Loki Trickster Myths

The following myths come from the Prose Edda. For an in-text citation, please use the chapter/paragraph number, such as this example (Prose Edda 22).

Loki and his Family

33. “Also numbered among the Æsir is he whom some call the mischief-monger of the Æsir, and the first father of falsehoods, and blemish of all gods and men: he is named Loki , son of Fárbauti the giant; his mother was Laufey or Nál; his brothers are Býleistr and Helblindi. Loki is beautiful and comely to look upon, evil in spirit, very fickle in habit. He surpassed other men in that wisdom which is called craftiness, and had strategems for all occasions; he would ever bring the Æsir into great hardships, and then get them out with crafty counsel. His wife was called Sigyn, their son Narfi.

34. Yet more children had Loki. Angrboda was the name of a certain giantess in Jötunheim, with whom Loki had three children: one was Fenris-Wolf, the second Jörmungandr–that is the Midgard Serpent–the third is Hel or Hela. But when the gods learned that this kindred was nourished in Jötunheim, and when the gods perceived by prophecy that from this kindred great misfortune should befall them; and since it seemed to all that there was great prospect of ill–first from the mother’s blood, and yet worse from the father’s–then Odin sent gods thereto take the children and bring them to him. When they came to him, straightway he cast the serpent into the deep sea, where he lies about all the land; and this serpent grew so greatly that he lies in the midst of the ocean encompassing all the land, and bites upon his own tail. Hel he cast into Niflheim, and gave to her power over nine worlds, to give all who died of sickness or old age a place among those that were sent to her. She has great possessions there; her walls are exceeding high and her gates great. Her hall is called Sleet-Cold; her dish, Hunger; Famine is her knife; Idler, her thrall; Negligence, her maidservant; Pit of Stumbling, her threshold by which one enters; Disease, her bed. She is half blue-black and half flesh-color (by which she is easily recognized), and very lowering and fierce.

Loki, Sleipnir, and Building the Walls of Asgard

42. Then said Gangleri: “Who owns that horse Sleipnir, or what is to be said of him?” Hárr answered: “You have no knowledge of Sleipnir, and you know not the circumstances of his begetting; but it will seem to you worth the telling. It was early in the first days of the gods’ dwelling here, when the gods had established the Midgard and made Valhalla; there came at that time a certain architect, and he was a giant. He offered to build them a citadel in three seasons, so good that it should be staunch and proof against the Frost-Giants, though they should come in over Midgard. But he demanded as wages that he should have possession of Freyja, and would fain have had the sun and the moon. Then the Æsir held parley and took counsel together; and a bargain was made with the builder, that he should have Freyja only if he should succeed in completing the citadel in one winter. On the first day of summer, if any part of the citadel were left unfinished, he should lose his reward; and he was to receive help from no man in the work. When they told him these conditions, he asked that they would give him leave to have the help of his stallion, which was called Svadilfari; and Loki advised it, so that the architect’s petition was granted. He set to work the first day of winter to make the citadel, and by night he hauled stones with the stallion’s aid; and it seemed very marvelous to the Æsir what great rocks that horse drew, for the horse did more rough work by half than did the builder. But there were strong witnesses to their bargain, and many oaths, since it seemed unsafe to the giant to be among the Æsir without truce, if Thor should come home. But Thor had then gone away into the eastern region to fight trolls.

“Now when the winter drew nigh unto its end, the building of the citadel was far advanced; and it was so high and strong that it could not be taken. When it lacked three days of summer, the work had almost reached the gate of the stronghold. Then the gods sat down in their judgment seats, and sought means of evasion, and asked one another who had advised giving Freyja into Jötunheim, or so destroying the air and the heaven as to take thence the sun and the moon and give them to the giants. The gods agreed that he must have counselled this who is accustomed to giving evil advice, Loki Laufeyarson, and they declared him deserving of an ill death, if he could not hit upon a way of losing the architect his wages; and they threatened Loki with violence. But when he became frightened, then he swore oaths, that he would so contrive that the architect should lose his wages, cost him what it might.

“That same evening, when the architect drove out after stone with the stallion Svadilfari, a mare bounded forth from a certain wood and whinnied to him. The stallion, perceiving what manner of horse this was, straightway became frantic, and snapped the traces asunder, and leaped over to the mare, and she away to the wood, and the architect after, striving to seize the stallion. These horses ran all night, and the architect stopped there that night; and afterward, at day, the work was not done as it had been before. When the architect saw that the work could not be brought to an end, he fell into giant’s fury. Now that the Æsir saw surely that the giant was come there, without finishing the wall of Asgard in time, they did not regard their oaths reverently, but called on Thor, who came as quickly. And straightway the hammer Mjöllnir was raised aloft; he paid the architect’s wage, and not with the sun and the moon. Nay, he even denied him dwelling in Jötunheim, and struck but the one first blow, so that his skull was burst into small crumbs, and sent him down below under Niflheim. But Loki had such dealings with Svadilfari, that somewhat later he gave birth to a foal, which was gray and had eight feet; and this horse is the best among gods and men. He was named Sleipnir, and Odin took a liking to him. So Sleipnir became Odin’s steed, and the fastest in all the earth.

