Gróttasöngr
Also known as: Grottasongr, The Song of Grotti, Song of the Mill, Grottisong
An eddic lay in which the enslaved giantess sisters Fenja and Menja sing while grinding at the magic mill Grótti for King Frodi, blessing and then cursing his realm before foretelling his doom.
Description
“Gróttasöngr” is a short Old Norse poem framed in the Prose Edda, where King Frodi forces the giantess twins Fenja and Menja to turn the mill Grótti to produce peace, gold, and prosperity. As they labor, they sing: first granting the king’s wishes, then recalling their strength and lineage, and finally turning the mill to grind out war and vengeance. Their song prophesies the sea-king Mysing’s raid, Frodi’s death, and the mill’s later fate at sea, where relentless grinding makes the ocean salty. The lay functions as a work-song, curse, and etiological tale at once, exemplifying eddic style and the fusion of heroic legend with mythic cosmology.
Historiography
The poem survives embedded in Snorri’s Prose Edda (Skáldskaparmál), transmitted in 13th-century Icelandic manuscripts. It is not part of the Codex Regius of the Poetic Edda but has long been treated alongside eddic lays. Later Scandinavian prose traditions and Danish historiography (e.g., Frothi in Gesta Danorum) echo its themes. The salt-sea aetiology became a widespread Nordic folktale motif (“Why the Sea Is Salt”).
Date Notes
Preserved within Snorri Sturluson’s Prose Edda (Skáldskaparmál) in 13th-century Icelandic manuscripts; likely older oral composition.
Symbols
Major Characters
- King Frodi
- Fenja
- Menja
- Mysing
Myths
- The Song of the Mill Grótti
- Froði’s Peace and Doom
Facts
- The poem is embedded in Skáldskaparmál within the Prose Edda.
- Fenja and Menja are giantess sisters renowned for strength and second sight.
- Grótti is a magic mill that can grind whatever the owner commands.
- Frodi compels the mill to grind prosperity, then overworks the sisters.
- The sisters shift the mill to grind war, foretelling Frodi’s death.
- The sea-king Mysing attacks at night and kills Frodi.
- Mysing later forces the mill to grind salt aboard ship until it sinks.
- The tale offers an aetiology for the sea’s salinity.
- The poem exemplifies eddic diction and formulaic parallelism.
- Its themes connect to the Danish Skjöldung legend and Frothi traditions.