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Like Moytura before it
this tale straddles at least two epochs.
***
***
Both stone and iron ages are depicted
coexisting as one.
***
***
It is possible that the whole tale
was constructed in order
to explain why Thor went to Jotunheim
without his hammer.
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***
Which simply means that the crux of the tale
was originally told before Thor possessed a hammer.
***
Thor fishes for Jormungand, the World Serpent, with an ox head
***
Why else would the god have hurled
a rock at Gjalp and not a hammer?
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‘Gjalp’ we are told means ‘giant’
and here the river hag is ‘sinister’
while in the Irish tale, the hag,
glossed as the Morrigan, is ‘righteous’
and helps the gods magically overcome the giants.
***
***
The magic, despite being
occluded in both tales, is derived
from the potency of menstrual blood.
*
France & Vincent 