SkÃðarÃma
SkÃðarÃma is a humorous Icelandic rÃma, from around 1400, of unknown authorship.
The hero is the audacious and inventive beggar SkÃði, who was apparently a historic figure from the 12th century. It was also a real event that he had a dream in 1195, and it is this dream that is the matter of SkÃðarÃma. SkÃði dreams that Óðinn sends Þórr to fetch SkÃði in order to broker peace between Heðinn and Högni as their incessant war about Hildr threatens to destroy Valhalla. SkÃði manages to make peace by asking to marry Hildr and finding her willing.
However, as SkÃði could not stop mentioning the word God in front of the Æsir, and finally makes the sign of the cross, Heimdallr struck him in the mouth with the Gjallarhorn. However, some of the Einherjar side with SkÃði, whereas others are against him. A great battle ensued with a great many heroic deeds, some of them done by the pathetic beggar himself, until finally Sigurðr the dragon slayer throws him out through the door. SkÃði wakes up with a lot of pain in a farm on Iceland.
The depiction of the grovelling, avaricious and impudent beggar is considered to be very funny, and the poem is full of burlesque humour.
Editions and translations
- Maurer, Konrad von (ed.), Die SkÃda-rÃma (Munich: Verlag der k. Akademie, 1869)
- Kvæðasafn eptir Ãslenzka menn frá miðöldum og sÃðari öldum. Fyrsta deild: Ljóðmæli nafngreindra höfunda (Hið Ãslenska bókmentafélag, 1922), digitised at http://bragi.info/ljod.php?ID=4649
- Finnur Jónsson's 1929 Copenhagen edition digitised at http://heimskringla.no/wiki/Sk%C3%AD%C3%B0ar%C3%ADma
- Theo Homan (ed.), SkÃðarÃma: An Inquiry into Written and Printed Texts, References and Commentaries, Amsterdamer Publikationen zur Sprache und Literatur, 20 (Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1975) (including an English translation pp. 347-59)
Source
- Nordisk familjebok on the poem: Skiðarima