Austrfararvísur

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Austrfararvísur "East Journey Verses" is a skaldic poem composed by the Icelandic skald Sigvatr Þórðarson in the 1020s. Sigvatr was visiting the Norwegian king Olaf and was sent on a delegation to the Swedish king Olaf.

The poem relates that somewhere in Sweden, probably Värmland, they arrived at a place called Hof. The door was shut, and the people were hostile. They said that the farm was holy and that they were not welcome. Sigvatr cursed them by saying "may the Trolls take you". The mistress of the household asked him not to insist because she feared Odin's wrath, and that they were pagans. She also told him that they were having the Elven blót and that the Christians were not welcome.

[edit] External links

• The poem in Old Norse, two editions