The Death of Baldr

49. Then spoke Gangleri: “Have any more matters of note befallen among the Æsir?” Hárr made answer: “Now shall be told of those tidings which seemed of more consequence to the Æsir. The beginning of the story is this, that Baldr the Good dreamed great and perilous dreams touching his life, that he might die and his death set Ragnarok in motion. When he told these dreams to the Æsir, they took counsel together, and this was their decision: to ask safety for Baldr from all kinds of dangers. And Frigg took oaths to this purport, that fire and water should spare Baldr, likewise iron and metal of all kinds, stones, earth, trees, sicknesses, beasts, birds, venom, serpents. All things swore an oath not to harm Baldr. And when that was done and made known, then it became a pastime of Baldr’s and the Æsir that he should stand up in the assembly, and all the others should shoot arrow at him, hew at him with axes and swords, and beat him with stones; but whatsoever was done hurt him not at all, and that seemed to them all a very worshipful thing.

“But when Loki Laufeyarson saw this, it did not please him that Baldr took no hurt. He went to Frigg, and made himself into the likeness of a woman. Then Frigg asked if that woman knew what the Æsir did at the assembly. She said that all were shooting at Baldr, and moreover, that he took no hurt. Then said Frigg: ‘Neither weapons nor trees may hurt Baldr: I have taken oaths of them all.’ Then the woman asked: ‘Have all things taken oaths to spare Baldr?’ and Frigg answered: ‘There grows a tree-sprout alone westward of Valhall: it is called Mistletoe; I thought it too young to ask the oath of.’ Then straightway the woman turned away; but Loki took Mistletoe and pulled it up and went to the assembly.

“Hödr stood outside the ring of men, because he was blind. Then spoke Loki to him: ‘Why dost you not shoot at Baldr?’ He answered: ‘Because I see not where Baldr is; and for this also, that I am weaponless.’ Then said Loki: ‘Do you also after the manner of other men, and show Baldr honor as the other men do. I will direct you where he stands; shoot at him with this wand.’ Hödr took Mistletoe and shot at Baldr, being guided by Loki: the shaft flew through Baldr, and he fell dead to the earth; and that was the greatest mischance that has ever befallen among gods and men.

“Then, when Baldr was fallen, words failed all the, Æsir, and their hands likewise to lay hold of him; each looked at the other, and all were of one mind as to him who had. wrought the work, but none might take vengeance, so great a sanctuary was in that place. But when the Æsir tried to speak, then it befell first that weeping broke out, so that none might speak to the others with words concerning his grief. But Odin bore that misfortune by so much the worst, as he had most perception of how great harm and loss for the Æsir were in the death of Baldr.

“Now when the gods had come to themselves, Frigg spoke, and asked who there might be among the Æsir who would fain have for his own all her love and favor: let him ride the road to Hel, and seek out and find Baldr, and offer Hel a ransom if she will let Baldr come home to Ásgard, back to the land of the living. And Hermódr the Bold, Odin’s son, undertook that journey. Then Sleipnir was taken, Odin’s steed, and led forward; and Hermódr mounted on that horse and galloped off.

“The body of Baldr was borne out on a pyre on his ship for his funeral; and when his wife, Nanna the daughter of Nep, saw that, straightway her heart burst with grief, and she died; she was carried to the pyre, and fire was kindled. Then Thor stood by and consecrated the pyre with Mjöllnir; and before his feet ran a certain dwarf which was named Litr; Thor kicked at him with his foot and thrust him into the fire, and he burned. People of many races visited this burning: first is to be told of Odin, how Frigg and the Valkyrs went with him, and his ravens; but Freyr drove in his chariot with the boar called Gold-Mane, or Fearful-Tusk, and Heimdallr rode the horse called Gold-Top, and Freyja drove her cats. There came also many people of the Frost-Giants. Odin laid on the pyre that gold ring which is called Draupnir; this quality attended it, that every ninth night there dropped from it eight gold rings of equal weight. Baldr’s horse was led to the bale-fire with all his trappings.

“Now this is to be told concerning Hermódr, that he rode nine nights through dark dales and deep, so that he saw not before he was come to the river Gjöll and rode onto the Gjöll-Bridge; which bridge is thatched with glittering gold. Módgudr is the maiden called who guards the bridge; she asked him his name and race, saying that the day before there had ridden over the bridge five companies of dead men; but the bridge thunders no less under you alone, and you have not the color of dead men. Why do you ride here on Hel-way?’ He answered: ‘I am appointed to ride to Hel to seek out Baldr. Have you perchance seen Baldr on Hel-way?’ She said that Baldr had ridden there over Gjöll’s Bridge, ‘but down and north lieth Hel-way.’

