Asatru Folk Assembly - December 19, 2023


Hárbarðsljóð, a reading

Hosted by
Steve McNallen
Mentioned
Thor Rungnir Harbad Hobart Magni Ljordhater, Marahater Harbarth Fjolvar Fjallar Algron Havart Steer Arlen Doris Ljöð Odin Dorf
Skírnismál, a reading Hymiskviða, a reading

Episode Stats


Length

16 minutes

Words per minute

103.07

Word count

1,720

Sentence count

106

Harmful content

Misogyny

3

sentences flagged

Toxicity

5

sentences flagged

Hate speech

17

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

The poem of Harbad's ljordh is a short poem about an exchange of insults between Odin and Thor at a fjord crossing, written in a few meters and a collection of meters. It is atypical of the usual verbal battle, in which the winner is the one with the best strategy and eloquence. In this case, Thor is the slow-witted one.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
Hosts, guests, and mentioned names generated with spaCy (en_core_web_sm), reconciled against Wikidata.
00:00:00.000 Harbath's Lyod, Harbath's Song, the Poem of Harbath
00:00:27.000 Odin in the skies and Thor meet at a fjord crossing.
00:00:32.000 Odin refuses to ferry Thor over the water and the two engage in a ritual exchange of
00:00:37.000 insults.
00:00:38.000 Harbad's Ljöð is typical and atypical of this kind of exchange or fleeting, a verbal
00:00:45.340 battle common in Germanic literature.
00:00:48.560 The best known examples are the exchange between Beowulf and Unferð in Beowulf, or between
00:00:54.600 Hagen and the Ferryman in the Niebuhrungenlied.
00:00:58.920 Typically, the winner is the contestant best able to prove his courage and manhood while
00:01:04.540 demonstrating the cowardice, laziness, and effemacy of his opponents.
00:01:09.620 In Harbad's Song, however, such is Odin's use of strategy and rhetoric, and so slow-witted
00:01:16.200 is Thor, that Odin emerges a clearer winner despite the obvious advantages Thor has in
00:01:22.640 strength and courage in battling against giants.
00:01:27.080 The nub of Harbad's Song, however, would be the statement in verse 24 that Odin owns
00:01:35.660 the nobles who fall in battle and Thor owns the race of thralls, establishing the difference
00:01:41.520 between the cults of the two deities.
00:01:45.200 Or as Carol Clover has suggested, the poem may be intended as a parody of the usual fleeting
00:01:51.460 poem. The poem is composed in a motley collection of meters, Ljordhater, Marahater, some unrecognizable
00:02:00.440 meters, and some odd bits of prose. Many of the episodes alluded to by the two gods are
00:02:07.780 unknown from many other sources.
00:02:13.340 Harbarth's Ljordh
00:02:14.540 Thor was on his way back from a journey in the east, and came to an inlet.
00:02:21.580 On the other side of the sound was a ferryman with a boat.
00:02:25.700 Thor called out,
00:02:26.700 Who is that fellow yonder, on the further shore of the sound?
00:02:33.500 The ferryman spake,
00:02:36.100 What kind of a peasant is yon, that calls o'er the bay?
00:02:40.820 Thor spake, 0.99
00:02:43.740 me over the sound, I will feed thee therefore in the morning. A basket I have on my back,
00:02:51.040 and food therein none better. At leisure I ate ere the house I left, of herrings and
00:02:57.220 porridge so plenty I had. The ferryman spake, Of thy morning feats art thou proud, but the
00:03:06.820 future thou knowest not wholly, doleful thine homecoming is, thy mother, methinks, is dead.
00:03:15.840 Thore spake, now hast thou said, to each must seem, the mightiest grief, that my mother is dead.
00:03:26.240 The ferryman spake, Three good dwellings methakes thou hast not.
00:03:35.240 Barefoot thou standest, and wearest a beggar's dress, Not even hose dost thou have.
00:03:44.240 Thor spake, Steer that hither the boat, the landing here shall I show thee.
00:03:52.240 But who's the craft that thou keepest on the shore?
00:03:56.520 The ferryman spake, Hildolf is he who bade me have it, a hero wise.
00:04:03.620 His home is at Wrathsea sound.
