Gram & Gro

Saxo's story of Gram consists mostly of three poetic fragments loosely bound together (Olrik 1894, 12). The poem survives in Saxo's own hand in the Angers Fragment. Olrik characterized this poem as a "skændesamtale", literally "quarrel dialogue", ie. the Old Norse poetic genre senna or flyting. According to Carol Clover, this genre "consists of an exchange of verbal provocations between hostile speakers in a predictable setting. The boasts and insults are traditional, and their arrangement and rhetorical form is highly stylized". Joseph Harris considers the senna to consist of a single pattern:

"a preliminary, comprising an Identification (in the form of a question and answer) together with a Characterization (which may be insulting, factual, or even laudatory) and then a central exchange, consisting of either Accusation and Denial, Threat and Counterthreat, or Challenge and Reply or a combination […] No standard pattern emerges for the endings of the extant sennur”. In terms of comparisons with Old Norse sennur, Saxo's poem has several close parallels with Helgakviða Hundingsbana II.

The name Gram has caused some discussion of whether Saxo misunderstood his source or not. Hilda Davidson  commented that it "is possible that Saxo was misled by the use of the adjective *gramr* (fierce) as a noun in Icelandic poetry, meaning prince or leader. […] Although Saxo was aware that the word signified a leader, he may nevertheless have been misled by such passages and assumed that they referred to a Danish hero called *Gramr*". But, since we lack Saxo's source, all speculations about fidelity to this source are just that, speculations. I don't find Davidson's idea of Saxo being misled by poetic terms very persuasive, especially not since narratives about ancient kings bearing poetic nouns as names circulated in 1200s, like the story of Halfdan the Old in Skáldskaparmál, who had no less than nine sons with poetic names like Þengill, Ræsir, and indeed, Gramr. The story contains other similarities between Halfdan the Old's and Saxo's Gram, such as warring in the Baltics and slaying a king Sigtryggr (Sichtrugus) in single combat.

And now to the story:

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Once, as luck would have it, he [Gram] learned that Gro, the daughter of Sichtrugus, king of the Swedes, had been promised to one of the giants, he cursed that royal blood should enter such a shameful connection [1] and made war on Sweden, intending to thwart the monsters' efforts by an example of Herculean bravery [2]. Arriving in Götaland, he advanced clad in goatskins in order to drive off anyone who came in the way. He impersonated a giant, dressed in hides of wild animals, grasping a horrific club in his right hand. Gro met him by chance as she was riding to bathe in forest springs [3], attended by a small group of handmaidens on foot. Believing it was her groom arriving, she experienced at the same time a feminine anxiety, threw up the reins, and with her whole body trembling, she began speaking poetry in our native tongue like this:

Notes:   

 

[1] Giants often desire the women of the (mythological) in-group, and are always denied. Gro is the first of several women in Gesta Danorum to be pursued by giants. The attempts are always foiled, and in the end, the giants are all defeated by the heroe. This is an extension of one of the recurring motifs in Gesta Danorum: morally deplorable relations between a woman and a socially inferior man.

  

[2] One of Saxo's compositional goals was constructing a heroic Danish past that parallelled that of Rome. What better way to frame the fight against giants than referring to Hecules, both explicitly and in the very clothes and arms worn by Gram? At the same time, it must be stressed Gram's disguise is entirely congruent with what giants and trolls actually do wear in the legendary sagas. Gram's feat is indeed an example of strength and bravery, of fortitudo, the foundational quality that kings should possess according to Saxo. He was after all "the man of letters with a housecarl's mind", as one commenter put it. The Herculean framing is once again explicitly brought to the fore at the end of the legendary age in book 8, the last book to deal with Norse pre-Christian entities. In this way, books 1 and 8 function as bookends, containing within them the entire Pagan past and its long heroic struggle against giants that parallelled that of Rome.

[3] While the geography of the following exchange is unclear, the forest springs might indicate that it takes place over a body of water separating the speakers, a standard setting for sennas.

_______

I see the giant whom the ruler hates approaching

in the middle of the road, casting shadows with his steps.  

Or do my eyes deceive me? It has often occurred,

that bold warriors conceal themselves beneath the hides of beasts [4].

[4] The end of the stanza seems to be proverbial. Stephanius provided an Icelandic parallel: Oft eru vaskar hendur undir vargs belgie, "manly hands may often be hidden under a wolfskin". Were it not for the prose introduction, it would be a subtle hint to an audience... or not so subtle.  

_______

Maiden who sits  

on the horse's back,  

exchanging words  

with me in conversation,  

Tell us, what is your name,  

and from what lineage  

you were born [5].

[5]. Identification begins. 

_______

Gro is my name,  

the king is my father  

of illustrious blood.  

shining in arms [6].  

But you too reveal to us,   

who you are

or from where you are sprung

[6] Characterization, which is the descriptive details attached to the answer to the identification, begins. Giving the father's name and fame is the most typical answer (Harris 2008, 204).
  

_______

I am Bessus,   

bold in battle,  

ferocious towards foes,  

the terror of nations,  

often drenching  

my right hand  

in the blood of foreigners [7].  

