knui fell.
“We played like this for years, our deeds made us famous as champions: our spears spilled rivers of blood, our swords were reddened in wounds.
“Now we’ve been kept in the house of a king, made slaves and shown no mercy. The dirt’s bitten our bare feet, we’ve frozen in the cold, we’ve labored at the millstone, but all’s not well with Frothi.
“Now my hands will rest, the millstone will stop. I have ground all I will, and my work is done. I would have fallen dead before I ground out everything that Frothi wanted.
“Let’s grind out warriors’ hands, hard helmets, bloody weapons! Wake up, Frothi! Wake up now, Frothi, if you want to hear our songs and our old stories.
“I see a fire burning east of the city, an army is awakened, and that will be the signal. An army is coming here in haste, they are setting fire in the king’s own home.
“Frothi, you will no longer hold the throne at Lejre, nor the gold rings, nor this royal millstone. Put your back in it, sister, a little harder! It isn’t yet warm with men’s blood.
“Oh, sister, you ground hard there, for I saw the death of a great many men. There I saw the big iron-fastened supports below the millstone break— let’s grind still more.
“Let’s grind still more! And King Hrolf will avenge Halfdan on King Frothi. He will be called his mother’s son and also her brother, we both know that.”
The women ground more, they stretched their strength, those young women raged like the giants they were. The mill’s support beam shook, the stone rattled, the hard stone halves of the mill came loose.
Then one of the two giant women said: “We have ground, Frothi, and now we’ll stop. We have worked this millstone long enough.”