Northern Mythology Author:Benjamin Thorpe Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: 207 APPENDIX. THE GROTTASAVNGR, OR MILL-SONG. As belonging to the province of Northern mythology, it has been deemed desirable to add an account of the ... more »celebrated Grottasavngr, or Mill-song1, which is to be found in every MS. of Ssemund's Edda, except the parchment one in the Royal Library at Copenhagen. King Frodi (FroJJi) paid a visit to King Fiolnir in Sweden, and there bought two female slaves, called Fenia and Menia, who were both large and strong. At that time there were found in Denmark two millstones so large that no one was able to drag them. These millstones had the property that they produced whatever the grinder wished for. The mill was called Grotti. Hengikiaptr (hanging jaw) was the name of him who gave the mill to Frodi. King Frodi caused the slaves to be led to the millstones, and ordered them to grind gold, and peace, and prosperity to Frodi, giving them no longer rest or sleep than while the cuckoo was silent or a song might be sung. It is said that they then sung the song called Grottasavngr, and before they left off, that they ground an army against Frodi; so that in the same night there came a sea-king called Mysing, who slew Frodi, and took great spoil. My- sing took with him the mill Grotti, together with Fenia and Menia, and ordered them to grind salt. At midnight they asked Mysing whether he had salt enough ? He bade them go on grinding. They had ground but a littlemore when the ship sank. There was afterwards a whirlpool in the ocean, where the water falls into the eye of the millstone, and thence the sea became salt. 1 Skaldskap. p. 146. Professor Petersen1 considers the myth to signify the cultivation of the land during peace, and the prosperity consequent thereupon, that prosperity begets desire, and desire war. The grinding of salt i...« less