Krákumál

Krákumál or the Lay of Kraka is a skaldic poem, consisting of a monologue in which Ragnar Lodbrok is dying in Ælla's snake pit and looks back at a life full of heroic deeds.

In moving and forceful language, the poem deals with the joys of the life of a warrior, the hope that his death will be followed by a gory revenge, and the knowledge that he will soon know the pleasures of Valhalla.

The poem has been translated into several languages and it has contributed to the modern image of a Viking warrior.

Hitt vas æ fyr löngu, es á Gautlandi gengum at grafvitnis morði; þá fengum vér Þóru, þaðan hétu mik fyrðar, es lyngölun lagðak, Loðbrók at því vígi; stakk á storðar lykkju stáli bjartra mála.

[4] Then we received Þóra; since then (at that battle when I killed the heather-fish) people called me shaggy-breeches.