PeaCe: the Vanir

Join the aesir

Some of the Gods among the Aesir were not born
into the Aesir’s ranks. Instead, they come from another
group called the Vanir, who hold sway over the forces
of nature and fertility and who lived in the Overworld
realm of Vanaheim. As the story goes, antagonism arose
between the Vanir and the Aesir when a troublemaking
temptress called Gullveig came out of Vanaheim. (Some
mortal scholars think that Gullveig was Freya.)
The Aesir tried to burn Gullveig three times. They
failed, but the incident still angered the Vanir. The rival
pantheon stormed Asgard to retrieve her. Odin declared
all-out war on the Vanir by throwing his spear over
their ranks, inciting the first battle. The Vanir wrecked
Asgard’s defenses, but neither side could gain a decisive
victory. Eventually, the Aesir decided they should make
peace with the Vanir. As part of their peace treaty, the
two tribes agreed to exchange hostages. The Aesir sent
Hoenir and Mimir to the Vanir. In return, the Vanir
sent Njord and his son Freyr to Asgard.
At first, the Vanir thought themselves well served by
their exchange, for Hoenir seemed not only tall, strong and
handsome, but a wise counselor as well. The Vanir eventually
realized, however, that Hoenir was little more than a pretty
mouthpiece for Mimir. On his own, he invariably said,
“Let others decide.” The angry Vanir knew that killing
Hoenir would start a war that could not end until one clan
destroyed the other. Instead, they cut off Mimir’s head and
sent it back to the Aesir as a sign of their displeasure.
Despite their anger, the Vanir did not recall Njord
and Freyr to Vanaheim. Later, for reasons known only to
her, Freyr’s sister Freya came to live in Asgard as well.
triCkery
The Aesir love a good bet and often they wager over
their heads (or actually wager their heads, in the case of
Loki). In such cases, they try to trick their way out of
settling up.
the giant Mason and
the Citadel of asgard
Not long after the war of the Aesir and Vanir, the
Gods wondered how to rebuild Asgard’s defenses. They
seemed to have a stroke of luck when a workman came
to the Aesir. (The workman’s name is unknown.) He
claimed that in a mere three seasons he could build them
a strong citadel that would withstand assaults from the
frost giants. For payment, he wanted the Goddess Freya
or the sun and the moon. After some deliberation, the
Gods made a counter offer: If the artisan could build
the fortress in one winter alone, with no help from
anyone, they would give him Freya. The stonemason
agreed to do so, if they allowed him the assistance of his
stallion, Svadilfari, to help him carry heavy loads. On
Loki’s advice, the Aesir granted the request.
The mason started work on the first day of winter.
He quarried enormous blocks of stone and Svadilfari
hauled them to the work site. The Gods were amazed by
the strength of both man and horse, and they realized
that the workman must be a giant in disguise.
As winter drew to a close, the walls of Asgard were
almost complete—and the Aesir, particularly Freya, had
harsh words for Loki about his “safe bet.” In fact, they
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one—Courage
and
doom
threatened to kill Loki if he could not find a way to
cheat the workman out of his price. Loki assured the
Aesir he would find a way to prevent the workman from
finishing the walls on time.
Later that evening, when the mason took Svadilfari to
gather more stone, a mare crossed their path. She whinnied
to Svadilfari and whisked her tail, and the stallion broke
free from his master and ran into the nearby forest with
the mare. The giant lost a whole day’s work while Svadilfari
frolicked with the mare. And so, on the first day of
spring, the walls of Asgard were just a few blocks short of
completion. The Aesir, no longer bound to their oath, bade
Thor to deal with the giant mason. Thor killed him.
And what of Loki? The Lie-Smith had taken the form
of the mare to lure Svadilfari away from his work. Loki
remained in the mare’s form long enough to birth the
offspring of his union with Svadilfari. That offspring
was Sleipnir, Odin’s famous eight-legged steed—the
fastest horse in all the Nine Worlds.
the theft of idun
and her aPPles
The Gods Loki, Thor and Hoenir stopped one
day along their journey to roast an ox for dinner.
