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Sep. 26th, 2015 10:43 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
darchildreMore Norse mythology! ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
frenchroast rightly pointed out that I shouldn't hint at other stories without telling them, so that's what I'm going to do. In fact, you get two for the price of one today. 8)
I feel like I should point out a couple of things before this next story. First, it is not a happy story. There's no pleasant resolution at the end and some pretty upsetting things happen, including some involving violence towards children. Secondly, as is probably pretty damned obvious, I am a Lokean. Loki is my...I don't like the term "patron god", but that's probably the easiest way to put it. This means that I tell these stories from a certain perspective - one that is perhaps more sympathetic towards Loki and his family than others might be. If you heard someone else telling this story, they might tell it a little differently. Grain of salt, and all that.
This story can be found in the Prose Edda, as well as in the Poetic Edda as part of the Lokasenna. Here we go:
So. There came a time when the Aesir grew wroth with Loki. They were weary of his tricks and wicked deeds, and deemed he should receive punishment. Some say they were pushed to this by his part in the death of Baldr the Bright. Some say it was in response to his slaying of Byggvir at Aegir’s hall and the breaking of the frith at that feast. Whatever the cause, the gods were greatly angered with Loki, and he was forced to flee the halls of Asgard.
Just ahead of pursuit, Loki escaped into the wilderness. He found a clearing by a river and built a crude cabin, with open doors in all four walls, so that he could see out in all directions and was always prepared to run. He knew the Aesir would find his hiding place and his plan for their arrival was to run to the river, take the form of a salmon, and hide within the swift-moving flood.
But the mind of Loki is cunning and sly, and he delights in thinking around corners. So as he sat beside the fire in his cabin at night, he thought on ways the Aesir might catch his salmon form in the river. He took a cord in his hands, and he wove it and he knotted it, and soon he had a net. This was the first net in all the worlds. Loki looked at the thing he had made and knew he could be trapped in it. So he threw the net into the fire to keep that knowledge from the Aesir, but once an idea is loose in the worlds, it cannot be destroyed.
In the morning, Loki saw the Aesir coming through his northward door. Red-bearded Thor was at the head of the group, a stormcloud at his brow and his hammer raised high. So Loki fled out the southward door and ran to the river, took his salmon form, and jumped into the stream. The Aesir followed him, and Thor strode into the river, but with his hands alone he could not catch the fish.
Now All-wise Odin returned to the cabin and looked at the remains of the fire. There he saw the outline of the net in ash, and the idea was at once plain to him. Soon the gods had made themselves a net and given it to Thor, who stood still in the river.
Loki could not escape his own net, and the Aesir soon seized him. He was pulled from the river, forced into his true form, and dragged to a nearby cave. There he was taken deep within the earth and lain on a great slab of stone.
As with his son, the Fenris-wolf, there were no chains of forged metal that could hold Loki Shapechanger. So the gods turned Vali, the son of Loki, into a ravening wolf. Vali fell on his brother Narvi, ripping and tearing at him, and slew him. Then Vali ran off into the wilderness. The Aesir took the guts from Narvi’s body and used them to bind Loki to the stone. And that binding held him better that great chains of steel.
Skadhi the Huntress still remembered Loki’s part in the death of her father and this was the time of her revenge. She took a great and venomous snake and bound it above Loki’s head, so that the poison from its fangs dripped into his face. And the Aesir left him there. But Ever-faithful Sigyn, the wife of Loki, wept for her sons and would not leave her husband’s side. She stayed there with him.
Thus was Loki bound. Sigyn holds a bowl before his face to catch the snake’s venom, but when the bowl is full, she must empty it. Then the poison falls into his eyes and mouth and he writhes in pain, deep beneath the earth. This causes earthquakes and thus Loki is called the Worldbreaker. He will remain bound there until the Ragnarok. Then his bonds will break and he will again come forth, and at that time great woe will come to the gods.
And because that story is kind of a downer, I am going to tell you a second Loki story that also involves fish, but this one has a much happier ending. This is a retelling of a Faroese ballad, and thus is not contained in the Eddas.