Who, I ask,  

arranges your battle line 

For what general 

do you carry the standards of war?  

What prince

directs the warriors?  

What lord  

furnishes the fighting? [8]  

 

[7] Bessus' characterization consists of qualities befitting a warrior. 

[8] The stanza is marked by parallelism, signalled by interrogative pronouns and synonyms for "leader". All things considered, Gro just asks "Who is your king?" four times. Scholars have time and time again noticed the similarity between this stanza and st. 5 of Helgakviða Hundingsbana II:

Who steers the ships 

towards the cliff?  

Where, warriors,  

have you your home?  

What are you waiting for  

in Brunavag?

Whither do you desire  

to muster the fleet?

_______

Gram governs the battle line,

blessed by Mars, [9]

never deflected  

by force or fear,  

never frightened  

by blazing pyre, 

savage sword  

or surging seas [10].  

We raise our

golden standards  

under his command, girl.  

[9] Mars is most likely Óðinn; the two are explicitly identified in book 2.

[10] Characterization marches on, this round it's kings. Gram is characterized by bravery, fortitudo.  

_______

Turn back from here,

reverse your march!

Or else Sictrugus  

will crush you all  

with his army, [11]  

and lay a noose  

around your necks,  

ferociously fix   

your throats

in the grim gallows,

offer your bodies

to the rigid knot,

and cruelly shove your corpses  

to the gluttonous raven [12].

[11] The central exchange consisting of threats begins.

[12]: Parallelism. How to phrase "Sictrugus will kill you" in five ways ft. how to phrase "Sictrugus will hang you" in three ways.

_______

Before that, Gram  

will send him to the netherworld, [13]  

offer him to Orcus.  

Before death closes  

his own eyes,

he will hurl him whirling  

into the terrifying Tartarus [14].  

We do not fear  

Swedish soldiers.

For what reason  

do you threaten us

with mournful murder, girl?

[13] Counterthreat.

[14] Parallelism. Three ways of saying "Gram will send Sictrugus to the underworld" ie. "Gram will kill him".

_______

I will depart from here

to revisit the famed  

halls of my father,  

lest I should rashly see  

your brother's [15]  

battle lines approaching.  

I pray that if you remain,  

your final fate  

will seize you.  

[15] Gro apparently believes that Bessus is the brother of her monstrous fiancé. This has caused some confusion and suspicions of Saxo misunderstanding his source, but see the introduction to this post. Gro's mistaken identifcation presumably means that Bessus is also dressed as a giant, pretending to be the giant's brother, and that Gro spies Gram's army approaching.  

_______

Go back to your father  

in good spirits, child,  

and do not pray  

for our rapid demise,  

and do not let anger

batter your chest.

Indeed, a difficult woman  

often roughly refuses  

a suitor the first time  

but gives in  

the second [16].

[16] The second half of the stanza seems to be proverbial. Stephanius provides an Icelandic parallel: Byst er brúður að fyrstu biðli, en viknar siðan - "the bride is angry at the first offer, but yields later on". 

This remark is yet another wink to the audience. It's interesting that it's the proverbial utterances that provide hints for the audience.

_______

After this Gram couldn't stay silent any longer, advanced on the girl, and, emulating the horrendous speech of monsters, spoke with a grim voice: 

A maiden must not fear the rabid giant's brother, 

nor grow pale when I get close to her. 

Sent by Grip [17], I shall never lie in any girl's bed, 

unless I have her consent [18].

[17] The reference to Grip is somewhat puzzling. 

[18] Temperantia is a key royal virtue in Gesta Danorum, and raping Gro would be an intolerable act of untamed libido, the antithesis to temperantia.

_______

To which Gro said: 

What sensible woman would want to be a giant's whore, 

and who could love his monster-bearing embrace? 

Who could be the wife of a demon, 

aware of his monster-breeding seed? 

Who would want 

to share her bed with giants? 

Who would caress a thorn with her fingers? 

Who would sincerely mix her kisses with mud? 

Who would join her smooth limbs 

to unevenly placed, shaggy arms? 

When nature cries out in protest 

none can fully enjoy the leisure of Venus; 

monsters do not match the love 

that women are wont to feel. 

Gram replied: 

This conquering arm has many times 

tamed the necks of mighty kings, 

this overpowering right hand 

has crushed their swollen pride. 

Take this red gold! [19] By that gift, we may enter into an eternally lasting pact of firm faith, that we will found our marriage upon.[20] With these words he cast off his disguise and made the innate beauty of his countance known. His true appearance brought as much pleasure to the girl as the false had struck her with terror. His gorgeous figure excited her to have sex with him, and he did not forget to bestow her with romantic presents [21].

[19] Gold is famously red in Old Norse literature. 

[20] The marriage turned out to be less of the "eternally lasting pact of firm faith"-kind and more of the "I'll vow to divorce you the moment I lay my eyes on another princess"-kind. 

[21] What a surprising end! See note 16 in part one. Alright friends of Frothi, that's it for this time. Light on commentary, but 𝒿𝓊𝒾𝒸𝓎.