ABSTRACT
RígsÞula does not occur in the Codex Regius of the Poetic Edda; it is found instead in the Codex Wormianus, a principal manuscript of Snorri’s Edda. Based on its style and subject matter, however, it is usually allowed into the canon of Eddic mythological poems (the same is true of Baldrs draumar and Hyndluljóð, treated together with Vǫluspá in the next essay). A prose introduction clarifies that Rígr was an alias of Heimdallr, one of the Æsir. He comes to the house of Ái and Edda (Great-grandfather and Great-grandmother). They feed him; he advises them and sleeps between them for three nights. Nine months later Edda bears a child they call ÞrÆll (thrall, slave or serf). His appearance and duties and those of his eventual mate and children are described. (The catalogue of their many names, and those of Karl’s and Jarl’s families, is probably reflected in the poem’s title; a Þula is a list.) Next Rígr stays at the house of Afi and Amma (Grandfather and Grandmother), where he engenders Karl (freeman or peasant farmer); then at the house of Faðir and Móðir (Father and Mother), where he engenders Jarl (nobleman). Rígr instructs him in runes and aristocratic accomplishments. Jarl marries; his youngest son is called Konr ungr (young nobleman). He knows runes and, like the young legendary hero Sigurðr, he can understand the language of birds. Doubtless he will grow up to become a konun-gr (king), but the poem breaks off fragmentarily, after a crow exhorts Konr ungr to pursue the martial career of his father.
