Jackson Crawford > Quotes

“The Lokasenna (Loki's taunts):
Njorth, you were sent from the west
as a hostage for the gods.
The daughters of Hymir
used your mouth as a urinal,
and you’ve tasted plenty of piss.
...
Freyja, you are a witch,
and have dealt out many curses.
I hear the gods found you
lying with your brother,
and that you farted then.
...
“Tyr,
or don’t you know your own wife
had a son by me?
You poor fool,
I’ll never pay you a penny
in compensation for that.
...
“Sif, I alone know
how you were unfaithful
to your husband Thor—
and I was the one you slept with.
...
And you, Odin, you always judge battles
unfairly for humans.
You have often given
defeat to the better side,
when you shouldn’t have.

And Odin said:
“Even if I did judge unfairly,
and made the better side lose,
I know that you,
for eight years,
lived on the earth down below
as a cow in milk, and as a woman,
and you’ve given birth to children—
I call that a pervert’s way of living!”
― Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“They came to the treasure chest,
they asked for the keys.
They realized Volund’s skill
when they peered inside.
The boys saw
many ornaments,
all of them made
of gold and gems.

Volund said, “Come back alone,
just you two, the day after tomorrow.
I will give all this
gold to you if you do.
Don’t tell the ladies,
don’t tell the men—
don’t tell anyone at all
that you’re meeting with me.

Early on the appointed day,
one boy said to the other:
“Let’s go see the rings.”
So the two boys came
and asked for the keys.
They realized Volund’s skill
when they peered inside.

He cut off the heads
of those young boys,
he hid their bodies
under his bellows.
But he took their skulls
and scalped them,
set them with silver,
and sent them as cups to Nithuth.

And from the eyes
of those young boys
he made jewels for
their mother.”
― Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“Loki hid in the Falls of Frananger in the shape of a salmon, but the gods caught him. He was tied up with the intestines of his son Nari... Skathi took a poisonous snake and tied it up over Loki; poison dripped on his face from its mouth... this hurt him so badly that he trembled, and all the world with him. This is what is called an earthquake.”
― Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“Don’t praise the day until it’s night,
don’t praise your wife until she’s buried,
don’t praise the sword till after the fight,
nor your daughter till she’s married,
don’t praise the ice until it’s crossed,
nor the ale until you’re sloshed.”
― Jackson Crawford, The Poetic Edda: Stories of the Norse Gods and Heroes

“What can a dead man do?”
― Jackson Crawford

“You should keep moving.
You should never be a guest forever
in any one place.
Your welcome will wear out
if you stay too long
beneath another's roof.”
― Jackson Crawford

“Never go
even a single step
without a weapon at your side;
you never know
when you might find yourself
in need of a spear”
― Jackson Crawford

“Cows die,
family die,
you will die the same way.
But a good reputation
never dies
for the one who earns it well.

Cows die,
family die,
you will die the same way.
I know only one thing
that never dies:
the reputation of the one who's died.”
― Jackson Crawford