Krákumál

Krákumál (Icelandic: kráka "crow", mál "song, language", probably written in the 12th century) is one of the five death songs in Norse literature. It probably originated in the Scottish Orkney Islands . The content can also be found in the Ragnars saga loðbrókar ( Ragnar-Lodbrok-Saga ) and at Saxo Grammaticus . The Kráka song consists of 29 stanzas, each consisting of 10 lines. It is therefore, in the style of a "háttlausa" without assonance and alliteration sealed. All lines begin the same: Hjöggum vér með hjörvi , which means "We struck with the sword". Only the first line in the last stanza reads: Fýsumk hins at hætta , which translates as “We long to die”.

Kráka in Norse mythology

The term kráka means crow in Icelandic, but it refers to Ragnar's second wife, Áslaug, as mentioned in the Völsunga saga and the Snorra Edda . She was the daughter of Sigurd and Brynhild . After the death of her parents, she was raised by King Heimir, who made a large harp to hide the girl. When Heimir came to Åke and Grima's court in Spangereid in Lindesnes and asked for a night's lodging there, he was murdered in his sleep by Åke at Grima's behest, as she believed she could see something valuable sticking out of the harp. When he and his wife then dismantled the harp, they discovered Áslaug and gave her the name Kráka. The nickname was probably given to Áslaug because of her black clothing, which was reminiscent of a crow, which she had to wear so that no one would find out about her noble parentage. Like “Cinderella”, she grew up in a poor environment and later achieved queen status. Ragnar Lodbrok's followers discovered them when they were about to bake bread. Kráka helped them knead the bread dough, but because of its beauty, they forgot to take the bread out of the oven and it burned. Ragnar wanted to know why the bread was so bad and his people told him about the beautiful Kráka. Since he was sure that she could not be as beautiful as his first wife Þora, the girl ordered and demanded that she should come neither dressed nor naked, neither hungry nor full, alone or with someone. Kráka wrapped himself in a net, bit into an onion, and came to Ragnar with a dog to accompany him. Impressed by her spirit and beauty, Ragnar married her and they gave birth to sons Ivar, Björn, Hvitserk and Ragnvald. However, it is also possible that the nickname Kráka can refer to Áslaug's stepmother role of Agnarr and Eirekr, the sons of her husband Ragnar. In Norwegian fairy tales the wicked stepmother is often referred to as "kråke" (kráka), while in Faroese fairy tales nasty stepsisters are referred to as Krákudóttir. Since Áslaug also understands the language of birds, a legacy of her father, this could also have been decisive for the name. Through her marriage to Ragnar Lodbrok, she became the founder of the Norwegian royal family of the Völsungen.

content

Ragnar Lodbrok's death of Hugo Hamilton (1830)

King Ælla of Northumbria captures King Ragnar, a hero who thinks he is a son of Odin in battle. He had tried against the advice of his wife Kráka to conquer England with only two ships. He is equipped with a shirt belonging to his wife Kráka, which makes him invulnerable. Ælla throws the prisoner into a snake pit, but he doesn't mind the venom of the snakes. Only when Ælla takes away the protective shirt made by Kráka from him does he slowly die from the poisonous bites of the snakes. The captured hero, with death before his eyes, describes his heroic deeds and battles in the first 21 stanzas. In terms of content, it is a typical Germanic price song. It begins with Ragnar's fight against the dragon, which earned him his nickname "Loden Pants", but is then limited to his 51 battles. The death song names geographical locations, praises fallen heroes and portrays atrocities in traditional poetry. In the last eight stanzas he describes the ideal of a heroic way of life in general and pays homage to manly courage, as he awaits the Valkyries who are supposed to bring him to Odin's table in Valhalla . In these last stanzas the Vikings' typical contempt for death becomes clear.

Text example

Hjoggum vér með hjörvi .

Hitt vas æ fyr löngu,

it á Gautlandi gengum

at grafvitnis morði;

þá fengum vér Þóru,

þaðan hétu mik fyrðar,

es lyngölun lagðak,

Loðbrók at því vígi;

stakk á storðar lykkju

stáli bjartra mála.

translation

We struck with the sword

that was a long time ago

when we went to Gautland ,

to kill grave wolf.

Then we got Þóra,

people called me

(since the battle when I killed the heather fish)

furry pants.

I put the bright steel

into the earth loop.

Notes on the first verse

The pronoun "we" is a pluralis majestatis , since Ragnar was king. The “we” therefore mostly refers to Ragnar and can also be translated as “I”. Grave wolf, heather fish and earth loop are each a kenning for “snake”. In Norse mythology, the term "snake" usually stands for "dragon". The “light steel” represents a kenning for “Speer”. Þóra is the first wife of Ragnar; Áslaug was Ragnar's second wife.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Rudolf Simek , Hermann Pálsson : Lexicon of Old Norse Literature (= Kröner's pocket edition . Volume 490). Kröner, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-520-49001-3 , p. 218.
2. ↑ Ben Wagoner: The Sagas of Ragnar Lodbrok. The Troth, 2009, ISBN 978-0-578-02138-6 .
3. ↑ Anders Baeksted: Gudar och Hjältar. Politics Förlag, 1984, ISBN 91-37-09594-3 , pp. 386-390.
4. ↑ Georg Misch: History of the autobiography. Volume 4, part 3, 1st half: The completion of the high Middle Ages. Schulte-Bulmke, Frankfurt am Main 1969, pp. 117–118.
5. ^ Rudolf Simek, Hermann Pálsson: Lexicon of Old Norse Literature (= Kröner's pocket edition. Volume 490). Kröner, Stuttgart 1987, ISBN 3-520-49001-3 , p. 218.
6. ^ Rudolf Simek: The Edda. Germanic songs of gods and heroes. CH Beck, 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-56084-2 , p. 107.
7. ↑ Northvegr's edition ( Memento of the original from March 6, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ Carolyne Larrington: Þóra and Áslaug in Ragnars saga loðbrókar: women, dragons and destiny. P. 6.
9. ↑ https://notendur.hi.is/haukurth/norse/reader/krakm.html Retrieved October 20, 2012.
10. ↑ academia.edu