Kitty's Corner

Bragi is the God of poetry. He is married to Idunn who is regarded as the Goddess of Spring and eternal youth. Her most important role is to be the Keeper of the Golden Apples. These she carefully protects in a casket which she opens each day allowing each of the Gods to take and eat one. Doing so kept them youthful and beautiful - a result which due to the mixed God-mortal ancestry of many of them, was of paramount importance.

Idunn was once kidnapped by a giant being desirous of her beauty. Thiassi was a storm giant who so wanted to possess Idunn and her fruit. Through trickery he was able to ensnare the master Trickster himself, Loki, into bringing Idunn to him. Despite her captivity Thiassi was never successful in persuading Idunn to give him a taste of her precious apples.

Deprived of the youth-giving apples, the Gods in Asgard began to fade and age. Suspicion fell on Loki and he was forced to attempt her return. Borrowing Freja's falcon suit he flew off to the fastness of the storm giant, and by enchantment turned Idunn into a small nut which he could safely grasp in his strong talons. Loki returned Idunn to Asgard with the enraged Thiassi in the guise of an eagle in fierce pursuit. Thiassi reached Asgard only to be slain by the weakened but indignant Gods, who in remembrance placed his glowing eyes in heaven as stars. Idunn was restored to her natural form, her casket of magical apples intact, and all in Asgard once again could remain youthful and fair.

Tyr is the god of single combat and heroic glory. Some believe he was son of Odin, others that he was son of the Giant Hymer.

Tyr is one handed, because at one stage the gods decided to shackle the wolf Fenris (Fenrir), but the beast broke every chain they put upon him. Eventually the gods had the dwarves make them a magical ribbon called Gleipnir from the noise a cat makes when it moves, the sinews of a bear, the breath of a fish, the spittle of a bird, the beard of a woman, and the roots of a mountain. The gods took those items from the world and that is why they do not exist today.

Odin told Fenrir that they were going to play a game, and Fenrir should let the gods chain him up as part of the game. The wolf was suspicious, and wouldn't let himself be chained up until Tyr offered to guarantee the deal by putting his own hand in the wolf's mouth as a sort of hostage.

After Fenrir had been bound, he struggled to try and break the chain. When the gods saw that Fenrir was bound they all laughed, except Tyr, who had his right hand bitten off by the wolf. Fenrir will remain bound until the day of Ragnarok. As a result of this deed, Tyr is called the "Leavings of the Wolf".

Many people think that Loki was a God in Norse mythology, but he was really not. He was a giant, well respected among the Gods, because he was Odin's bloodbrother.

Loki was the father (and, in more than one instance, the mother) of many beasts, humans and monsters.

Relationships with giantesses is nothing unusual for gods in Norse mythology; Odin, Thor, Njörðr, Freyr are good examples; and since Loki was a giant himself, there is nothing unusual about this activity. Together with Angrboda, he had three children:

• Fenrir the giant wolf preordained to slay Odin at the time of Ragnarok
  
• Jörmungandr, the great sea serpent
  
• Hel, ruler of the realm of the dead
  

Loki also married a goddess named Sigyn who bore him two sons: Narfi and Vali. (This Vali is not to be confused with Odin's son with the giantess Rind). Once Odin wanted to punish Loki, he turned Vali into a rabid wolf who proceeded to tear Narfi's throat out. Narfi's entrails were used to chain Loki to a large rock until Ragnarok.

While he was in the form of a mare Loki mated with a stallion. That's actually a quite interesting story:

A giant came to offer to build a citidel for the gods in three seasons. He demanded to marry Freja, and also to get the sun and the moon as his rewards. Following Loki's bad advice, the gods accepted the deal, but they later urged Loki to deceive the giant in order to protect Freja. Loki turned into a mare and seduced Svadilfari, the huge steed of the giant. Without his horse, the giant could not complete his job. He was enraged, insulted the gods, and eventually got slain by Thor before the deal was completed. Loki's prank ultimately backfired on him, and he bore the son of the horse Svadilfari, Sleipnir, the eight-legged steed of Odin.

Loki is an adept shape-shifter, with the ability to change both form and sex. But he has to borrow Freja's cloak whenever he wants to change into bird form.

In the stories Loki mainly plays the role of a villain: a coward, liar, cheater, thief, and as a murderer.

Thor is a very powerful God. He is the son of Odin and the giantess Jörd (the Earth). He is married to Sif. With his mistress, the giantess Járnsaxa, Thor has a son Magni and with Sif he has his daughter Thrud. There is nothing in the myths that states the identity of the mother of his son Modi.

Thor owns a short-handled hammer, Mjolnir, which, when thrown at a target, returns magically to him. Mjolnir also has the power to throw lightning bolts - making Thor the God of Thunder. Many people think that Thor was the God of War, but he wasn't. Odin and Tyr was the War Gods of Norse Mythology.

