" Frigg answered, "He is so inhospitable
that he tortures his guests, if he thinks that too many come." Odin
replied that that was the greatest falsehood; and they wagered
thereupon. Frigg sent her waiting-maid Fulla to bid Geirroed be on his
guard, lest the trollmann who was coming should do him harm, and also
say that a token whereby he might be known was, that no dog, however
fierce, would attack him. But that King Geirroed was not hospitable was
mere idle talk. He, nevertheless, caused the man to be secured whom no
dog would assail. He was clad in a blue cloak, and was named Grimnir,
and would say no more concerning himself, although he was questioned.
The king ordered him to be tortured to make him confess, and to be set
between two fires; and there he sat for eight nights. King Geirroed had
a son ten years old, whom he named Agnar, after his brother. Agnar
went to Grimnir and gave him a full horn to drink from, saying that
the king did wrong in causing him to be tortured, though innocent.
Grimnir drank from it. The fire had then so approached him that his
cloak was burnt; whereupon he said:--
1. Fire! thou art hot, and much too great; flame! let us separate.
My garment is singed, although I lift it up, my cloak is scorched
before it.
2. Eight nights have I sat between fires here, and to me no one food
has offered, save only Agnar, the son of Geirroed, who alone shall rule
over the land of Goths.
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