They could not get the meat to cook, no matter how
long they held it over flame. An eagle perched in
an oak above them said that he could get the meat
to cook if the three travelers gave him a share. The
Gods gave their promise and now the meat cooked
properly. The eagle, however, took most of the ox as
his share. Loki angrily tried to beat the eagle with a
stick. The eagle caught the stick and took wing—and
Loki found he could not let go! The eagle bore Loki
into the sky and told him that he would not return
him to the ground safely until Loki swore to bring
the eagle the Goddess Idun (who was Bragi’s wife)
and her golden apples of youth.
The frightened God agreed. And so, when Loki
was returned to Asgard, he lured Idun away from the
other Gods. The eagle, who was really the giant Thjazi
in disguise, carried the Goddess away to his home.
Without Idun and her apples to keep them young,
the Aesir grew old and weak. When they learned that
Loki had helped the giant abduct Idun, though, they all
said they had strength enough to kill him unless he got
her back. To do so, Loki borrowed Freya’s falcon shape
and flew off to rescue Idun from Thjazi. While Thjazi
was out fishing, Loki entered his fortress, changed Idun
into a nut and carried her away in his claws. Thjazi soon
realized what had happened and changed into an eagle
again to pursue Loki. The trickster managed to reach
Asgard first, where the other Gods waited with a pile
of wood shavings. As soon as Loki cleared the walls of
Asgard, the Gods set fire to the shavings. Thjazi flew
straight into the sudden blaze, singing his eagle feathers
so he crashed into the ground. The Gods made short
work of him after that.
six treasures for the gods
When Loki cut off all the Goddess Sif’s hair for
a prank, Thor (her husband) threatened to break his
bones. Loki hurriedly promised to get Sif better hair
from the dwarves. Thor relented, and Loki set off to
find the dwarves known as the Sons of Ivaldi. The
dwarves made hair of spun gold that they promised
would join to Sif and henceforth live and grow. They
also produced the magic ship Skidbladnir and the
spear Gungnir.
Seeing what great treasures the dwarves could
produce, Loki decided to wager his own head with the
dwarf named Brokk that he and his brother Eitri could
not create more items of even greater value than the
hair, ship and spear.
The dwarves took the bet. First, Brokk and Eitri
laid a pig’s hide in the smithy fire. As Brokk pumped
the bellows, however, a fly landed on his arm and stung
him. The sting did not stop Brokk from his work, and
Eitri lifted his work, a boar with glowing golden bristles,
from the forge.
Eitri next placed gold in the forge, and once again
his brother Brokk worked the bellows. Once again,
the fly came back to harass the dwarf. It landed
on his neck and bit him twice as hard as before.
Withstanding the pain, the dwarf continued his task
to completion. From the fire, Eitri lifted the golden
arm-ring Draupnir.
Finally, Eitri laid iron in the forge and once more
bade his brother to pump the bellows without ceasing,
lest the work be ruined. This time, the fly landed between
Brokk’s eyes and stung him on the eyelid. Blood ran
from the wound, blinding the dwarf. He lifted one hand
from the bellows to swat at the fly. His brother returned
at that moment, and scolded him for almost ruining the
work. Eitri lifted the iron from the forge, and it had
become a mighty hammer.
Eitri then gave all the items to his brother and bade
him take them to Asgard for the Gods to judge. Loki
gave Odin the spear Gungnir, which always hit its mark.
He gave Thor the golden hair, which immediately took
root when placed on Sif’s head. He gave the Freyr the
ship Skidbladnir, which always has favorable winds and
could fold up to the size of a napkin.
Then it was Brokk’s turn. The dwarf gave Draupnir
to Odin. Every ninth night, he said, the arm-ring would
drop eight other rings as heavy in gold as itself. He gave
the boar Gullinbursti to Freyr. The boar could run
through the air and over the sea faster than any steed,
and his glowing bristles would light the way on even
the darkest nights. Then to Thor he gave the hammer,
Mjolnir. The hammer could be thrown at anything
and always hit its mark, and would then return to his
hand. Thor liked the hammer a great deal and thought
it would do well against the giants, even if the handle
was a little short.