00:04:06.380 He bade me no robbers to steal, no stealers of steeds, but worthy men, and those whom
00:04:14.860 well do I know.
00:04:18.000 Say now thy name, if over the sound thou would fare.
00:04:22.500 Thor spake.
00:04:25.380 My name indeed shall I tell, though in danger I am, and all my race.
00:04:34.200 I am Odin's son, Meili's brother, and Magni's father, the strong one of the gods.
00:04:45.580 Thor, now speech canst thou give, and now would I know what name thou hast.
00:04:54.500 The ferryman spake, Harbarth am I, and seldom I hide my name.
00:05:01.920 Thor spake, Why shouldst thou hide thy name, if quarrel thou hast not?
00:05:07.800 Harbaugh spake, and though I had a quarrel, from such as thou art, yet none the less my
00:05:17.740 life would I guard, unless I be doomed to die.
00:05:22.680 Though spake, great trouble me thinks, would it be to come to thee, to wade the waters
00:05:29.860 across and wet my middle?
00:05:32.680 Beakling, well shall I pay thy mocking words, If could cross the sound, I come.
00:05:42.180 Harbarth spake, Here shall I stand, and await thee here.
00:05:47.740 Thou hast found since Rungnir died no fiercer man.
00:05:54.800 Fain art thou to tell how with Rungnir I fought the haughty giant, whose head of stone was
00:06:04.440 made, and yet I felled him, and stretched him before me.
00:06:10.360 What, Harbarth, didst thou the while?
00:06:14.800 Harbarth spake, Five full winters with Fjolvar was I, and dwelt in the isle that is Algron
00:06:24.460 called there could we fight and fed the slain much could we seek and maids could master
00:06:33.900 door spake how won ye success with your women
00:06:40.460 harbarth spake lively women we had if they wise for us were wise are the women we had
00:06:49.660 had, if they kind for us were. For ropes of sand they would seek to wind, and the bottom 0.99
00:06:57.340 to dig from the deepest dale. Wiser than Arlen counselled I was, and there I slept by the
00:07:04.600 sisters seven. And joy full great did I get from each. What, Thor, didst thou the while?
00:07:18.140 spake, Fiazzi I fell, the great giant fierce, and I hurled the eyes of Alvardi's sun to
00:07:28.860 the heaven's heart above.
00:07:31.700 Of my deeds the mightiest marks are these, that all men since can see what harbors didst
00:07:39.540 thou the while.
00:07:42.360 Harbaugh spake, much lovecraft I wrought with them who ride by night, when I stole them
00:07:50.140 by stealth from their husbands, a giant heart with hell-birth, methinks.
00:07:56.860 His wand he gave me as gift, and I stole his wits away. 0.79
00:08:02.120 Doris spake, thou didst repay good gifts with evil mind.
00:08:08.220 Harbar spake, the oak must have what it shaves from another, in such things each for himself.
00:08:18.280 What tor distout the while? 0.92
00:08:22.000 Tor spake, eastward I felled, of the giants I felled, their ill-working women who went to the mountain. 0.73
00:08:30.840 And large were the giants' throng, if all were alive. 0.65
00:08:34.600 no man would be there in Midgard more what Harbarth did thou the while Harbarth spake
00:08:46.400 in Valand I was in wolves I raised princes I angered in peace brought never
00:08:52.720 the noble will fall in the fight hath the Odin and Thor hath the race of the thralls
00:08:59.320 Thor spake, Unequal gifts of men wouldst thou give to the gods,
00:09:10.560 If might too much thou shouldst have.
00:09:15.380 How about spake?
00:09:17.560 Thor has might enough, but never a heart, For cowardly fear in a glove wasst thou fain
00:09:24.000 to crawl, and there forgot thou wast Thor, afraid there wast thou, thy fear was such
00:09:33.500 to fart or sneeze, lest Fjallar should hear. 0.92
00:09:39.380 Thor spake, thou womanish Harbath, to hell would I smite thee straight, could mine arm 1.00
00:09:48.440 reach over the sound. 0.99
00:09:52.540 But spake, wherefore reach over the sound, since strife we have none?
00:10:00.460 What door didst thou do then?
00:10:04.780 Door spake, eastward I was, in the river I guarded well, where the sons of Svarling
