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For the Norsemen of Scandinavia , the wolf was an ever-present danger .
Fensalir ( Water , Sea , or Bog Hall ) The palace or home of the goddess Frigg , wife of Odin and mother of Balder . In this hall , the god Loki tricked Frigg into revealing that her son ’ s one vulnerability was mistletoe . Some experts suggest that Fensalir was located in a swamp or bog because followers of Frigg worshipped near a spring .
Fimafeng ( Swift Handler ) An unfortunate servant of the sea god , Aegir . Fimafeng and the other servant , Eldir , received much praise from the Aesir guests at a banquet Aegir held one night . It was Fimafeng ’ s misfortune to be nearest the trickster god Loki , who stabbed him to death in a jealous fit .
Fimafeng is part of the prose introduction to the 10th-century poem Lokasenna , a part of the Codex
Regius of the Poetic Edda .
Fimbulvetr ( Mighty Winter ) The winter of winters , the worst of all possible winters . The Fimbulvetr lasted for three years without respite and took place just before Ragnarok , the end of the world . It brought terrible hardships , with driving snowstorms , vicious winds , bitter cold , and unyielding ice . People starved and lost all hope and goodness as they fought for their lives . They committed terrible crimes and started many wars . Fimbulvetr is described in the
Poetic Edda .
Fjalar ( 1 ) ( All Knowing ) The beautiful red rooster , or cock , that crowed to call the giants to fight at Ragnarok , the conflict that ends the world of the Norse gods . Fjalar ’ s counterpart , Gullinkambi , called the gods and fallen human heroes to the battle . An unnamed rust-red rooster summoned those who lived in Hel ( 2 ).
Fjalar is named in the Voluspa , an Eddic poem in the Codex Regius .
Fjalar ( 2 ) ( Deceiver ) One of the two deceitful dwarfs who killed the wise man Kvasir ( 1 ) and made the mead of poetry from his blood . The other dwarf was Fjalar ’ s brother , Galar .
After making the mead , the two also killed the giant Gilling and his wife . Their son , Suttung , avenged his parents ’ deaths by stranding Fjalar and Galar on a rock that would be flooded at high tide .
To save their lives , the brothers gave the mead to Suttung .
Their story is told by Snorri Sturluson in
Skalskaparmal . ( See also “ The Mead of Poetry ” under Odin .)
Fjalar ( 3 ) A common name in Norse mythology . It means “ deceiver .” In addition to the cock that awakened the giants at Ragnarok ( 1 ) and the dwarf that helped kill the poet Kvasir ( 2 ), Fjalar is found in the lists of dwarfs in the Thulur . It also appears in the Poetic Edda as the name for the giant Skyrmir . Some linguists suggest the word was a common noun in certain instances , rather than a name or proper noun .
Fjolsvid ( Fjolsvith ) The giant who guarded the gates behind which lived the fair giantess Menglod . Fjolsvid maintains the ring of fire that surrounds the house . He challenges and tests the human hero , Svipdag , who seeks Menglod , his true love . The story is a part of the Eddic poem Svipdagsmal , which is itself a combined work consisting of two parts known as Grogald ( Groa ’ s Spell ) and Fjolsvinnsmal ( The Lay of Fjolsvid ).
Fjorgyn ( 1 ) ( Fjorgvin ; Earth ) One of two names ( the other being Jord ) for the giantess who was the mother of Thor , the thunder god and son of Odin , the most powerful god . The word fjorgyn is also used in Norse mythology to refer to the “ land ” or “ earth .”
Fjorgyn ( 2 ) ( Fjorgynn ) The father of the goddess Frigg , according to the works of Icelandic poet Snorri Sturluson . According to modern experts in the Old Norse language , the similarity between the feminine form of this word , which was the name of a giantess ( see Fjorgyn [ 1 ]), and the masculine form is a result of transliteration , the methods of using the alphabet of one language to replicate the sounds of another language . In Old Norse spelling , there are distinctions between the names for the mother of Thor and the father of Frigg that are not evident in modern English .
Flateyjarbok ( Book of the Flat Island ) An Icelandic manuscript compiled in the late 1380s and early 1390s by two priests . It is written on parchment , a form of paper . Some pages were added to the manuscript in the 1500s . The manuscript was