Haustlǫng is a skaldic poem composed around the beginning of the 10th century by the Norwegian skaldÞjóðólfr of Hvinir. The poem has been preserved in the 13th-century Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, who quotes two groups of stanzas from it and some verses to illustrate technical features of skaldic diction. Snorri also who drew inspiration from Þjóðólfr to redact his own version of the myths told in Haustlöng. The poem describes mythological scenes said by the skald to have been painted on a shield: Loki's betraying of Iðunn, the Æsir's "old-age cure", who was snatched from them by the eagle-shaped jötunnÞjazi; and Thor's victorious combat against the strongest of the jötnar, Hrungnir.
Title
The title of the poem, Haustlǫng, translated as 'Autumn-long', may refer to its period of composition or gestation by the skald, identified from a relatively early period with Þjóðólfr of Hvinir.
Text
Abduction of Iðunn
The stanzas 1–13 of the poem depicts the encounter of the ÆsirOdin, Loki and Hœnir with the jötunn Þjazi in the form of an eagle. As the three gods Odin, Loki and Hœnir are trying to cook an ox, the eagle-shaped Þjazi asks for some. Loki strikes at him with a staff, but the latter sticks to the eagle and to Loki's hand as the bird flies out. The eagle then asks Loki to bring him the gods' "old-age cure", Iðunn. Without Iðunn, tells the poet, "all Ingi-Freyr’s kin became old and grey in their assembly; the powers were rather ugly in form". Then the gods catch Loki and force him to get Iðunn back: "‘You shall be trapped, Loki,’ the angry one spoke thus, ‘unless by some scheme you bring back the renowned maid, enlarger of the fetters' joy." Loki flies to Jötunheimar with the help of a hawk's flight-skin. There the Jötnar direct a storm-wind against the eagle-shaped god to keep him out from their abode.
In the stanzas 14–20 of Haustlöng, Þjóðólfr depicts Thor's journey to the duel with the jötunn Hrungnir while the entire cosmos reacts. Then Hrungnir and Thor fight by hurling their weapons at each other, and the poem alludes at the end to the removal of the piece of whetstone from Thor's head. Compared to Snorri Sturluson's account, Þjóðólfr emphasizes more on Thor's journey to the battle, escorted by noise and flames, while Snorri makes relatively little of it and also describes Hrungnir's journey. Thor's servant Þjálfi and Hrungnir's clay-made giant Mokkurkálfi are absent from Þjóðólfr’s version.
Other verses
Two other verses of Haustlöng have survived for they are also cited in the 13th-century Prose Edda:
"Middlingly free of deceit, he was a slow provider of service to the god. The helmet-capped educator of the fettersdeclared there was something behind it."