00:10:11.760 sought me there, stones did they hurl, small joy did they have of winning, before me there, 0.96
00:10:19.620 To ask for a piece did they fare, What Harbarth did thou the while?
00:10:25.520 Harbarth spake, Eastward I was, and spake with a certain one.
00:10:30.740 I played with a linen-white maid, And met her by stealth.
00:10:35.100 I gladdened the gold-decked one, And she granted me joy. 0.54
00:10:41.620 Thor spake, Full fare was thy woman finding.
00:10:48.060 Harbarth spake, thy help did I need then, Thor, to hold the wight made fast.
00:10:56.580 Thor spake, gladly had I been there, my help to thee had been given.
00:11:04.380 Harbarth spake, I might have trusted thee then, didst thou not betray thy throat.
00:11:10.420 Tor spake, No hillbiter am I, In truth like an old leather shoe in spring.
00:11:21.940 Harbarth spoke, What tor dist thou the while? 0.57
00:11:28.300 Tor spake, In Hlesi the brides of the berserkers slew I, 0.80
00:11:34.540 Most evil they were, and all they betrayed. 0.95
00:11:40.380 Harbarth spake, shamedest thou, wind, that woman thou slewest thore.
00:11:49.340 Thore spake, she wolves they were like, and woman but little. 0.99
00:11:56.760 My ship, which well I trimmed, did they shake, 1.00
00:12:01.440 with clubs of iron they threatened, and theography they drove off.
00:12:06.940 What harbath didst thou the wild?
00:12:12.120 Hobart spake
00:12:13.160 In the host I was, that hither fell, the banners to raise, and the spears to redden.
00:12:21.840 Thor spake
00:12:22.780 Wilt thou now say that hatred thou soughtest to bring us?
00:12:28.240 Hobart spake
00:12:29.360 A ring for thy hand shall make all right for thee, as the judge decides who sets up two at peace.
00:12:40.420 Thor spake
00:12:41.440 Where foundest thou so foul and scornful as speech? More foul as speech I never have before heard.
00:12:52.120 Hoboth spake 1.00
00:12:53.140 I learned it from men, the men so old, who dwell in the hills of home.
00:12:59.360 Thor spake, a name full of good, to heaps of stones thou givest, when thou call'st them hills of home.
00:13:10.380 Parvath spake, of such things speak, I saw.
00:13:16.720 Thor spake, ill for thee comes, thy keenest of tongue.
00:13:22.700 If the water I choose to wade, louder I wean, than a wolf thou criest, if I blow of my hammer
00:13:32.520 thou hast.
00:13:36.380 Harbroth spake, Sif has a lover at home, and him shouldst thou meet, more fitting it were
00:13:43.840 on him to put forth thy strength.
00:13:47.040 Thor spake, thy tongue still makes thee say what seems most ill to me. 0.89
00:13:57.800 Thou witless man, thou liest, I wean. 0.87
00:14:03.440 Havart spake, truth do I speak, but slow on thy way thou art. 0.99
00:14:09.920 Far hast thou gone, if none in the boat thou hast failed. 0.99
00:14:16.660 Thor spake, Thou womanish Harbath, here hast thou held me too long. 0.97
00:14:24.540 Harbath spake, I thought not ever that Asa Thor would be hindered by a ferryman thus from firing. 0.99
00:14:33.840 Thor spake, One counsel I bring thee now.
00:14:39.960 Row hither thy boat, no more scoffing set Magni's father across.
00:14:46.660 Harbaugh spake, From the sound go hence, The passenger thou hast not.
00:14:57.160 Dorf spake, The way now show me, Since thou takest me not o'er the water.
00:15:06.500 Harbaugh spake, To refuse it is little, To fare it is long,
00:15:12.900 A while to the stock, and a while to the stone.
00:15:16.880 Then the road to thy left, till Verland thou reachest,
00:15:20.200 and there shall Fjordin, her son Thor, find,
00:15:25.060 and the road of her children she shows him to Odin's realm.
00:15:31.300 Thor spake, may I come so far in a day?
00:15:36.820 Harbarth spake, with toil and trouble perchance,
00:15:41.300 While the sun still shines, or so I think.
00:15:46.720 Tor spake.
00:15:49.120 Short now shall be our speech, for thou speakest in mockery only.
00:15:54.440 The passage thou gavest me not, I shall pay thee, if ever we meet.
00:16:00.020 Harboth spake.
00:16:02.400 Get hence, where every single thing shall have thee.
00:16:11.300 Thank you.