Myths and Legends from Around the World

by Robin Brockman

  “You see,” Loki whispered into his ear by way of explanation, “my lady was so excited about coming to the land of the giants and her impending nuptials that she has not eaten in many days.”

  The giant was more enraptured than ever. “I like a woman with a good appetite.” Of course, the dear thing was excited. “And it is right that she should now make herself at home.”

  Emboldened by this news of Freyja's eagerness to be his bride, he lifted her veil to steal a kiss only to draw back as if bitten. The fire in Thor's eyes had been impossible to disguise and perhaps some impression of his ruddy face had also got through to the lecherous giant.

  “Alas,” Loki said swiftly, “my lady has not slept these eight nights, so anxious has she been to come here to Jotunheim and be with you. It was her weariness and bloodshot eyes combined with the heat of her passion which you saw.”

  “By eternity, I'll be bound it was,” Thrym exclaimed, now keener than ever to have the beautiful creature, and wouldn't she rest so much better afterwards?

  Rubbing his hands together he ordered that everything be made ready for them to be married at once.

  “And what of your promise?” Thor said as softly and shyly as he could. “A girl doesn't want to be taken for granted.”

  “Of course, your bride price, I'll fetch it at once.”

  Thrym was gone some time, going down so many fathoms into the earth. When he came back, all had been made ready for the consecration of his union with ‘Freyja’. By now he was so hot and bothered he practically breathed steam. His eye roved over his fiancée's body and he was sure he discerned a beautiful figure under the flowing gown. As was the custom he placed the dowry – which was, of course, Thor's hammer, Mjolnir – on the bride's knees. As he put it there Thrym could not resist a little feel of the goods, imagining that his shapely bride was a very firm and fit young woman. Thor, flexed his well-developed pectoral muscles, hefted the hammer and smiled. Right, he thought, let's see how he likes it now.

  Throwing off the veil and roaring in fury, Thor rose up brandishing Mjolnir, all illusion dispelled. The look on Thrym's face was enough to give him pause for a fit of laughter, and then he laid into the giant with a will.

  “You're not just a thief but a damned masher,” cried Thor, swinging the hammer down on the gaping giant's skull.

  Next he flew at the rest of Thrym's band and slew or frightened off the lot of them. Loki, meanwhile, only had to stand aside and give him elbow room. When at last Thor's fury was exhausted and all the giants were dispatched or had fled, the two gods made their way home to Asgard.

  The whole affair did nothing to improve relations between the Aesir and the giants, however, and Loki soon found himself embroiled in another intrigue between the feuding sides. Again it involved his enjoyment of the use of Freyja's feathered robe and subsequent flight in his own form. While on this jaunt he fell into the hands of a giant who thought he was a rare bird and put him in a cage. Geirrod, the giant who captured him, was not a very attentive collector, and failed to feed his latest prize. After three whole months with nothing to eat and no chance of escape, the tricky god had had enough. He got Geirrod's attention, removed the robe and announced his true identity.

  After the giant had regained his composer, for his laughter had been long, deep and straight from the belly, he refused to release the god unless he agreed to a particular bargain.

  “I would rather have one of the Aesir among my menagerie than any bird,” he chuckled, “so it makes little odds to me whether you accept or not.”

  “I'll agree to whatever you want,” Loki said without hesitation. “Just let me out and give me some food, will you?”

  “You will have to swear such an oath that even you would never dare to go back on the bargain I have in mind.” Geirrod grinned, wagging an enormous finger in Loki's face. “You have a reputation.”

  “I'll swear to anything you like or on anything you like.”

  “Because what I want will be both difficult and involve selling out one of your own. What do you say to that?”

  “How difficult? Would it involve a lot of work?”

  “Is that all that troubles you?” Geirrod laughed again. “Probably it will be very easy for you of all people, now I think about it.”

  “Pass over a goose leg or a bit of cheese and tell me all about it.”

  So it was that then and there Loki agreed to betray Thor. The slippery god had so little compunction about doing this that Geirrod was still shaking his head and laughing as Loki flew back to Asgard.

