Editing Norns (section)

===Poetic Edda===
The [[Poetic Edda]] is valuable in representing older material in poetry from which Snorri Sturluson tapped information in the ''[[Prose Edda]]''. Like ''Gylfaginning'', the ''Poetic Edda'' mentions the existence of many lesser norns beside the three main norns.  Moreover, it also agrees with ''Gylfaginning'' by telling that they were of several races and that the dwarven norns were the daughters of [[Dvalin]]. It also suggests that the three main norns were giantesses (female [[Jötunn|Jotun]]s).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe03.htm |title=See commentary by Bellows |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |access-date=2012-12-30}}</ref>

''[[Fáfnismál]]'' contains a discussion between the hero [[Sigurd]] and the dragon [[Fafnir]] who is dying from a mortal wound from Sigurd. The hero asks Fafnir of many things, among them the nature of the norns. Fafnir explains that they are many and from several races:

{|
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:Sigurðr kvað:
:12. "Segðu mér, Fáfnir,
:alls þik fróðan kveða
:ok vel margt vita,
:hverjar ro þær nornir,
:er nauðgönglar ro
:ok kjósa mæðr frá mögum."
:-
:Fáfnir kvað:
:13. "Sundrbornar mjök
:segi ek nornir vera,
:eigu-t þær ætt saman;
:sumar eru áskunngar,
:sumar alfkunngar,
:sumar dætr Dvalins."<ref name="norfaf">[http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070508153633/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/fafnismal.php ''Fáfnismál''] Guðni Jónsson's edition of the text with normalized spelling.</ref>
|
:''Sigurth spake'':
:12. "Tell me then, Fafnir,
:for wise thou art famed,
:And much thou knowest now:
:Who are the Norns
:who are helpful in need,
:And the babe from the mother bring?"
:-
:''Fafnir spake'':
:13. "Of many births
:the Norns must be,
:Nor one in race they were;
:Some to gods, others
:to elves are kin,
:And Dvalin's daughters some."<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe24.htm ''Fafnismol''] in translation by [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]] (1936), at Sacred Texts.</ref>
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It appears from ''[[Völuspá]]'' and ''[[Vafþrúðnismál]]'' that the three main norns were not originally goddesses but giants ([[Jötunn|Jotun]]s), and that their arrival ended the early days of bliss for the gods, but that they come for the good of humankind.

''Völuspá'' relates that three giants of huge might are reported to have arrived to the gods from [[Jotunheim]]:
[[File:Nornsweaving.jpg|thumb|''The Norns'' <br> [[Arthur Rackham]]]]
{|
|
:8. Tefldu í túni,
:teitir váru,
:var þeim vettergis
:vant ór gulli,
:uns þrjár kvámu
:þursa meyjar
:ámáttkar mjök
:ór Jötunheimum.<ref name="norvölu">[http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070508150416/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/voluspa.php ''Völuspá''] Guðni Jónsson's edition of the text with normalized spelling.</ref>
|
:8. In their dwellings at peace
:they played at [[tafl|tables]],
:Of gold no lack
:did the gods then know,--
:Till thither came
:up giant-maids three,
:Huge of might,
:out of Jotunheim.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe03.htm ''Völuspá''] in translation by [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]] (1936), at Sacred Texts.</ref>
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''[[Vafþrúðnismál]]'' probably refers to the norns when it talks of maiden giants who arrive to protect the people of Earth as protective spirits ([[hamingja]]s):<ref name="nordisk"/><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe05.htm |title=See also Bellows' commentary |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |access-date=2012-12-30}}</ref>

{|
|
:49. "Þríar þjóðár
:falla þorp yfir
:meyja Mögþrasis;
:hamingjur einar
:þær er í heimi eru,
:þó þær með jötnum alask."<ref>[http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070508210238/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/vafthrudnesmal.php ''Vafþrúðnismál''] Guðni Jónsson's edition of the text with normalized spelling.</ref>
|
:49. O'er people's dwellings
:three descend
:of Mögthrasir's maidens,
:the sole [[Hamingja|Hamingiur]]
:who are in the world,
:although with Jötuns nurtured.<ref name="Vaft">''The lay of Vafthrúdnir'' in translation by [[Benjamin Thorpe]] (1866), [https://books.google.com/books?id=s_kqAAAAMAAJ&q=the+sole+Hamingiur at Google Books].</ref>
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The ''[[Völuspá]]'' contains the names of the three main Norns referring to them as maidens like ''Vafþrúðnismál'' probably does:

{|
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:20. Þaðan koma meyjar
:margs vitandi
:þrjár ór þeim sæ,
:er und þolli stendr;
:Urð hétu eina,
:aðra Verðandi,
:- skáru á skíði, -
:Skuld ina þriðju;
:þær lög lögðu,
:þær líf kuru
:alda börnum,
:örlög seggja.<ref name="norvölu"/>
|
:20. Thence come the maidens
:mighty in wisdom,
:Three from the dwelling
:down 'neath the tree;
:Urth is one named,
:Verthandi the next,--
:[[runes|On the wood they scored]],--
:and Skuld the third.
:Laws they made there,
:and life allotted
:To the sons of men,
:and set their fates.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu//poe/poe03.htm ''Lays of the gods''] in translation by [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]] (1936), at Sacred Texts.</ref>
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====''Helgakviða Hundingsbana I''====
[[File:Norns1.jpg|thumb|''The Norns'' <br> [[Arthur Rackham]]]]
[[File:Die Nornen Urd, Werdanda, Skuld, unter der Welteiche Yggdrasil by Ludwig Burger.jpg|thumb|''The Norns Urðr, Verðandi, and Skuld under the world oak Yggdrasil'' (1882) by [[Ludwig Burger]]]]
The norns visited each newly born child to allot his or her future, and in ''[[Helgakviða Hundingsbana I]]'', the hero [[Helgi Hundingsbane]] has just been born and norns arrive at the homestead:

{|
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:2. Nótt varð í bæ,
:nornir kómu,
:þær er öðlingi
:aldr of skópu;
:þann báðu fylki
:frægstan verða
:ok buðlunga
:beztan þykkja.
:-
:3. Sneru þær af afli
:örlögþáttu,
:þá er borgir braut
:í Bráluni;
:þær of greiddu
:gullin símu
:ok und mánasal
:miðjan festu.
:-
:4. Þær austr ok vestr
:enda fálu,
:þar átti lofðungr
:land á milli;
:brá nift Nera
:á norðrvega
:einni festi,
:ey bað hon halda.<ref>[http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070508154158/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/helgakvidahundingsbanaa.php ''Helgakviða Hundingsbana I''] Guðni Jónsson's edition of the text with normalized spelling.</ref>
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:2. 'Twas night in the dwelling,
:and Norns there came,
:Who shaped the life
:of the lofty one;
:They bade him most famed
:of fighters all
:And best of princes
:ever to be.
:-
:3. Mightily wove they
:the web of fate,
:While Bralund's towns
:were trembling all;
:And there the golden
:threads they wove,
:And in the moon's hall
:fast they made them.
:-
:4. East and west
:the ends they hid,
:In the middle the hero
:should have his land;
:And Neri's kinswoman
:northward cast
:A chain, and bade it
:firm ever to be.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe19.htm ''The First Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane''] in translation by [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]] (1936), at Sacred Texts.</ref>
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====''Helgakviða Hundingsbana II''====
In ''[[Helgakviða Hundingsbana II]]'', [[Helgi Hundingsbane]] blames the norns for the fact that he had to kill Sigrún's father Högni and brother Bragi in order to wed her:
{|
|
:26 "Er-at þér at öllu,
:alvitr, gefit,
:- þó kveð ek nökkvi
:nornir valda -:
:fellu í morgun
:at Frekasteini
:Bragi ok Högni,
:varð ek bani þeira.<ref>[http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/helgakvidahundingsbanab.php ''Völsungakviða in forna''] {{webarchive|url=http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070508145336/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/helgakvidahundingsbanab.php |date=2007-05-08 }} Guðni Jónsson's edition of the text with normalized spelling.</ref>
|
:"Maid, not fair
:is all thy fortune,
:The Norris<ref name="fel">Typographical error for ''Norns'', cf. the text in Old Norse.</ref> I blame
:that this should be;
:This morn there fell
:at Frekastein
:Bragi and Hogni
:beneath my hand.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe20.htm ''The Second Lay of Helgi Hundingsbane''] in translation by [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]] (1936), at Sacred Texts.</ref>
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[[File:Norns4.jpg|thumb|''The Norns'' <br>[[Arthur Rackham]]]]