‘Then Hermódr rode on till he came to Hel-gate; he dismounted from his steed and made his girths fast, mounted and pricked him with his spurs; and the steed leaped so hard over the gate that he came nowhere near to it. Then Hermódr rode home to the hall and dismounted from his steed, went into the hall, and saw sitting there in the high-seat Baldr, his brother; and Hermódr tarried there overnight. At morn Hermódr prayed Hel that Baldr might ride home with him, and told her how great weeping was among the Æsir. But Hel said that it should be put to the test, whether Baldr was so all-beloved as had been said: ‘If all things in the world, living and dead, weep for him, then he shall go back to the Æsir; but he shall remain with Hel if any will not weep.’ Then Hermódr arose; but Baldr led him out of the hall, and took the ring Draupnir and sent it to Odin for a remembrance. And Nanna wife of Baldr who had died sent Frigg a linen smock, and yet more gifts.

“Then Hermódr rode his way back, and came into Ásgard, and told all those things which he had seen and heard. Thereupon the Æsir sent over all the world messengers to pray that Baldr be wept out of Hel; and all men did this, and living things, and the earth, and stones, and trees, and all metals, even as you must have seen that these things weep when they come out of frost and into the heat. Then, when the messengers went home, having well completed their errand, they found, in a certain cave, a giantess sat: she called herself Thökk. They prayed her to weep Baldr out of Hel; she answered:

Thökk will weep waterless tears
For Baldr’s misfortune;
Living or dead, I loved not the churl’s son;
Let Hel hold on to what she has!

And men deem that Thökk was was Loki Laufeyarson in disguise, who hath wrought most ill among the Æsir.”

50. Then said Gangleri: “Loki had brought much to pass, when he had first been cause that Baldr was slain, and then he was the reason Baldr was not redeemed out of Hel. Was any vengeance taken on him for this?” Hárr answered: “This thing was repaid him in such a way that he shall remember it long. When the gods had become as angry with him as was to be looked for, he ran off and hid himself in a certain mountain; there he made a house with four doors, so that he could see out of the house in all directions. Often throughout the day he turned himself into the likeness of a salmon and hid himself in the place called Fránangr-Falls; then he would ponder what manner of way the gods would devise to take him in the water-fall. But when he sat in the house, he took twine of linen and knitted meshes as a net is made since; but a fire burned before him. Then he saw that the Æsir were close upon him; and Odin had seen from Hlidskjálf where he was. He leaped up at once and out into the river, but cast the net into the fire.

“When the Æsir had come to the house, he went in first saw in the fire the white ash where the net had burned, perceived that that thing must be a device for catching fish, and told it to the Æsir. Straightway they took hold, and made themselves a net after the pattern of the one which they perceived, by the burnt-out ashes, that Loki had made. When the net was ready, then the Æsir went to the river and cast the net into the fall; Thor held one end of the net, and all of the Æsir held the other, and they drew the net. But Loki darted ahead and lay down between two stones; they drew the net over him, and perceived that something living was in front of it. A second time they went up to the fall and cast out the net, having bound it to something so heavy that nothing should be able to pass under it. Then Loki swam ahead of the net; but when he saw that it was but a short distance to the sea, then he jumped up over the net-rope and ran into the fall. Now the Æsir saw where he went, and went up again to the fall and divided the company into two parts, but Thor waded along in mid-stream; and so they went out toward the sea. Now Loki saw a choice of two courses: it was a mortal peril to dash out into the sea; but this was the second–to leap over the net again. And so he did: be leaped as swiftly as he could over the net-cord. Thor clutched at him and got hold of him, and he slipped in Thor’s hand, so that the hand stopped at the tail; and for this reason the salmon has a tapering back.

“Now Loki was taken, and was brought with them into a certain cave. Thereupon they took three flat stones, and set them on edge and drilled a hole in each stone. Then were taken Loki’s sons, Vili and Narfi; the Æsir changed Váli into the form of a wolf, and he tore asunder Narfi his brother. And the Æsir took Narfi’s entrails and tied Loki with them over the three stones: one stands under his shoulders, the second under his loins, the third under his boughs; and those bonds were turned to iron. Then the Aesir took a venomous serpent and fastened it up over him, so that the venom should drip from the serpent into his face. But Sigyn, his wife, stands near him and holds a basin under the venom-drops; and when the basin is full, she goes and pours out the venom, but in the meantime the venom drips into his face. Then he writhes against it with such force that all the earth trembles: you call that ‘earthquakes.’ There he lies in bonds till Ragnarok arrives.”

To cite this reading, use the following format:

Sturluson, Snorri. “Gylfaginning: Here Begins the Beguiling of Gylfi.” Edda, Internet Sacred Text Archive, www.sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/pre04.htm. Accessed 1 Dec. 2022.