So. Once there was a man of Midgard who loved to play tafl*. He was very good at the game and willing to play anyone who challenged him. There came a day when a jotun challenged the man to a game. “And if I win,” said the giant, “you must give me anything I ask. And I will do the same if you win.”
The man was certain he would win - how good could a giant really be at tafl? - so he accepted. They played a long time and were well-matched, but at last, the giant won. “What will you have as your prize?” asked the defeated man.
“I will take your only son,” said the jotun. The man loved his son and begged the giant to choose some other prize, but the giant would not be dissuaded - he would have the boy.
So the man called on Odin Allfather for aid and Odin appeared. He turned the boy into a barley grain and hid him in a great field of barley. “Stay there,” he told the boy, “and don’t come out unless I call.” But the jotun went straight to the barley field with a scythe and set about reaping. The boy grew frightened as the giant came closer till at last he leapt out of the barley and ran away home.
“Well,” said Odin, “I have done all I can. But call instead on Hoenir - maybe he can help you.”
So the man and his son called on Hoenir the Silent and Hoenir appeared. He turned the boy into a single white feather on the wing of a swan. “Stay there,” he whispered to the boy, “and don’t come out unless I call.” But the jotun went straight to the flock of swans. He seized the foremost swan and took its neck between his teeth, biting till the swan was dead. The boy was frightened. He leapt from the swan and ran away home.
“Well,” whispered Hoenir, “I have done all I can. But call instead on Loki - maybe he can help you.”
Now the man was loath to call on Loki, for his reputation is for mischief and lies. But his fear of the jotun was greater that his distrust of Loki, so he called on the cunning god. And Loki appeared.
“If I am to help you,” Loki told the man, “you must so as I saw. I will take the boy, but while I am gone you must build a boathouse with a wide window, barred with an iron bar.” The man agreed, and Loki went off with the boy. They took a skiff out to the fishing banks, where Loki cast out a baited hook. He caught one halibut, then another, then a third which had blackish skin. Then he turned the boy into a fish egg, hid him among the halibut’s roe, and released the fish back into the sea. "Stay there," he told the boy, "and don't come out unless I call."
Then Loki rowed alone back to shore. The giant was waiting for him. “And where have you been, crafty Loki?” he called.
“Oh, I’ve been out fishing,” Loki replied.
The giant came towards the skiff. “Give me the boat,” he said, “I think I’ll go fishing myself.”
“The waves are getting rough,” Loki said. “You’ll need two in the boat. I think I’ll tag along.”
Together they rowed out to the fishing banks, and the jotun cast out a baited hook. He caught one halibut, then another, then a third which had blackish skin. He cut the fish open and began to count every egg in its roe, looking for the boy. The boy was frightened and leapt out of the roe, but the giant was so occupied in counting that he didn’t notice. Loki hid the boy. “Stay behind me,” he whispered, “and the jotun won’t see. And when we get to the shore, you must leap out so lightly that you leave no track on the sand and run straight for the boathouse.”
The boy sat still and silent as they rowed back to shore. Then he leapt from the boat and ran lightly over the sand, but just as he was coming to the boathouse, the giant saw. The giant then jumped from the boat, but he was so heavy that he sank into the sand. Still he ran after the boy, who scurried into the boathouse. The giant ran so hard and fast that he couldn’t stop - he crashed into the window and smashed his head into the iron bar, stunning himself. There he was stuck.
Loki lost no time - he took his sword, the Wounding Twig, and quickly cut off the giant’s leg. But the giant only chuckled and his leg soon grew together again. So Loki cut off the other leg, and this time he place a stick and a stone between the leg and the trunk, so that they couldn’t grow back together again. He did this with the giant’s other limbs, and soon he was dead.
Loki then took the boy home, and the boy’s father embraced them both. “Well,” said Loki, “I’ve done all I can and the jotun is dead. Now I’m off.” And he left to wander the worlds once more, but the man and his son remembered his help for ever after and honor the Sly One to the end of their days.
