(Loki transformed as a bird, by W.G. Collingwood (1854 - 1932), [Public
Domain] via Creative Commons)
Troublesome Loki
In most Norse legends, Loki
was often the culprit behind the dangerous or embarrassing situations that
plagued the gods. He, however, usually set things right with the gods and fixed
the problems he created (with the exception of the myth where he caused the
death of the god, Baldr). This is one such myth—Loki nearly ushered the world
to destruction, but eventually saved the day, ending with Loki giving Odin a
great gift, the eight-legged horse, Sleipnir.
The Preposterous Offer
When Asgard, Valhalla and
Midgard were just freshly formed, a builder from the land of giants approached
the Norse gods with an ambitious contract. He proposed that he could build for
the Æsir (Norse gods) a magnificent fortress the likes of which had never be
seen. It would be unassailable by giants, trolls, man and monsters, and better
yet, the builder promised the structure could be completed within three
seasons. The builder, however, did not work for free, and such a wonderful
fortress, built at such an alarming speed, would not come cheap. For his price,
the builder did not want money or land. No, his demands were for the goddess
Freyja’s hand in marriage, with the Sun and Moon (living entities in Norse
mythology) as a side payment.
(Loki Taunting Bragi in a meeting of Æsir, by W.G. Collingwood (1854 -
1932), [Public Domain] via Creative Commons)
The Æsir gathered in a
council and weighed their options. For some reason, the Norse gods let Loki
join in the conversation, which inevitably caused trouble. The Æsir emerged
from their meeting and laid out their counter-offer for the builder. They
agreed to honor the builder’s terms if he could complete his unprecedented
fortress in one season, which happened to be winter. For the construction of
the fortress, the builder could not receive any help from anyone, be they
human, giant, monster or god. Loki, however, added one clause to the agreement:
the builder’s stallion, Svadilfari, could be used as a beast of burden. If the
builder, using only his own hands and the aid of his horse, could complete the
fortress within one season, the Norse gods promised that he would indeed be
given the Sun, Moon and the goddess, Freyja, as his prize.
With the terms set, the
builder quickly got into his rhythm. During the night, he would lead out his
stallion, Svadilfari, to haul in stone to the construction site. When sunlight
began to pierce the darkness of night, the builder would set to work building
the fortress. Though the builder’s work ethic was impeccable, the Æsir hardly
believed that a single worker and his horse could construct an unassailable
fortress in a mere season. Nevertheless, to the astonishment of the gods, the
builder began to construct the fortress at an incredibly steady and efficient
pace.
Realization and Regret
As a giant, the builder was
immensely strong in his own right. He had no problem cutting, lifting and
setting the blocks of stone that steadily brought the fortress into reality. To
the horror of the Æsir, however, the stallion, Svadilfari, was at least twice
as strong as his giant master, allowing him to haul in unbelievable amounts of
stone each night. During the day, the builder did not need to leave the
construction site, for he had all the materials he needed piled next to the
growing fortress.
With incredible stamina, the
builder and his horse continued to drag in stone during the night and then place
the blocks of stone into the fortification during the day, for the rest of the
season. With only three days of winter left, the fortress was as mighty and
impregnable as the builder had promised, with only the entryway left
unfinished. At his staggering pace, the builder would definitely complete
magnificent citadel before the three days were complete.
(Gathering of Norse gods, by Lucy Fitch Perkins (1865-1937), [Public
Domain] via Creative Commons)
Panicked by the nearing
success of the builder, the Norse gods called an emergency meeting. They could
not allow Freyja, the Sun and the Moon to fall into the hands of the giants.
They thought back to the contract that they had made with the builder, and
looked for loopholes and ways to void the agreement. As they scanned their
thoughts, the gods remembered who among them had suggested that the builder
could use the stallion, Svadilfari, as a beast of burden—it was, of course, Loki,
the ever-troublesome pest to the gods. At this recollection, all the Æsir turned
to Loki and demanded that he fix the mess he had caused. Under threat of a
lengthy and painful death if he did not set things right, Loki set off to make
sure the builder could not claim his prize.
Horsing Around
Loki determined that the
lynchpin that held together the builder’s construction process was the powerful
stallion, Svadilfari. Therefore, the trickster of the Norse gods decided to
focus his plans on the horse. He needed to end the immense supply of stone that
Svadilfari brought to the fortress every night. Without the stone, the builder
would not be able to complete the entrance to the citadel before winter came to
close.
(Loki and Svadilfari by Dorothy Hardy (c. 1891 - 1925), [Public Domain]
via Creative Commons)
The best tool at Loki’s
disposal was his mastery of shape shifting, a skill he used to great effect in
all of his myths. When night fell, and the builder led his stallion out to
gather stone, Loki transformed himself into a beautiful mare. The Loki-mare
trotted up to, Svadilfari, and pranced and paraded itself for the horse to see,
thoroughly distracting the powerful stallion from its work. In a lustful
frenzy, the stallion broke free of the builder’s harness and chased after its
desire, but the Loki-mare fled to the forest. There, Loki kept the stallion
preoccupied for the entire night.
When the builder saw morning
arise before any stone was gathered, he knew he would not be able to complete
his fortress before the winter’s end. With his prize of Freyja, the Sun and the
Moon so close, but rendered unobtainable, the builder became enraged. The Norse
gods quickly claimed that the giant going berserk on their very doorstep
qualified as a breach of contract, and felt justified in sending Thor to quiet
the livid builder. Thor, much more fond of violence than diplomacy, simply
brandished his hammer, Mjollnir, and smashed the builder’s head with a single
blow. So ended the builder who almost won Freyja, the Sun and the Moon from the
Æsir.
The story, however, does not
end there. Loki’s shape shifting abilities proved to be very precise, thorough
and accurate. He also, it seems, did much more than innocently lead the stallion
around the forest during the time he was transformed into a mare. According to
the myth, after Loki’s encounter with the stallion, Svadilfari, in the forest,
he became pregnant with not a child, but with a colt. As the tale goes, Loki
gave birth to a grey, eight-legged horse. Its name was Sleipnir—Odin’s personal
horse, and the greatest mount in the stables of the Norse gods.
(Odin riding Sleipnir, by W.G. Collingwood (1854 - 1932), [Public
Domain] via Creative Commons)
Source:
- The Prose Edda by Snorri Sturluson, translated by Jesse L. Byock. New York: Penguin Books, 2005.
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