Despite his mischievous nature, Loki helped the gods on many occasions. One time a giant, disguised as a builder, came to Asgard and offered to build a wall within a year and a half in exchange for Freyja (pronounced FRAY-uh), Odin’s wife. Thinking the task was impossible, the gods agreed to the deal. The giant, however, had a powerful stallion that could perform great feats of labor. When it looked as if the giant would succeed, Loki disguised himself as a mare and lured the stallion away, preventing the wall from being completed. The mare later gave birth to an eight-legged horse, called Sleipnir (pronounced SLAYP-nir), which Loki gave as a gift to Odin.
Loki had a number of wives and children. With his second wife, the giantess Angrboda (pronounced AHNG-gur-boh-duh), he had three fearsome offspring: a supernatural being named Hel, a serpent named Jormungand (pronounced YAWR-moon-gahnd), and a wolf named Fenrir (pronounced FEN-reer). As these creatures grew larger and more terrifying, the gods decided to get rid of them. They cast Hel into the dismal realm called Niflheim (pronounced NIV-uhl-heym), where she became the goddess of the dead; they threw Jormungand into the sea; and they bound Fenrir with a magical ribbon and fastened him to a huge rock.
As time went on, Loki grew increasingly evil. Angry with the gods because they now disliked him, he arranged the death of Odin’s son Balder (pronounced BAWL-der). Loki discovered that Balder could be harmed only by mistletoe. One day, while the gods were tossing objects at Balder in Fun, Loki gave a piece of mistletoe to the blind god Hod and told him to throw it at Balder. The mistletoe struck Balder and killed him.
In honor of Balder the gods held a banquet, to which, naturally, Loki was not invited. But he showed up anyway, insulted the gods, and then fled again when they became angry. To escape detection, Loki disguised himself as a fish, but the gods knew his tricks by this time and caught him in a net.
To punish Loki, the gods captured two of his sons, Narfi and Vali. They turned Vali into a wolf and let him tear his brother Narfi to pieces. They then took Narfi’s intestines and used them to tie Loki to rocks in a cave. A giantess named Skadi (pronounced SKAY-dee) hung a great snake over Loki’s head, and when its venom dripped onto Loki’s face it caused terrible pain. Loki would twist in agony, causing the whole world to shake. It is said that Loki will remain in that cave until Ragnarok (pronounced RAHG-nuh-rok), the end of the world, arrives.
World History