  The jolly giant had been quite correct. It was simplicity itself for Loki to trick Thor, even though the deal involved delivering him without his iron gloves, the hammer, Mjolnir, or the girdle that gave him supernatural strength. Abandoning these would make him virtually helpless and easy meat for Geirrod, who could then kill or keep him prisoner at will.

  “Where have you been, Loki? Visiting Hell? You look like death warmed up and not very warmed up at that.” Thor said on their first meeting after Loki's return.

  Until this moment Loki had not been sure what tack to take but suddenly he began to improvise.

  “I tell you, Thor, I am worn to a frazzle, but what a time I've had. The drink, the women, the music. That Geirrod can certainly throw a party. And it never stops. I had to come home for a rest before I was carried off entirely by sheer pleasure.”

  “Who is Geirrod?” asked an intrigued Thor.

  “Oh, you wouldn't like him, not your sort at all. And anyway he is a giant. But so are his entertainments. Mercy!”

  “I don't hate all giants.”

  “No, but you want to fight and kill them.”

  “Not every single giant in creation, I don't.”

  “Well, Geirrod is certainly no fighter. Doesn't even own or approve of weapons of any sort. He just wants peace between gods, giants and men. He doesn't have any prejudices against anyone, even dwarfs, elves and demons, would you believe? No, he is not your sort. I probably couldn't get you an invitation. But it has to be said, you're really missing out.”

  “I'd like to think I can get along with anyone, given half a chance,” said Thor, a little taken aback. “I have friends among the giants and dwarfs, and you know it. How is the food and drink at Geirrod's?”

  “Unbelievable, but I was too busy to eat much, as you see. Look at all the weight I've lost. But the girls are fantastic and they come from every realm, drawn by Geirrod's open-minded views. And don't they have open-minded views themselves!”

  “Be a sport, Loki,” Thor grinned. “Get me an invitation.”

  “No, you are a militant and it just wouldn't work. He wouldn't take to you.”

  “I am not a militant,” Thor assured him. “I like peace. True, just peace as much as the next god, man or giant.”

  “Well, you'd have to prove it. I mean you'd have to go unarmed. I doubt you'd even be welcome wearing your iron gloves and that girdle. They are weapons too, after all. To a passive sort like Geirrod they surely would seem to be …”

  “I'll go unarmed then,” Thor assured Loki. “No problem.”

  “Well, I'll see what I can do,” Loki said doubtfully. “Look me up in a few days.”

  Eventually Loki told Thor he had managed to get him an invite to the ‘great unending festivities’ at Geirrod's palace. If the mighty Thor were willing to come unarmed, he said, he could be assured that the celebrating and feasting would be more extraordinary than ever. The girls would be especially impressed by Thor's gesture of peace and trust.

  Thor could hardly wait to get there and thought nothing of it when Loki insisted that he was not yet rested enough to return to the rigours of such lavish and extravagant partying. Alone Thor set off in eager anticipation of having the time of his life. Only chance, not any scruple from Loki, saved him.

  On the way, and indeed very near Geirrod's home, Thor ran into an old flame, and luckily, one who still carried a torch for him. This was the giantess Grid, who was also the mo
ther of his child, born of an affair they had enjoyed years before. For some time now they had been ‘just friends’, but she was very glad to see him and they spent a pleasant half hour exchanging news.

  “Where are you off to now?” Grid asked.

  “I've got an invitation to one of the big parties that Geirrod gives. Or rather the one always in progress at his palace.”

  “Parties? At Geirrod's place?”

  “I hear they are really something, the food, the drink, the music, the wom … the food,” Thor checked himself.

  “Are you kidding? Geirrod is too cheap even to feed his pets, and he hates the Aesir. The only thing he would invite a god to is a fight, or rather an ambush. He isn't the bravest of souls.”

  Turning bright red with rage, Thor said only one word in explanation before storming off to Asgard, bent on revenge.

  “Loki.”

  Grid understood perfectly and looked forward to seeing Thor some time when he was not so occupied. Loki himself looked forward to not seeing him at all and went into hiding for quite a long while, which everyone appreciated.

