ash
their stronghold, Asgard, to protect them from the
giants. The Vanir had destroyed the original wall in
the first and last battle between the two races of gods
(Aesir/Vanir War).
The gods were good at building fine halls and
glittering palaces, but to build a fortresslike wall
seemed an enormous task.
One day a large man trotted his horse over Bilrost,
the Rainbow Bridge, and told Heimdall, the watch-
man god, that he had a plan to put before the gods.
Heimdall reported the news to the chief god, Odin,
who assembled all the gods and goddesses together to
meet the stranger.
The tall man, who was a giant in disguise, said
he would rebuild the wall around Asgard in three
seasons. For his fee, Giant Master Builder would take
the goddess Freya to be his wife. He would also take
the Sun and Moon.
The gods roared with anger. Odin said he would
never part with beautiful Freya nor with the Sun and
the Moon, which gave warmth and light to the world.
He ordered the mason to leave.
Loki, the sly god, begged the other gods not to be
hasty and asked the mason for some time to consider
his plan. The mason left the hall, and the gods and
goddesses clustered around Loki while Freya began
to weep tears of gold.
Loki suggested that if they could get the mason
to promise to build the wall in six months—before
springtime—they would have nothing to fear, for
obviously it was impossible for anyone to complete
the wall so quickly. But at least the mason could dig
the foundation and get a good start on the wall, thus
saving the gods a lot of work. And, said Loki, they
would not have to pay him a thing.
Odin called the builder back into the hall and
told him their decision. At first the mason seemed
dismayed by how little time he would have to finish
the work, but at last he agreed to try, provided that he
could have his great stallion, Svadilfari, to help him.
They struck a bargain.
As the giant began to build the wall, the gods
looked on in amazement. Never had they seen a
man cut such huge blocks of stone, nor a horse pull
such heavy loads. The wall began to take shape,
getting higher and higher and stronger and stronger.
Though the winter was cruel, the tall man labored
on undaunted.
At last the cold and the snow and the ice abated.
The last day of winter was near, and the wall was
almost finished.
The gods met again. If the mason finished the
wall in time, they would lose their treasured Freya
and the Sun and the Moon. Suddenly they wondered
how they had arrived at this terrible predicament.
Then they remembered. They threw dark looks at
Loki.
Odin commanded Loki to use his cunning once
again, this time to save the goddess Freya and the
Sun and the Moon. Terrified of Odin’s anger, Loki
promised to find a way to outwit the builder.
That evening, as the mason led Svadilfari toward
the pile of stones to be hauled, the stallion pranced
gaily. He could smell spring in the air. Suddenly he
spied a beautiful young mare. She danced up to him
and swished her tail. It was more than Svadilfari
could stand. With a mighty bound he broke free of
his harness and bolted after the mare.
The mason shouted with rage and set off in
pursuit, but it was useless. Svadilfari had worked
through a long, lonely winter, and now he wanted
some lighthearted fun with the pretty mare.
Dawn came and with it the end of winter.
The wall stood unfinished. The mason lost the
bargain and was slain by the thunder god, Thor.
When Loki returned to Asgard several months
later, he led a handsome young colt. It had eight legs
and obviously would grow up to be a magnificent
horse. Indeed, its father was the mighty Svadilfari,
and its mother was none other than Loki himself,
who had shape-shifted into the pretty mare. Odin
claimed the colt for his own and named it Sleipnir,
the glider.
This myth, told by Snorri Sturluson in Gyl-
faginning, shows the enmity between the gods and
the giants—a theme that occurs in most Norse
myths and does not end until Ragnarok. When
the giant demands the Sun and the Moon and also
Freya, he intends to deprive the gods not only
of the four seasons but also of the possibility of
regeneration, for Freya was the goddess of love and
fertility.
ash A tree of the olive family (genus Fraxinus). In
Norse mythology the ash Yggdrasil is considered
sacred and is called the World Tree as it plays a
dominant part in the makeup of the nine worlds.