 grÃ³galdr or the spell of grÃ³a is the first of two poems, now commonly published under the title svipdagsmÃ¡l found in several 17th century paper manuscripts with fjÃ¶lsvinnsmÃ¡l. in at least three of these manuscripts, the poems are in reverse order and separated by a third eddic poem titled, hyndluljÃ³Ã°.mckinnell, john; meeting the other in old norse myth and legend, d.s. brewer, 2005, p. 202. for a long time, the connection between the two poems was not realized, until in 1854 svend grundtvig pointed out a connection between the story told in grÃ³agaldr and the first part of the medieval scandinavian ballad of ungen sveidalballad no. 70 in the second volume of his danmarks gamle folkeviser/herr svedendal/hertig silfverdal. then in 1856, sophus bugge noticed that the last part of the ballad corresponded to fjÃ¶lsvinnsmÃ¡l. bugge wrote about this connection in forhandlinger i videnskabs-selskabet i christiania 1860, calling the two poems together svipdagsmÃ¡l. subsequent scholars have accepted this title.einar Ãlafur sveinsson, "svipdag's long journey," hereditas, folklore of ireland society, dublin, 1975. grÃ³agaldr is one of six eddic poems involving necromantic practice. it details svipdag's raising of his mother groa, a vÃ¶lva, from the dead. before her death, she requested him to do so if he ever required her help; the prescience of the vÃ¶lva is illustrated in this respect. the purpose of this necromancy was that she could assist her son in a task set him by his cunning stepmother. svipdag's mother, grÃ³a, has been identified as the same vÃ¶lva who chanted a piece of hrungnir's hone from thor's head after their duel, as detailed in snorri sturluson's prose edda.rydberg, viktor, undersÃ¶kningar i germanisk mythologi, fÃ¶rsta delen, ch. 108;falk, hjalmar "svipdagsmÃ¡l," arkiv fÃ¶r nordisk filologi, vol. 9-10, 1893-94. there, grÃ³a is the wife of aurvandil, a man thor rescues from certain death on his way home from jÃ¶tunheim. the news of her husband's fate makes grÃ³a so happy, she forgets the charm, leaving the hone firmly lodged in thor's forehead. in the first stanza of this poem svipdag speaks and bids his mother to arise from beyond the grave, at her burial mound, as she had bidden him do in life. the second stanza contains her response, in which she asks svipdag why he has awakened her from death. he responds by telling her of the task he has been set by his stepmother, i.e. to win the hand of menglÃ¶Ã°. he is all too aware of the difficulty of this: he presages this difficulty by stating that: :"she bade me travel to a place :where travel one cannot :to meet with fair menglod" his dead mother agrees with him that he faces a long and difficult journey but does not attempt to dissua
Eddic_poetry Old_Norse_literature Sources_of_Norse_mythology