  It was not in Loki's nature to learn his lesson or to be loyal to his fellow gods, however. There came a time when, after being forgiven by Thor, Loki yet again betrayed not just one of the Aesir, but all of them. The initial trouble was not his fault but all that happened later certainly was.

  Odin, Hoenir, Loki and three other gods were on an expedition wandering the earth, when hunger got the better of them and they stopped to roast an ox. For some reason the meat simply would not cook, in spite of the blazing fire they had placed it over. Above them, an eagle was perched in the branches of a tree and suddenly it spoke to them.

  “I have cast a spell on your food,” the eagle said. “And will not lift it unless you agree to share your meal with me.”

  Reluctantly, the gods agreed but when the creature sat down with them and proceeded to take all the best cuts for himself, they lost their temper. Loki was especially perturbed and grabbing a rod he beat the interloper with it. The eagle, finding the rod stuck into him, flew off so suddenly that he carried Loki with him and flew so high that it would be suicide for the god to let go. Periodically the great bird would dip down to drag Loki through trees and to scrape him along ledges.

  Crying out in agony and despair as he was torn, cut and battered, Loki begged for mercy. Now, the eagle was really a disguised giant named Thjazi and though he was in pain himself, he pretended he could fly forever or until Loki let go of the rod and fell to the ground.

  “If I land softly and release you, Loki, you will have to do something for me. You will have to swear a binding oath to do just as I ask.”

  Naturally by now everyone knew what Loki was capable of and how his betrayal had nearly spelled the end of Thor.

  “Just name it,” Loki shouted over the rush of the wind, seeing a tall fir tree coming up.

  “I want nothing less than Idun and her apples.”

  “I have to say you think big,” Loki called. He could do this. The pretty goddess had a weakness for him and he knew how to get to her, how to manipulate her. “It's a deal, Thjazi. Now let me down easy.”

  “You swear by your own precious skin?”

  “Yes, I swear! I swear!”

  “Good, and don't take your time about it. I'll drop you off …”

  “What?”

  “Sorry. Set you down in Asgard. If anyone asks, I was just some crazy bird.”

  “Thjazi,” Loki said laconically, “don't tell your grandmother how to suck eggs.” Already he was planning this fresh crime against his fellow Aesir and not minding a bit.

  It was a crime, too, and an even more serious one than simply aiding in the abduction of a goddess. The apples Idun regularly gave to her fellow gods were very special and only she knew how to grow and gather them. It was the magic in them that kept the gods young and vital, and to let a giant kidnap her and take them away would condemn the Aesir to a terrible decline. Without the apples they would grow old, weak and vulnerable.

  Telling Idun that he had discovered in the forest apples even more beautiful than her own, Loki lured her to a spot where Thjazi was waiting. The giant grabbed poor Idun and with her apples carried her off to his hideaway.

  It was not long before Idun was missed, and so were her apples. The gods began to age, to grow a little shaky on their feet, and begin to go grey.

  Despite their enmity, the lives of the gods and giants were too interconnected for anything of such magnitude to remain a secret for long. Soon all the Aesir turned on Loki with such fury and dire threats that he was forced to admit what he had done, and to promise to rectify matters. He would find Idun and bring her back, with the precious apples.

  Changing himself into a hawk, Loki flew to the kingdom of the giants and searched for Idun. Upon finding her he turned her into a nut and flew away with her. When Thjazi realized what had happened he shape-changed into his eagle guise, and went after them.

  Dodging through clouds, in and out of valleys, between trees, and along steep-sided gorges the eagle that was Thjazi chased Loki the hawk carrying Idun as a nut. The speed at which they flew was tremendous but as they drew near Asgard, the eagle was perceptibly gaining on the hawk with a gleam in its eye and its talons flexed menacingly.

  What happened next has been attributed to some quick thinking god in Asgard and his accurate reading of the situation, but that is only because no one wanted to give Loki credit for anything after all he had done and would yet do. This particular twist was too obviously planned, and too well timed to have been spontaneous, and while all the gods were adept at serving the giants a dirty turn, this one smacked of the work of Loki himself.