*Tafl. Which is a game I am no good at.
frenchroast rightly pointed out that I shouldn't hint at other stories without telling them, so that's what I'm going to do. In fact, you get two for the price of one today. 8)I feel like I should point out a couple of things before this next story. First, it is not a happy story. There's no pleasant resolution at the end and some pretty upsetting things happen, including some involving violence towards children. Secondly, as is probably pretty damned obvious, I am a Lokean. Loki is my...I don't like the term "patron god", but that's probably the easiest way to put it. This means that I tell these stories from a certain perspective - one that is perhaps more sympathetic towards Loki and his family than others might be. If you heard someone else telling this story, they might tell it a little differently. Grain of salt, and all that.
This story can be found in the Prose Edda, as well as in the Poetic Edda as part of the Lokasenna. Here we go:
So. There came a time when the Aesir grew wroth with Loki. They were weary of his tricks and wicked deeds, and deemed he should receive punishment. Some say they were pushed to this by his part in the death of Baldr the Bright. Some say it was in response to his slaying of Byggvir at Aegir’s hall and the breaking of the frith at that feast. Whatever the cause, the gods were greatly angered with Loki, and he was forced to flee the halls of Asgard.
Just ahead of pursuit, Loki escaped into the wilderness. He found a clearing by a river and built a crude cabin, with open doors in all four walls, so that he could see out in all directions and was always prepared to run. He knew the Aesir would find his hiding place and his plan for their arrival was to run to the river, take the form of a salmon, and hide within the swift-moving flood.
But the mind of Loki is cunning and sly, and he delights in thinking around corners. So as he sat beside the fire in his cabin at night, he thought on ways the Aesir might catch his salmon form in the river. He took a cord in his hands, and he wove it and he knotted it, and soon he had a net. This was the first net in all the worlds. Loki looked at the thing he had made and knew he could be trapped in it. So he threw the net into the fire to keep that knowledge from the Aesir, but once an idea is loose in the worlds, it cannot be destroyed.
In the morning, Loki saw the Aesir coming through his northward door. Red-bearded Thor was at the head of the group, a stormcloud at his brow and his hammer raised high. So Loki fled out the southward door and ran to the river, took his salmon form, and jumped into the stream. The Aesir followed him, and Thor strode into the river, but with his hands alone he could not catch the fish.
Now All-wise Odin returned to the cabin and looked at the remains of the fire. There he saw the outline of the net in ash, and the idea was at once plain to him. Soon the gods had made themselves a net and given it to Thor, who stood still in the river.
Loki could not escape his own net, and the Aesir soon seized him. He was pulled from the river, forced into his true form, and dragged to a nearby cave. There he was taken deep within the earth and lain on a great slab of stone.
As with his son, the Fenris-wolf, there were no chains of forged metal that could hold Loki Shapechanger. So the gods turned Vali, the son of Loki, into a ravening wolf. Vali fell on his brother Narvi, ripping and tearing at him, and slew him. Then Vali ran off into the wilderness. The Aesir took the guts from Narvi’s body and used them to bind Loki to the stone. And that binding held him better that great chains of steel.
Skadhi the Huntress still remembered Loki’s part in the death of her father and this was the time of her revenge. She took a great and venomous snake and bound it above Loki’s head, so that the poison from its fangs dripped into his face. And the Aesir left him there. But Ever-faithful Sigyn, the wife of Loki, wept for her sons and would not leave her husband’s side. She stayed there with him.
Thus was Loki bound. Sigyn holds a bowl before his face to catch the snake’s venom, but when the bowl is full, she must empty it. Then the poison falls into his eyes and mouth and he writhes in pain, deep beneath the earth. This causes earthquakes and thus Loki is called the Worldbreaker. He will remain bound there until the Ragnarok. Then his bonds will break and he will again come forth, and at that time great woe will come to the gods.
And because that story is kind of a downer, I am going to tell you a second Loki story that also involves fish, but this one has a much happier ending. This is a retelling of a Faroese ballad, and thus is not contained in the Eddas.
