The Treasures of
the Gods
Loki’s malice was in reality the occasion of the acquiring by the
Æsir
of all the precious weapons and treasures that served them in such
good
stead during their warfare with the Giants. Once upon a time Loki
cut off all
of Sif’s hair. When Thor found out what had happened, he seized
upon Loki
and threatened to crush every bone in his body; he relented only
on
Loki’s swearing that he would get the Dark-Elves to fashion for
Sif hair from
gold that would grow like other hair. Loki went with his task to
certain
Dwarfs known as the Sons of Ivaldi; and they, made not only the
hair but
also the ship Skidbladnir and the spear Gungnir. Loki promptly
laid a wager
of his own head with another Dwarf, named Brokk, that the Dwarf’s
brother
Sindri was not craftsman enough to make three other talismans as
precious
as these. Brokk and Sindri repaired to the smithy, where Sindri,
laying a
pig’s hide in the forge, asked Brokk to blow the bellows without
pause until
he himself returned to take the hide out again. No sooner had
Sindri gone
than a fly alighted on Brokk’s arm and stung him; he kept the
bellows going
nevertheless, and when Sindri lifted his workmanship from the
forge, it
turned out to be a boar with golden bristles. Next he laid some
gold in the
forge, asked Brokk to blow as before, and went away; at once the
fly came
back, settled on Brokk’s neck, and stung him twice as hard as the
first time.
Brokk notwithstanding held out until Sindri returned and lifted
from the forge
the gold ring Draupnir. Then he laid some iron in the fire and
asked Brokk
to blow, insisting that the work would be spoiled if the blowing
stopped; but
the fly came once more, settled between Brokk’s eyes, and stung
him on
the eyelids so that the blood ran down and blinded him. He could
not
refrain from loosing his hold on the bellows with one hand to
drive the fly
away. Just at that moment the smith returned and declared that his
handiwork had been on the very point of coming to naught; he
lifted it from
the forge, and it proved to be a hammer. Giving all three pieces
to Brokk, he
told him to make his way to Asgard and demand payment of the
wager.
The Æsir took their places on the judgment seats and came to the
decision
that Odin, Thor, and Frey were to judge between Loki and Brokk.
Loki gave
to Odin the spear Gungnir, which never failed of its mark; to Thor
he gave
the golden hair, which took root as soon as it was fixed on Sif’s
head; and
to Frey he gave the ship Skidbladnir, which always found favoring
winds
and which could be folded up and placed in a pocket as occasion
might
befall. Brokk gave to Odin the ring Draupnir, from which each
ninth night
there dropped eight other rings as heavy as itself. To Frey he
gave the boar
Gullinbusti, who was able to run through the air and over the sea
more
swiftly than any horse; no night was so black, no murky region so
dark as
not to be illumined by his passage, so powerful was the light that
shone
from his bristles. To Thor he gave the hammer Mjollnir; with it he
could
strike as hard a blow as he pleased at anything that came in his
way, and
yet the hammer suffered not the least dent; he could throw it so
as always
to hit what he aimed at, and the hammer would return to his hand
of its own
power; when he so desired, he could make it small and put it in
his pocket;
he had but one fault to find: the shaft was rather short. The Æsir
promptly
judged that Brokk had won the wager; in Mjollnir they had acquired
the very
best defence against the Rime-Thursar. Loki wanted to redeem his
head,
but the Dwarf would not consent. “Catch me if you can,” said Loki;
and no
sooner had he spoken than he was far away, for he wore shoes that
could
carry him through the air and over the seas. The Dwarf asked Thor
to seize
him, and Thor did so. Brokk was about to cut off Loki’s head, but
Loki
declared that the wager called for his head only, and not for his
neck. Brokk
then began sewing Loki’s lips together. He was unable to make an
incision
with his own knife, but with his brother’s awl he managed to make
openings
through which, he could sew the mouth up tight; that done, he tore
out
through the lips the thong he had used in sewing them together.
Sources:
Peter
Andreas Munch: Norse Mythology: Legends of Gods
and Heroes. The American-Scandinavian Foundation, New
York. 1926, pp. 50-53.
Rasmus B. Anderson (Ed.): The Elder Eddas of Saemund
Sigfusson and the Younger Eddas of Snorre Sturleson.
Norræna Society, London-New York. 1906.
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