  Streaking for the walled city as fast as his wings could propel him, with Thjazi only a few feet behind him now, Loki darted for a particular place on the high wall. An instant after he had passed this point flames shot into the air from an enormous bonfire, lighted, stoked and controlled by the waiting gods. A metal sheet was snatched away and grand bellows were pumped right on cue. The leaping flames caught the eagle in their midst and burning like a fire arrow, fanned by his own speed, he flew on, screaming, trailing smoke until he fell to earth a mere cinder.

  That was the end of Thjazi. Idun resumed her natural form and her generous distribution of the magic apples to the gods and goddess. But it was not the end of Loki's bitter relationship with the other Aesir. Indeed, things went from bad to worse, and from worse to horrible and then to horribly final. Consequences never much mattered to Loki, though.

  Just before his penultimate crime, Loki had a field day of abuse, insulting nearly every Aesir in existence at a banquet given by a diplomatic giant named Aegir, lord of the seas. Only Thor, who was travelling in the east, was not there to witness it.

  Everyone was enjoying Aegir's fine hospitality when suddenly Loki forced open the door to the hall. Needless to say he had not been invited. By unspoken agreement, the entire assembly ignored him and did their best to carry on as if he was not there.

  Undeterred by this cold reception, Loki addressed the diners in a loud but respectful, even humble, voice.

  “I am only a thirsty traveller, surely you will not refuse me the cup given unasked to all passers-by, even strangers?”

  Nobody answered him as still they tried to pretend he was not there.

  “At least offer me a chair,” he went on mildly and as if hurt, “according to the basic laws of hospitality. Otherwise just say in so many words that I am not welcome.”

  The gods held a whispered conversation. Aegir himself stayed well out of it, though he was the host. Rightly he felt this was a matter best settled by the Aesir, and that anything he might do would offend somebody. It was a family squabble of sorts, after all.

  Everyone was reluctant to give Loki a seat, including Bragi, the god of poetry, whose usual duty it was to welcome new arrivals at gatherings.

  “No,” Bragi said emphatically. “I must insist. He was uninvited and doe
s not deserve a place here.”

  “Odin,” Loki turned to the chief of gods, spreading his arms appealingly, a slight quiver in his voice. “Have you forgotten that we once swore an oath to be forever blood brothers?”

  Touched by the memory, Odin slowly nodded.

  “Vider,” Odin said gently to the god next to him. “Be a good fellow and give Loki your seat for a while. A cup, please, for Loki,” he added to a serving girl then apologetically to the others. “As is the custom.”

  Loki made himself comfortable, accepted his cup and proposed a toast to the health of everyone present.

  “Except Bragi, of course, who would have kept me out.”

  Feeling a little ashamed for what he felt was rather shabby behaviour in front of their giant host, Bragi stood with his hands up and smiled at Loki.

  “I am sorry. It was very discourteous and I do apologise. Let me make it up to you. I'll tell you what, you can have that new horse of mine, and this ring.” He plucked a nice one from one of his fingers. “And a sword I shall have made just for you.”

  The approval and charm of such open-handedness buzzing around the hall was cut short by a curt gesture of Loki's dismissive hand.

  “Keep them,” he said arrogantly. “I do not accept gifts from cowards who hang back in battle and let others do their fighting for them.”

  It was such an obvious and terrible lie that Bragi's wife, Idun, easily prevented him from attacking Loki or even losing his temper.

  “This needs no reply,” she said looking at Loki with such utter contempt that it gave even him gooseflesh. “How can anything so ridiculous possibly offend.” Her look made it clear that she meant him, not just his words.

  Stung by this beyond what he would have expected of himself, all pretence of good manners where the others were concerned left Loki. It was not just Bragi that he insulted now. In a pitiless stream of invective and minute detail he tore in to each of the gods and goddesses with every scandal and humiliating episode for all their lives. Who had betrayed their husband or wife. Who had cheated at a game or long owed whom money. Who had said what about someone else behind his back.