====''Reginsmál''====
As Snorri Sturluson stated in ''Gylfaginning'', one's fate depended on the Norn's good or bad will. In ''[[Reginsmál]]'', the water dwelling dwarf [[Andvari]] blames his plight on an evil norn, presumably one of the daughters of Dvalin:

{|
|
:2. "Andvari ek heiti,
:Óinn hét minn faðir,
:margan hef ek fors of farit;
:aumlig norn
:skóp oss í árdaga,
:at ek skylda í vatni vaða."<ref>[http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070508161410/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/reginsmal.php ''Reginsmál''] Guðni Jónsson's edition of the text with normalized spelling.</ref>
|
:2. "Andvari am I,
:and Oin my father,
:In many a fall have I fared;
:An evil Norn
:in olden days
:Doomed me In waters to dwell."<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe23.htm ''The Ballad of Regin''] in translation by [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]] (1936), at Sacred Texts.</ref>
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====''Sigurðarkviða hin skamma''====
Another account blaming the Norns for misfortune occurs in  ''[[Sigurðarkviða hin skamma]]'', where the [[valkyrie]] [[Brynhild]] blames malevolent Norns for her yearning for the embrace of [[Sigurd]]:
{|
|
:7. Orð mæltak nú,
:iðrumk eftir þess:
:kván er hans Guðrún,
:en ek Gunnars;
:ljótar nornir
:skópu oss langa þrá."<ref>[http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070509015738/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/sigurdarkvidainskamma.php ''Sigurðarkviða in skamma''] Guðni Jónsson's edition of the text with normalized spelling.</ref>
|
:7. "The word I have spoken;
:soon shall I rue it,
:His wife is [[Gudrun|Guthrun]],
:and [[Gunther|Gunnar]]'s am I;
:Ill Norns set for me
:long desire."<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe28.htm ''The Short Lay of Sigurth''] in translation by [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]] (1936), at Sacred Texts.</ref>
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====''Guðrúnarkviða II''====
[[File:Norns (1832) from Die Helden und Götter des Nordens, oder Das Buch der sagen.jpg|thumb|'''Norns''' in ''Die Helden Und Götter Des Nordens, Oder: Das Buch Der Sagen'' by [[Amalia Schoppe]], (1832)]]

In ''[[Guðrúnarkviða II]]'', the Norns actively enter the series of events by informing Atli in a dream that his wife would kill him. Brynhild's solution was to have Gunnarr and his brothers, the lords of the [[Burgundians]], kill Sigurd and afterwards to commit suicide in order to join Sigurd in the afterlife. Her brother [[Völsunga saga|Atli]] ([[Attila the Hun]]) avenged her death by killing the lords of the Burgundians, but since he was married to their sister [[Gudrun|Guðrún]], Atli would soon be killed by her.  The description of the dream begins with this stanza:
{|
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:"Svá mik nýliga
:nornir vekja," -
:vílsinnis spá
:vildi, at ek réða, -
:"hugða ek þik, Guðrún
:Gjúka dóttir,
:læblöndnum hjör
:leggja mik í gögnum."<ref name="heimskringla">{{cite web| url = http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/gudrunarkvidainforna.php| archive-url = http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070508145957/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/gudrunarkvidainforna.php| url-status = dead| archive-date = 2007-05-08| title = ''Guðrúnarkviða in forna'' at "Norrøne Tekster og Kvad", Norway.}}</ref>
|
:39. "Now from sleep
:the Norns have waked me
:With visions of terror,--
:To thee will I tell them;
:Methought thou, Guthrun,
:Gjuki's daughter,
:With poisoned blade
:didst pierce my body."<ref name="Bellows">{{cite web|url=http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe31.htm |title=Bellows' translation |publisher=Sacred-texts.com |access-date=2012-12-30}}</ref>
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====''Guðrúnarhvöt''====
In Guðrúnarhvöt, after having killed both her husband and son, Guðrún blames the Norns themselves for her misfortune. In this excerpt Guðrún talks of trying to escaping the wrath of the Norns by making an attempt on her own life, attempting to escape the fate they had woven for her:

