1. Wild was Vingthor when he awoke, And when his mighty hammer he missed;

2. He shook his beard, his hair was bristling, As the son of Jorth about him sought.

3. Hear now the speech that first he spake: "Harken, Loki, and heed my words, Nowhere on earth is it known to man, Nor in heaven above: our hammer is stolen."

4. To the dwelling fair of Freyja went they, Hear now the speech that first he: "Wilt thou, Freyja, thy feather-dress lend me, That so my hammer I may seek?"

5. Freyja: "Thine should it be though of silver bright, And I would give it though 'twere of gold." Then Loki flew, and the feather-dress whirred, Till he left behind him the home of the gods, And reached at last the realm of the giants.

6. Thrym sat on a mound, the giants' master, Leashes of gold he laid for his dogs, And stroked and smoothed the manes of his steeds.

7. Thrym: "How fare the gods, how fare the elves? Why comst thou alone to the giants' land?"

8. Loki: "III fare the gods, ill fare the elves! Hast thou hidden Hlorrithi's hammer?"

9. Thrym: "I have hidden Hlorrithi's hammer, Eight miles down deep in the earth; And back again shall no man bring it If Freyja I win not to be my wife."

10. Then Loki flew, and the feather-dress whirred, Till he left behind him the home of the giants, And reached at last the realm of the gods. There in the courtyard Thor he met:

11. Hear now the speech that first he: "Hast thou found tidings as well as trouble? Thy news in the air shalt thou utter now; Oft doth the sitter his story forget, And lies he speaks who lays himself down."

12. Loki: I0. "Trouble I have, and tidings as well: Thrym, king of the giants, keeps thy hammer, And back again shall no man bring it If Freyja he wins not to be his wife."

13. Freyja the fair then went they to find Hear now the speech that first he: "Bind on, Freyja, the bridal veil, For we two must haste to the giants' home."

14. Wrathful was Freyja, and fiercely she snorted, And the dwelling great of the gods was shaken, And burst was the mighty Brisings' necklace: "Most lustful indeed should I look to all If I journeyed with thee to the giants' home."

15. Then were the gods together met, And the goddesses came and council held, And the far-famed ones a plan would find, How they might Hlorrithi's hammer win.

16. Then Heimdall spake, whitest of the gods, Like the Wanes he knew the future well: "Bind we on Thor the bridal veil, Let him bear the mighty Brisings' necklace;

17. "Keys around him let there rattle, And down to his knees hang woman's dress; With gems full broad upon his breast, And a pretty cap to crown his head."

18. Then Thor the mighty his answer made: "Me would the gods unmanly call If I let bind the bridal veil."

19. Then Loki spake, the son of Laufey: "Be silent, Thor, and speak not thus;

20. Else will the giants in Asgarth dwell If thy hammer is brought not home to thee."

21. Then bound they on Thor the bridal veil, And next the mighty Brisings' necklace.

22. Keys around him let they rattle, And down to his knees hung woman's dress; With gems full broad upon his breast, And a pretty cap to crown his head.

23. Then Loki spake, the son of Laufey: "As thy maid-servant thither I go with thee; We two shall haste to the giants' home."

24. Then home the goats to the hall were driven, They wrenched at the halters, swift were they to run; The mountains burst, earth burned with fire, And Othin's son sought Jotunheim.

25. Then loud spake Thrym, the giants' leader: "Bestir ye, giants, put straw on the benches;

13 more verses…

About this reader

What is Scripture?

Scripture is a browser-based reader for sixteen sacred texts spanning multiple religious and literary traditions. It provides chapter-by-chapter navigation, full-text search across all works, word concordance with frequency analysis, verse-linked notes, text-to-speech, and deep linking to any chapter or verse.

Traditions Represented

The collection spans Abrahamic, East Asian, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and Nordic traditions. Christian texts include the King James Version Old and New Testaments (1611) and Apocrypha. The Quran uses Marmaduke Pickthall's 1930 English translation. Latter-day Saint scripture includes the Book of Mormon (1830), Doctrine and Covenants (1835), and Pearl of Great Price (1851).

Confucian works include James Legge's translations of The Four Books (1893) and the Book of Poetry (1876). The Tao Te Ching uses Legge's 1891 translation. The Kojiki uses Basil Hall Chamberlain's 1919 English translation. Zoroastrian texts include the Bundahishn (E. W. West, 1880) and the Arda Viraf (Haug & West, 1872). The Lotus Sutra uses Hendrik Kern's 1884 translation. The Finnish Kalevala uses John Martin Crawford's 1888 translation, and the Norse Poetic Edda uses Henry Adams Bellows' 1923 translation.

Public Domain Translations

Every translation in this collection is in the public domain. The most recent translation dates to 1930 (Pickthall's Quran). All texts are freely available for reading, study, quotation, and redistribution with no copyright restrictions.

Concordance and Related Passages

The concordance indexes every word across all sixteen works, showing frequency and distribution. TF-IDF (term frequency-inverse document frequency) scoring identifies passages with similar vocabulary across different traditions, enabling comparative study without requiring prior knowledge of each text's structure. TF-IDF weights words that are frequent in one chapter but rare across the corpus, surfacing meaningful thematic connections rather than common function words.

Deep Linking

Every chapter and verse has a permanent URL. Chapter links follow the pattern /scripture/{work}/{book}-{chapter} (e.g., /scripture/ot/gen-1 for Genesis 1). Verse links append the verse number (e.g., /scripture/ot/gen-1:26 for Genesis 1:26). These URLs can be shared, bookmarked, or cited directly.

Accessibility

Scripture supports keyboard navigation throughout: Tab moves between controls, Enter activates verse actions, and arrow keys navigate chapters. The reading pane has a skip-to-content link. All overlays (search, concordance) are focus-trapped ARIA dialogs. Dynamic content regions use aria-live for screen reader announcements. High-contrast mode is available via the theme toggle. Verse numbers are visible to assistive technology. No flashing content or motion hazards.

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