So. Once there was a man of Midgard who loved to play tafl*. He was very good at the game and willing to play anyone who challenged him. There came a day when a jotun challenged the man to a game. “And if I win,” said the giant, “you must give me anything I ask. And I will do the same if you win.”
The man was certain he would win - how good could a giant really be at tafl? - so he accepted. They played a long time and were well-matched, but at last, the giant won. “What will you have as your prize?” asked the defeated man.
“I will take your only son,” said the jotun. The man loved his son and begged the giant to choose some other prize, but the giant would not be dissuaded - he would have the boy.
So the man called on Odin Allfather for aid and Odin appeared. He turned the boy into a barley grain and hid him in a great field of barley. “Stay there,” he told the boy, “and don’t come out unless I call.” But the jotun went straight to the barley field with a scythe and set about reaping. The boy grew frightened as the giant came closer till at last he leapt out of the barley and ran away home.
“Well,” said Odin, “I have done all I can. But call instead on Hoenir - maybe he can help you.”
So the man and his son called on Hoenir the Silent and Hoenir appeared. He turned the boy into a single white feather on the wing of a swan. “Stay there,” he whispered to the boy, “and don’t come out unless I call.” But the jotun went straight to the flock of swans. He seized the foremost swan and took its neck between his teeth, biting till the swan was dead. The boy was frightened. He leapt from the swan and ran away home.
“Well,” whispered Hoenir, “I have done all I can. But call instead on Loki - maybe he can help you.”
Now the man was loath to call on Loki, for his reputation is for mischief and lies. But his fear of the jotun was greater that his distrust of Loki, so he called on the cunning god. And Loki appeared.
“If I am to help you,” Loki told the man, “you must so as I saw. I will take the boy, but while I am gone you must build a boathouse with a wide window, barred with an iron bar.” The man agreed, and Loki went off with the boy. They took a skiff out to the fishing banks, where Loki cast out a baited hook. He caught one halibut, then another, then a third which had blackish skin. Then he turned the boy into a fish egg, hid him among the halibut’s roe, and released the fish back into the sea. "Stay there," he told the boy, "and don't come out unless I call."
Then Loki rowed alone back to shore. The giant was waiting for him. “And where have you been, crafty Loki?” he called.
“Oh, I’ve been out fishing,” Loki replied.
The giant came towards the skiff. “Give me the boat,” he said, “I think I’ll go fishing myself.”
“The waves are getting rough,” Loki said. “You’ll need two in the boat. I think I’ll tag along.”
Together they rowed out to the fishing banks, and the jotun cast out a baited hook. He caught one halibut, then another, then a third which had blackish skin. He cut the fish open and began to count every egg in its roe, looking for the boy. The boy was frightened and leapt out of the roe, but the giant was so occupied in counting that he didn’t notice. Loki hid the boy. “Stay behind me,” he whispered, “and the jotun won’t see. And when we get to the shore, you must leap out so lightly that you leave no track on the sand and run straight for the boathouse.”
The boy sat still and silent as they rowed back to shore. Then he leapt from the boat and ran lightly over the sand, but just as he was coming to the boathouse, the giant saw. The giant then jumped from the boat, but he was so heavy that he sank into the sand. Still he ran after the boy, who scurried into the boathouse. The giant ran so hard and fast that he couldn’t stop - he crashed into the window and smashed his head into the iron bar, stunning himself. There he was stuck.
Loki lost no time - he took his sword, the Wounding Twig, and quickly cut off the giant’s leg. But the giant only chuckled and his leg soon grew together again. So Loki cut off the other leg, and this time he place a stick and a stone between the leg and the trunk, so that they couldn’t grow back together again. He did this with the giant’s other limbs, and soon he was dead.
Loki then took the boy home, and the boy’s father embraced them both. “Well,” said Loki, “I’ve done all I can and the jotun is dead. Now I’m off.” And he left to wander the worlds once more, but the man and his son remembered his help for ever after and honor the Sly One to the end of their days.
*Tafl. Which is a game I am no good at.
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Date: 2015-09-26 09:41 pm (UTC)