Abstract
The subject of the following article is a comparison of the two versions of the Geirrøð myth as handed down in the skaldic poem Torsdrapa by Eilífr Goðrunárson and in the prose narrative in the Skaldskaparmal by Snorri Sturluson. Although the two versions agree in their general structure of the three adventures - the raging mountain river, the giantesses who constrict Þórr, and the competition with glowing pieces of iron with Geirrøðr - a detailed comparison shows that there are considerable differences between them. Points of comparison are the prior history of Þór’s adventure journey, the three gifts of the giantess Gríðr, Þór's companion (Loki or Þjalfi), the way to the world of the giants, the representation of the raging river, the giant fights with the giantesses and Geirrøðr. The main points of the result are: 1. The absence of the giantess Gríðr in the Torsdrapa as a warner and helper, 2. the absence of Þór's companion Þjalfi in the Skaldskaparmal, who plays an important role in the Þórsdrápa as Þór's comrade-in-arms. His role as a companion, but not as a comradein- arm, is partly taken over by Loki in the Skaldskaparmal. Both lead to the absence of giant battles there. 3. The world of giants is portrayed very differently in both texts. While the Skaldskaparmal draw a realistic world apart from the size of the giant opponents, the giant world of the Torsdrapa is partly characterized as an underworld, partly as a mythical half-world, in which natural conditions can turn into mythical opponents, such as the river or the stone. The considerable differences between the two versions suggest that the source of Snorri's prose narrative was not the Torsdrapa itself, but probably an eddic, narrative text like Hymiskvida or Trymskvida.