{|
|
:13. Gekk ek til strandar,
:gröm vark nornum,
:vilda ek hrinda
:stríð grið þeira;
:hófu mik, né drekkðu,
:hávar bárur,
:því ek land of sték,
:at lifa skyldak.<ref>[http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070508210243/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/gudrunarhvot.php ''Guðrúnarhvöt''] Guðni Jónsson's edition of the text with normalized spelling.</ref>
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:13. "To the sea I went,
:my heart full sore
:For the Norns, whose wrath
:I would now escape;
:But the lofty billows
:bore me undrowned,
:Till to land I came,
:so I longer must live.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe36.htm ''Guthrun's Inciting''] in translation by [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]] (1936), at Sacred Texts.</ref>
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====''Hamðismál''====
[[File:St Stephens Green german Gift.JPG|thumb|A statue of the Norns at [[St Stephen's Green]], ''The Tree Faites'', donated by the German government in thanks for [[Operation Shamrock]]]]

''Guðrúnarhvöt'' deals with how Guðrún incited her sons to avenge the cruel death of their sister [[Svanhildr|Svanhild]]. In ''[[Hamðismál]]'', her sons' expedition to the Gothic King [[Ermanaric]] to exact vengeance. Knowing that he is about to die at the hands of the Goths, her son Sörli talks of the cruelty of the norns:

{|
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:29. "Ekki hygg ek okkr
:vera ulfa dæmi,
:at vit mynim sjalfir of sakask
:sem grey norna,
:þá er gráðug eru
:í auðn of alin.
:-
:30. Vel höfum vit vegit,
:stöndum á val Gotna,
:ofan eggmóðum,
:sem ernir á kvisti;
:góðs höfum tírar fengit,
:þótt skylim nú eða í gær deyja;
:kveld lifir maðr ekki
:eftir kvið norna."
:-
:31. Þar fell Sörli
:at salar gafli,
:enn Hamðir hné
:at húsbaki.<ref>[http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070508210400/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/hamdismal.php ''Hamðismál''] Guðni Jónsson's edition of the text with normalized spelling.</ref>
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:29. "In fashion of wolves
:it befits us not
:Amongst ourselves to strive,
:Like the hounds of the Norns,
:that nourished were
:In greed mid wastes so grim.
:-
:30. "We have greatly fought,
:o'er the Goths do we stand
:By our blades laid low,
:like eagles on branches;
:Great our fame though we die
:today or tomorrow;
:None outlives the night
:when the Norris<ref name="fel"/> have spoken."
:-
:31. Then Sorli beside
:the gable sank,
:And Hamther fell
:at the back of the house.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe37.htm ''The Ballad of Hamther''] in translation by [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]] (1936), at Sacred Texts.</ref>
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====''Sigrdrífumál''====
[[File:Norns3by CEBrock.jpg|thumb|''The Norns'' <br>[[C. E. Brock]]]]
The Norns were known as beings of ultimate power who worked in the dark and were often referred to in charms, as they are by [[Sigrdrífa]] in ''[[Sigrdrífumál]]'':

{|
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:17. Á gleri ok á gulli
:ok á gumna heillum,
:í víni ok í virtri
:ok vilisessi,
:á Gugnis oddi
:ok á Grana brjósti,
:á nornar nagli
:ok á nefi uglu.<ref>[http://wayback.vefsafn.is/wayback/20070508175656/http://www.heimskringla.no/original/edda/sigrdrifumal.php ''Sigrdrífumál''] Guðni Jónsson's edition of the text with normalized spelling.</ref>
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:17. On glass and on gold,
:and on goodly charms,
:In wine and in beer,
:and on well-loved seats,
:On [[Gungnir]]'s point,
:and on [[Grani]]'s breast,
:On the nails of Norns,
:and the night-owl's beak.<ref>[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/poe/poe25.htm ''The Ballad of The Victory-Bringer''] in translation by [[Henry Adams Bellows (businessman)|Henry Adams Bellows]] (1936), at Sacred Texts.</ref>
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