He travels in a chariot drawn by the goats Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr and with his servant and messenger Þjálfi and with Þjálfi's sister Röskva. When Thor is hungry he can roast the goats for a meal. When he wants to continue his travels, he only needs to touch the remains of the goats and they will be instantly restored to full health to resume their duties, assuming that the bones have not been broken.

A funny story about Thor was the time when Þrymr, King of the Giants, stole his hammer. Thor went to Loki (more about Loki in a post to come) in hopes to find the culprit responsible for the theft. Loki and Thor went to Freja (there'll also be a post about her later) for council. She gave Loki a feather-robe so he could travel to the land of the giants to speak to their king. The king admitted to stealing the hammer and would not give it back unless Freja gave her hand in marriage.

Freja refused when she heard the plan so the gods decided to think of a way to trick the King. Heimdall (maybe a post for him also - not sure yet) suggested dressing up Thor in a bridal gown and let him take Freja's place. Thor at first refused to do such a thing as it would portray him as a coward and womanish, but Loki insisted that he do so or the Giants would attack Asgard and win it over if he were not to retrieve the hammer in time. Thor reluctantly agreed in the end and dressed up to take Freja's place.

Odin rode Thor to the land of the Giants and a celebration ensued. The king noticed a few odd things that his bride was committing. He noted that she ate and drank more than what he would expect from a bride. Loki, who was in disguise as the false Freja's servant, commented that she rode for 8 full nights without food eager to take his hand. He then asked why his bride's eyes are so terrifying, they seemed to be aglow with fire, again Loki responded with a lie that she did not sleep for 8 full nights eager for his hand. Then the giant commanded that the hammer be brought to his wife and placed on her lap as a token of his love. Once it was in Thor's possession he threw off his disguise and attacked all the giants in the room.


Another story is about when Thor was outwitted by a giant king, Útgarða-Loki. The king, using his magic, tricked Thor. The king raced Thought itself against Thor's fast servant, Þjálfi (nothing being faster than thought, which can leap from land to land, and from time to time, in an instant). Then, Loki was challenged by Útgarða-Loki to an eating contest with one of his servants, Logi. Loki lost, eventually. The servant even ate up the trough containing the food. The servant was an illusion of "Wild-Fire", no living thing being able to equal the consumption rate of fire. Then the king called Thor weak when he only lifted the paw of a cat, the cat being the illusion of the Midgard Serpent (Maybe I'll write a post about that one as well, since it plays a great role in these stories). Thor was challenged to a drinking contest, and could not empty a horn which was filled not with mead but was connected to the ocean. This action started tidal changes. And here, Thor wrestled an old woman, Útgarða-Loki's mom, who was Old Age, something no one could beat, to one knee. Thor left humiliated, but was heartened later when he met a messager who told him that he had in fact performed great feats worthy of a powerful god for doing as well as he did with those challenges.

As in other religions, the Nordic Mythology has a beginning. In the beginning was only Ginnungagab, the abyss between Niflheim, the ice cold area in the north, and Muspelheim, the blaze in the south. From Hvergelmer begins twelve ice cold rivers to pour into Ginnungagab, where they meet with flames and lava from Muspelheim. This meeting between warm and cold makes a white frost. The hot air from Muspelheim makes the frost melt, and the giant Ymer is created from the drops.

Ymer falls asleep and while he is sleeping his foot bred a son and a man and a woman emerged from his armpits. These three persons are the mother and fathers of all giants and trolls.

The frost keeps melting, and the cow Audhumble is created from the drops.

Ymer drinks the milk from the cow while it licks a salt stone. On the first day after this a man's hair appeared on the stone, on the second day a head and on the third day an entire man emerged from the stone.
His name was Bure and with an unknown giantess he fathered Bor, the father of the three gods Odin, Vile and Ve. These three are the first Ases and Gods. (More about them in a later post - remember, this is only about the very beginning).

When the gods felt strong enough they killed Ymer. His blood flooded the world and drowned all of the giants, except two. But giants grew again in numbers and soon there were as many as before Ymer's death. Then the gods created seven more worlds using Ymer's flesh for dirt, his blood for the Oceans, rivers and lakes, his bones for stone, scraps of his brain as the clouds, his skull for the heaven. Sparks from Muspelheim flew up and became stars.

The Gods raised Ymer's skull so it created a firmament. In each corner they put a dwarf to guard, East, West, North and South.

The black giant woman Nat (=Night) drives over the firmament every night in her cart drawn by the black horse Rimfaxe. Nat has the son Dag (=Day) with the God Delling. Dag gets a cart from his mother, and the horse Skinfaxe by Odin. Skinfaxe's mane lightens up the whole world when Dag runs over the sky.