Ragnarsdrápa
The Ragnarsdrápa (“Drápa of Ragnar” in Old norrois) is a poem scaldic allotted to the Norwegian Bragi Boddason Old the. Composed in the honor of the legendary king Danish Ragnar Lodbrók, it describes the mythological and legendary scenes represented on a shield which the king would have offered to the poet. Insofar as Bragi is oldest known Scalde (he lived in IXe century), the Ragnarsdrápa constitutes one of the literary sources oldest of the Scandinavian Mythologie.
Twenty stanzas or half-stanzas were preserved, mainly thanks to Snorri Sturluson which quotes them in its Edda . They evoke:
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the battles of Hjadningar, combat without end caused by the removal of Hild, girl of Hedin, by Högni (stanzas 3 to 7, quoted in the Skáldskaparmál , 50);
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the death of wire of Gudrún, Sörli and Hamdir, when they tried to be avenged for Jörmunrekk (stanzas 8 to 12, quoted in the Skáldskaparmál , 43);
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the way in which the oxen of Gefjon tore off a piece of territory to the kingdom of Gylfi (stanzas 13, quoted in the Gylfaginning , 1);
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the Fishing of Thor, i.e. the combat of the god against the snake of Midgard at the time of its voyage to the giant Hymir (stanzas 14 to 19, quoted in the Skáldskaparmál , 2, 4, 42, 61).
Among the remaining stanzas, the two first constitute an introduction ( Skáldskaparmál , 49). First is addressed to Hrafnketil, perhaps the man charged to bring the shield to Bragi on behalf of the king, the second with the “famous son of Sigurd ''” , i.e. in Ragnar itself.
The last stanza evokes the episode of the eyes of the giant Thjazi launched to the sky ( Skáldskaparmál , 23).
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